THE FEATURES OF UNDERSTANDING OF WAR AND ESCHATOLOGICAL MOTIVES IN “THE CHRONICLE OF THE CONQUEST OF KAZAN”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of “The Chronicle of the Conquest of Kazan” of the 17th century, a document that, while not having a historical value, reflects the religious and ideological ideas of the era. The text of the Chronicle allows us to judge the attitude towards war in the context of the Christian worldview, as well as eschatological concepts within the framework of universal and individual eschatology. Attitudes towards war and questions about the end of the world and the end of life are interrelated in the Chronicle. The historical event, the conquest of Kazan in 1552, becomes a background for the expression of certain ideas – about war as God’s instrument, about the religious, Christian context of that battle, about death on the battlefield as martyrdom, about the meaning of conquest in the Christianisation of the “misguided” territory. The article shows that both eschatology and the discourse about war have an optimistic connotation in the Chronicle, the conquests of Tsar Ivan are evaluated in the Chronicle as the fulfillment of God’s work, as the spread of the gospel. The relationship between “The Chronicle of the Conquest of Kazan” and the “Memory and Praise to Prince Vladimir” panegyric is also shown.