The Confessional Question and the Awareness of Religious Exclusivity in Constituting the Early Modern Identity (On the Material of Russian Historical Narratives of the Time of Troubles from the 1st Half of the 17th Century)
Abstract
The paper observes a mutual relationship between the early modern identity and the religious consciousness of the Old Russia’s domestic authors of the 1st half of the 17th century. The sources used are literary works representing a genre of the historical narrative.
All analysed texts were written either during the Time of Troubles or shortly afterwards. The author argues that the fateful events at the turn of the 17th century had not only cause a deep crisis of the Russian state and society, but also influenced the formation of a national and historical consciousness of the Moscovian cultural elite.
He finds the idea of confessional exclusivity to be crucial in this respect and argues that it had intensified and sharpened due to the direct contact with foreigners of a different faith.