Hagiographies of Saints and the “Fiery Death” (Based on Peter Prokopyev's Letter)

Abstract

The article discusses the main arguments used by Old Believers' mentors to justify the permissibility of self-immolations. The problem of self-immolation has been actively discussed by the Old Believers for a long time, which led to the creation of several significant journalistic works defending opposite points of view. The first position based upon numerous theological arguments, assumed an immediate rejection of ritual suicide. The second, associated with a much smaller number of theological works, on the contrary, approved voluntary death in the name of the Christian faith. The basis of the argument in favor of self-immolations were fragments of the lives of saints who chose voluntary death in the times of persecution. A significant number of self-immolations that have occurred in various places (mainly in the European North, in the Volga region and Siberia), a long reverent memory of self-immolations among the indigenous inhabitants of the North, show that the arguments of supporters of ritual suicide, based on the lives of saints, had a significant impact on the worldview of believers.