The image of the hand of John of Damascus in literature
Olga Anchimiuk
Olga Anchimiuk - Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
Vladimir Zaika
Владимир Иванович Заика - Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
Abstract
The article discusses the characteristics of the description of the saint appearance in literature,
referring to the hand and description of the hand of Saint John of Damascus. The hand is the
part of body related to the miracle that happened to the saint. By comparing the use of the
word hand, changes of name and deduced from the context signs of the hand in the poems of
A.K. Tolstoy “John of Damascus” (1859) and the novel of the same title by N. Agafonov (2009) it
was found that in the poem the number of uses of the word hand and references to the hand
is scanty, and for the full perception of context information it is necessary to know the history
of the saint’s life. The prose is full of descriptions and references to the hand. All circumstances
of his life are described in detail and thus they provide the complete image of Saint John
of Damascus. Literature, whose main subject is the saint, is a special case of the aesthetic
realization of the language. Means of expression provide the reader with the conditions to
strengthen his faith.
Keywords:
literature, portrait, description, belles-lettres, hagiographic literature, hand/arm, subject of expression, falsification, cutting and healing, conflict with the old man, shawl, turban
