Роман Антонио Фогаццаро “Святой” в системе христианского модернизма

Abstract

In Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, against the background of socio-political
modernization of the country, clearly emerged a tendency towards renovation of ecclesiastical
structures and the traditional religious outlook. In many respects it resembled the religious
reformist movement of ‘modernism’ in Roman Catholicism, and was based upon several
religious denominations that had their own ideologies. The present article reviews the novel
Il Santo (The Saint) of the Italian modernist A. Fogazzaro and continues our study of historical
and cultural parallels between the Christian “modernism” in Roman Catholicism and the religious
movement in orthodox Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The publication of the novel
in Russia encouraged discussion about the “modernism” among representatives of those currents
and movements which, in one way or another, were involved in the process of ‘modernization’ of
the traditional religious consciousness in Russia. The present article examines their relationship
to the novel by A. Fogazzaro; the author concludes that the novel is an indicator of how the
Russians positioned themselves as ‘modernists’ in relation to the traditional Orthodox Church.