СТИХОТВОРНЫЕ МОЛИТВЫ ЗИНАИДЫ ГИППИУС. Ритуальные истоки и религиозное предназначение поэзии

The notion that the word is sacred, characteristic of Russian Symbolism in the early 20th century, was most consistently and radically expressed by Zinaida Gippius, who insisted on the kinship between poetry and prayer. The current paper analyses the rituals of Holy Thursday which laid the foundations of the spiritual alliance between Gippius, Merežkovskij and Filosofov and was intended to be expression of a 'new religious consciousness'. The work highlights similarities between Gippius's poetics and the new forms of praying that spread among the disciples of the 'Religion of the Third Testament'. In particular, the following features of Gippius's 'poetic prayers' appear to be relevant: the intensification of sensibility/sensuality while preserving a conservative, classical cultural and stylistic form of expression and orientation towards the Christian tradition; a wider idea of the kinds of experiences that can be expressed in religious terms and considered to be religious (the evangelisation of secular, worldly life); and the deroutinization of church liturgy and prayers for the sake of a freer and more sincere communication between man and God.