Holiness and Passion as Light and Darkness in Literary Works of Boris Zaytsev and Ivan Shmelyov (The Golden Pattern and The Heavenly Ways)

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to the analysis of the concepts of "holiness" and "passion" on the basis of The Golden Pattern (Золотой узор, 1926) by Boris Zaytsev and The Heavenly Ways (Пути небесные, 1948) by Ivan Shmelyov. Passion is shown as a binary opposition to holiness. Holiness is understood as perfection and moral virtue achieved by a human being during the time of personal development, whereas passion is seen as a state of strong and irresistible feeling towards another person or thing. In the case of the main characters of The Heavenly Ways and The Golden Pattern this spiritual quest is shown as a tran-sition from the state of passion to the state of holiness.