“Even So, Come, Lord Jesus”, or the Mystery of Gogol’s Death: To the 170th Anniversary of His Death

Abstract

The author of the article addresses the issue of N. V. Gogol’s death, analyzes his last words, behind which one can clearly hear the well-known saying of the saint close to Gogol’s soul Apostle Paul. The work shows that the righteous Christian death of Gogol became the pinnacle of his spiritual path, the last step of the ladder built in his soul which he climbed all his life. The Church Slavonic semantics of the word “requirement” is explained on the margins of Gogol’s Bible, it is assumed that the word “requirement” is used by the writer as Church Slavonic in the meaning: “need, necessity.” Some of Gogol’s thoughts are given about death and its impact on the people around him, educating a person from a young age in such a way that he always understands the real meaning of life, so that death is not an accident for him. It is shown that the words engraved on Gogol’s tombstone express the most important thing in his life and work: the desire to acquire the Holy Spirit and the preparation of the soul for a meeting with the Lord.