Article

Name: The Anti-Astrological Discourse of Maximus the Greek and Formation of Author’s Code in His Writings

Authors: L. I. Zhurova

Institute of History SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation)

Abstract:

The writings of Maximus the Greek (Maxim Grek) devoted to refutation of mantic astrology which proceeded in Moscow Rus in the second quarter of the 16 th century are analyzed. A conclusion is made that the opposition of two dominant pursuits predetermined the semantics of the antiastrological discourse: those were disproval of the ‘Hellenic’ teaching of star- gazers and affirmation of the force of Divine Providence, which granted the freedom of will to the Man (“the absolute rule of the Man”). Maximus the Greek based his polemic on the systemic relationship between the historic experience and the spiritual meaning.

The morphology of the anti-astrological discourse embraces such stable elements of narration as the history of star-gazing, the image of fortune (”the wheel of luck”), the fates of Biblical and historical heroes, and a quotation from the song of Prophet Anna (the First Book of the Kings, 2: 7–8). The function of these units of meaning in the writings of different periods by Maximus the Greek, the forms of their presentation, the contextuality, the meaning of verbal communication, and the accents chosen became the part of the theoretical system of the polemic discourse and allowed identification of the stages of formation of the author’s code in the writings of Maximus the Greek.

Maximus the Greek names the Romans and the Germans (Nikolay Bulev) to be the main culprits who initiated the spread of mantic astrology in Russia. Whereas in his earlier epistles, the learned monk from Mount Athos presents the history of formation of the pernicious teaching based on series of ethnonyms, in his later writings he pointed to Egypt and Assyria as the countries of the origin of star-gazing. Orthodox Rus is opposed to them. Movement from ethnography to geography made the scene of the anti-astrological expression more definitive. The representative series of mini-stories about the fates of the famous Biblical and historic heroes, whose feats were predetermined by the Divine Providence, served as a strong argument in the critique of star-gazing, and each name became symbolical in the sign system of the agonistic discourse of Maximus the Greek.

The quotation from the song of Prophet Anna (the First Book of the Kings, 2: 7–8) should be recognized as the leading through motif of the antiastrological text. Its functioning in the writings of the learned monk allows us to describe the praxis of the discourse. The process of modification of its semantics reflected development of the author’s intention in the history of formation of the theme variety of Maximus the Greek and of the author’s manuscript code (Iosaf’s Collection of Writings) in general.

Keywords: Maximus the Greek, publicist writing of the 16 th century, agonis- tic discourse, astrology, Divine Providence, author’s code

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