The article examines traditionalist content and form in biographies of Orthodox ascetics of the eighteenth century, Ioasaph (Gorlenko), Bishop of Belgorod, and Gregory Skovoroda. The material under consideration presents typological varieties of the biographical genre in a time of transition – from the era of traditionalism to the era of artistic modality. It is stated that Lives of the saints, written in the twentieth century, in some aspects, seek to overcome the canons. The biography of G. S. Skovoroda, though called Life of the Saint, is not created by hagiographical cliché, but it is influenced by the novel genre. Thus, the transition period affects the memoirs and the biographical genre in spiritual literature, the typology of which is determined by a poetic manner of traditionalism, or the poetics of artistic modalities.
The article examines traditionalist content and form in biographies of Orthodox ascetics of the eighteenth century, Ioasaph (Gorlenko), Bishop of Belgorod, and Gregory Skovoroda. The material under consideration presents typological varieties of the biographical genre in a time of transition – from the era of traditionalism to the era of artistic modality. It is stated that Lives of the saints, written in the twentieth century, in some aspects, seek to overcome the canons. The biography of G. S. Skovoroda, though called Life of the Saint, is not created by hagiographical cliché, but it is influenced by the novel genre. Thus, the transition period affects the memoirs and the biographical genre in spiritual literature, the typology of which is determined by a poetic manner of traditionalism, or the poetics of artistic modalities.