Abstract: The author analyzes a fragment of the religious worldview of the Eastern and southern Slavs associated with the perception of celestial space. The research was conducted on the basis of canonical biblical texts and works popular in Ancient Russia of the X–XVII centuries containing information about the world order (Severian Gabalsky "Six speeches about the universe / Shestodnev"; John Damascene "Theology"; "Palea the Sensible"). The study of the field of verbalizers of the concept of "Heaven" in the texts of the Holy Scriptures revealed the presence of several meanings of the noun "heaven". The biblical texts contain references to the components of the firmament: the firmament of heaven, created on the second day of Creation, and the spiritual invisible sky – the place of God's presence. However, an analysis of exclusively classical biblical texts and their commentaries did not make it possible to build the structure of the concept of "Heaven" in the Christian worldview. To this day, interpretations of the semantics and etymology of the name "firmament" for the designation of the firmament are controversial. In non-canonical Christian texts, ideas about the heterogeneity of the aboveground space are concretized and illustrated with examples that are understandable to the reader. The sky is interpreted as a plane that exists parallel to the earth's surface; as a dome resting on the earth; as a sphere that has no support and is held only by the power of divine design. The differentiation of the sky into "existing, visible" and "heaven – the upper sky" is complemented by the concept of a boundary separating the material world from the higher ideal world. The overlap was associated with masses of water that turned into ice and looked like crystal. The verbalizers of these representations were the linguistic units "firmament", "firmament of heaven", "condensation of ice". Consequently, in the ancient Russian worldview of the X–XVII centuries, the first level of the sky could act as the very "solid" boundary that separated the material world from the higher ideal world. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by an attempt to recreate the concept of "Heaven" in the worldview of an Orthodox Christian of the X-XVII centuries.

Keywords: non-canonical texts, The Holy Scriptures, the sky is above, Heaven of heavens, The sky is visible, The firmament of heaven, the structure of the firmament, The Sky concept, religious worldview, The picture of the world

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of artistic functions of geographical and mythopoetical particularities related to the image of Byzantium in Gustave Flaubert's and Nikolay Gumilev's writings. The research focuses on the city as a painting theme and aesthetic reflection. Being a city with rich and dramatic history and complicated 'cultural genealogy', Canstontinople has been attracting attention of many Russian and Western European writers. Gustave Flaubert and Nikolay Gumilev created the image of Constinople in theiw writings for various artistic purposes. In her research Romanova analyses the following literary works: Flaubert's philosophical drama 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony' and Gumilev's poem 'Consantinople' and his tragedy 'Poisoned Tunic'. The research methodology involves comparative analysis of Gumilev's and Flaubert's works as well as mythopoetical, biographical and psychological methods of analysis. Based on the research the author concludes that complexity of the image of Byzantium determines its attribution to many philosophical and aesthetical concepts. In his play Flaubert presented Byzantium where the action took place as a concentrated phenomenal world rejected by the main hero. In Gumilev's writings Byzantium is a contradictory image that presents Gumilev's thoughts on the question whether it is possible to overcome the sinful human nature. 

Keywords: austerity, magnetism, Dionysian religious cult, mythopoetics, urban scenery, background, Constantinople, introspection, aestheticization, eternity