DOI: 10.7256/2409-8698.2016.4.20020

Abstract: The object of the research is the genre of the funeral sermon as one of the most ancient rhetoric genres that was popular in Russian oratorica prose of the 18th century. The funeral sermon was actively developed during Peter's time and back in those times the aforesaid genre performed not only religious but also political functions. In the second half of the century the funeral sermon acquired the moral and didactic nature. The style of the word was changed, too. Long periods and numerous quotations from the Holy Bible were replaced by a shorter text and simple understandable vocabulary. The main research method used by the author of the present article is the comparative historical method: the genre is viewed in terms of the literary, cultural and historical environment of those times. As an example of the funeral sermon the author carries out a philological analysis of the text from Ekaterina's times 'The Speech for the Funeral of the Grand Duchess Natalia Alekseevna' written by the metropolitan Platon (Levshin). Never before in the academic literature funeral sermons of the second half of the 18th century was chosen as an object of an independent research since researchers usually pay attention to funeral sermons of Peter's time. However, the second half of the 18th century was the most beneficial for the development of the genre because it was the time when funeral sermons were actively written and published, the circle of people those funeral sermons were devoted to expanded and the genre was firmly established as the genre of religious oratorical prose. 

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0749.2016.2.19525

Abstract: The subject of the research is the funeral oration said by Gabriel Buzhinsky for the death of the Field Marshal Boris Sheremetyev. It is an interesting and understudied achievement of oratory prose of the first quarter of the XVIIIth century. The funeral of Boris Sheremetyev and the funeral oration devoted to him vividly demonstrate the process of developing the positive image of the 'Country's Son' in the Russian social thought of the early XVIIIth century. The image was directly associated with the idea of the 'service of the country' which was actively developed by writers, orators and Peter the First himself during that time period. Honourable burial of the Field Marshal and funeral oration filled with th eulogistic and civic pathos were tools for creating new axiology of the society: Boris Sheremetyev's will to be buried next to his son's grave in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra was sacrificed for the sake of the imperor's intention to develop new values and to create grounds for funeral rites of military brass. In her research Paramonova has used the comparative historical and historical genetic research methods as well as the philological analysis of literary texts. Gabriel Buzhinsky's oratory prose is understudied in Russian literary studies. Never before The Speech for the Funeral of the Field Marshal Boris Sheremetyev has been a matter of individual analysis, thus this text is being analyzed in terms of the cultural, literary and social environments of that epoch for the first time in the academic literature. The analysis of Gabriel Buzhinsky's Funeral Oration for Boris Sheremetyev demonstrates the break point in the oratory prose of the XVIIIth century. Rhetoric religious text written by a preaching monk served secular purposes and developed actual political and social ideas.