Religious Lexis in Russian Ecclesiastical and Religious Auto-documentary texts: Typology and Stylistic functions

The research was carried out with the financial support of the RFBR within the framework of the scientific project No. 21-011-44099 "Development of methods and models for the analysis of religious texts as one of the ways of the development of theolinguistics".

            In recent decades, Russian linguistics has been actively studying the church-religious style, its genres, linguistic features of texts, the specifics of speech practice in the church-religious sphere of communication. As the most significant, one can single out the works "On one lacuna in the system of functional styles of the modern Russian language" by L. P. Krysina, "Church-religious style" O. A. Krylova, "On the question of the functional Church-religious style of the modern Russian literary language" Y. T. Listrova-Pravda and M. B. Rastorgueva, "On the genre specifics of texts of Church-religious style" V. A. Mishlanova and E. S. Khudyakova, "The language of the Orthodox sphere..." I. V. Bugaeva, "Genre system of religious style..." T. V. Itskovich ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}. The appeal to such a linguistic phenomenon indicative of the church-religious style as religious names makes the presented study relevant and significant from the point of view of the development of functional stylistics. The relevance of this research is also due to the fact that it is carried out in line with a new direction of science developing today – theolinguistics, the subject of which is "manifestations of religion that are reflected and fixed in language" and religious language in the correlations "religion – content, language – form" ^{[7, p. 19]}. The purpose of this study is to show the features of the functioning of religious names in church–religious style texts. The achievement of the goal set in the work predetermined the formulation of the following tasks: to present the typology of religious names functioning in Russian ecclesiastical and religious auto-documentary texts, to consider their main stylistic functions. The theoretical significance of the study is that it determines the specifics of the functioning of religious names in Russian ecclesiastical and religious autodocumentary texts (in letters, diaries and memoirs), on the basis of which a conclusion is drawn about the distinctive features of Christian autodocumentalism. Russian Russian Linguistics The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that its results can be successfully applied in teaching such training courses as "Lexicology", "Stylistics of the Russian language", "Culture of Russian speech", "Linguoculturology", "Ethnolinguistics", "Theolinguistics".

            The study of the functioning of religious names in the Russian literary language is at the initial stage. The definition of this linguistic phenomenon, in particular, is given by L. N. Urbanovich, who names words and compound names denoting religious concepts as religious names ^{[8, p. 12]}. In the work of L. P. Vodiasova presents various thematic groups of religious names functioning in A. M. Doronin's novel "Shadows of Bells" ^[9]. S. V. Feliksov examines the word-formation and semantic features of religious names-substantiatives of the stv/o/, describes their lexical and grammatical categories and thematic groups ^[10]. V. V. Lapshina identifies the functions of religious names in political discourse (actualization of the primary meaning of confessional lexemes, revival of old metaphors, metaphorical use of biblical nominations, etc.) ^[11]. V. S. Lugovoi examines the functioning of religious names in the works of E. Bazin and F. Moriac ^[12], M. O. Alekseeva raises the question of the need to systematize religious names ^[13].

            The presented work shows the results of studying the functioning of Christian religious names in spiritual letters, diaries and memoirs. The analysis was carried out from the standpoint of theolinguistics, which implies "the study of the relationship and interaction (interaction) of language and religion" ^{[14, p. 55]}. In the course of the study, a linguo-stylistic method was also used, suggesting "the establishment of patterns of the use of linguistic units in different spheres and communication situations due to extralinguistic factors" ^{[15, p. 612]}, the application of the method of philological commenting, typological and contextual methods became significant.

            In the course of our research, we have identified the types of religious names that function in Russian ecclesiastical and religious auto-documentary texts. All types, which are presented below, were distinguished by us on the basis of their semantics.

            Theonyms (God, Lord, All–good, Omniscient, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Father, Holy Spirit, Savior, Son, Christ, etc.) are the most commonly used type of religious names, which is conditioned by the theocentric worldviews of authors – church writers. Theocentrism as a principle according to which "God emerges as the source of being of all things and is perceived as the unique foundation of all metaphysical entities and life meanings" ^[16], becomes the leading one in church-religious texts and determines the presence of God's names in them. P. M. Bicilli, speaking about the worldview of believers, noted that for them "every object ... serves as a symbol of the highest, ultimate object, all–encompassing unity, perfect reality - the Deity, which is the source of all other realities ..."; "every object is determined only by its relation to God, but not by its relation to other objects..." ^{[17, p. 14, 89]}. This perception of the world, the attitude towards it, is undoubtedly reflected in speech practice. We find confirmation of this in spiritual letters: Leave sorrow, God will grant – everything will be arranged for the better (Makariy (Nevsky)); I believe that the Lord will soon let you know incomparably more, but you should not interfere in the actions of grace by yourself (Sophrony (Sakharov)); in spiritual diaries: I realized ... that although there will be sorrows, but those who have achieved prayer will easily endure them, because Christ will be with him (Nikon (Belyaev)); A young deacon reads a poem about Jesus Christ, as if poetry, like music, is an organic part of life, and not "culture" (Alexander (Schmeman)); in spiritual memories Mother made a vow to God: if I stay alive, she will go with me on a thanksgiving pilgrimage to St. Mitrofan of Voronezh. And, thank God, he recovered (Veniamin (Fedchenkov)); In a letter dated April 1, 1997, she wrote to me: "Let's hope for the Lord God. Will help (Job (Gumerov)). In more detail, the features of the worldview of church writers were considered by us in the work "Speech etiquette of Russian spiritual writing" ^{[18, pp. 24-68]}.

The use of biblionyms (names of biblical heroes – Gideon, David, Ezekiel, Elijah, John the Baptist, Job, Joseph, Isaiah, Lazarus, Lot, Mark, Matthew, Moses, Hosea, etc.) is primarily due to the fact that the texts to which they refer constitute the foundation of the most authoritative in Christian writing the culture of sources. In addition, the author's reference to these sources, to certain biblical events suggests that they are known to the addressee, that he will easily remember the noted episodes, understand their spiritual meaning; this undoubtedly contributes to the spiritual union of the author and the reader. It can be said that referring to biblical events, remembering the heroes of certain biblical narratives plays a very important role in argumentation. Telling about Jesus Christ, prophets, kings, the authors show examples, call for a virtuous life and turn away from sin. So, for example, the abbot John, instructing his spiritual daughter and trying to turn her away from wrong actions, from divorce from her husband, calling for forgiveness, says: The Holy Fathers write: "Cover your neighbor's sins, the Lord will cover yours too." Of course, this happened to him in a drunken state, the same thing also happened to the righteous Lot (John (Alekseev)). The appeal to the history of Lot is designed to make you think, rethink what is happening, make the right decision from a Christian point of view.

The appeal of church writers to the lives of saints, as well as the appeal to the texts of the Bible, is due to the fact that the lives in Christian culture are recognized as ideologically significant works, very authoritative and valuable. Hagioanthroponyms referring to these texts (proper names of saints – Anthony the Great, Athanasius the Great, George of Konis, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory Palamas, Gregory the Sinaite, Innocent of Kherson, John Chrysostom, John Cassian the Roman, Isaac the Syrian, Mary of Egypt, Mark the Ascetic, John the Ladder, Isaac the Syrian, Theodore the Studite, Theophan the Recluse, Theophan Inscribed, Filaret of Moscow, etc.) creates an ideological and thematic field common to the author and the addressee; the use of hagioanthroponyms has an important didactic significance (especially for spiritual letters addressed to students, works written with edifying purposes), since the life is a text focused on education by example. Consider an illustration: Genuine repentance and awareness of one's fall do not awaken despair, but a willingness to work, to a new battle, to redemption. The Saint of the Ladder wrote down very important words: "The sign of diligent repentance is that a person considers himself worthy of all the sorrows that happen ... visible and invisible, and even greater" (Savva (Mazhuko)).

The use of icon names (the names of icons – the Resurrection of Christ, the icon of the Annunciation, the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign", the Kazan Icon of Praise, the icon of the Ladder, the icon of Seraphim of Sarov, the Kazan Mother of God, the Praise of the Virgin, the Trinity, etc.) is due to the fact that icons, being an important part of Christian culture, are daily present in life Christian authors become an integral part of their spiritual existence. Most often, icons are found when describing divine services: In our monastery, not only the color of the vestments changes on this holiday, but also significant changes occur in the decoration of the altar. Instead of the traditional seven-branched icon, a large icon "Praise of the Virgin" is placed behind the throne ... (Savva (Mazhuko)).

Ecclesionyms (names of localities named after saints and other religious figures, places of sacraments and rites, places of worship: monasteries and temples – Gethsemane Hermitage, Glinskaya Deserts, Zosimova Deserts, Ioninsky Monastery, St. Catherine's Monastery, Optina Deserts, Holy Mount Athos, Northern Athos, the Transfiguration Valaam Monastery, Tikhonovsky the monastery, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, the church of St. Mitrofan, etc.) are found in memories of spiritual searches and making a decision to devote himself to monasticism, describing his life in the monastery, stories about the lives of saints, memories of important events in the life of the Church, discussions about the Christian faith. The inclusion of ecclesionyms in ecclesiastical and religious auto-documentary texts is connected with the fact that the authors' reverent attitude to holy places is part of their common culture, as well as with the fact that the authors associate their lives with the life of the Church. From the letter of Hieromonk Raphael: early in the morning of May, in the heyday of my spring, I came to the holy gates of Optina Desert (Raphael (Sheichenko)).

The names of angels (Angel, Guardian Angel, Archangel, Cherub, Seraphim) are found in the advice to pray, memories of biblical events, reflections on the Providence of God, Christian prayer, Christian traditions, about the features of divine services, in quotations from Christian texts, in stories from the life of Christians. From the letter of Metropolitan Makarii: ... the day of the Cross, to which the flaming sword of the cherub gave way in order to give a pass to paradise to those expelled from it ... (Makarii (Nevsky)). The presence of the names of angels in the texts is due to the high importance attached to all angels in Christianity. Guardian angels are most often mentioned, who, according to the ideas of believers, are assigned to people (which is done at baptism) and help them, protecting them from evil.

The names of biblical events (the Ascension, the Resurrection of Christ, the Resurrection of Lazarus, the prayer for the Cup in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Transfiguration, etc.) appear in parts of the text that are dedicated to relevant events, church holidays, contain teachings, advice, in discussions about spiritual life, about the course of divine services, in stories about life in the monastery. From the works of Archimandrite Savva: On the morning of Holy Thursday, we immerse ourselves in the contemplation of the evening events of the same day of the spring month of Nisan. And there are a lot of events ... the disciples listen to Christ's farewell conversation; the Savior retires to pray for the Cup in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas later leads the guards (Sava (Mazhuko)).

The names of the evangelical heroes (the prudent robber, the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the scribes, the publican, the Samaritan woman, the Pharisee, etc.) are often used in didactic texts or in fragments of the text that contain a didactic component, especially here it is worth noting spiritual teaching letters. For example, Abbot Nikon (Vorobyov) in his letters often recalls the events associated with the publican and the prudent robber. The remembrance of the publican is intended to give an example of humility, the same can be said about the mentions of a prudent robber: One must cry out like a publican: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"; and the prudent robber realized his guilt, humbled himself, turned to the Lord (Nikon (Vorobyov)). The frequent use of the names of evangelical heroes can be associated with the immersion of church writers in Christian written culture, in reading New Testament texts, especially the Gospels.

We observe the use of names of Christian sacraments (marriage, confession, baptism, tonsure, communion, unction, etc.) in narratives about divine services, in teachings, stories about missionary activity, in discussions about spiritual life. From the letter of the abbot John: Your embarrassment and confession are clear to me; God will forgive you, child, be calm (John (Alekseev)). The involvement of the authors of church-religious documentary works in Christian life (divine services, reading of the Old and New Testaments, patristic texts, in missionary activity, immersion in inner spiritual work) predetermine the presence of names of Christian sacraments in their speech.

The names of the forms and components of the divine service (the Liturgy of the Last Supper, the Matins of the Passion Gospels, Evening Service, Passion, Compline, Good Friday Vespers, etc.) are found in descriptions of divine services, in discussions about the Christian faith and spiritual life, in teachings, in councils. The use of these religious names is more often observed in the texts of church writers who constantly and actively participate in the liturgy, although, of course, it must be said that they are present in the works of all church writers. From the diary of Metropolitan Arseny: He served in the cathedral. In the evening – the Great Vespers with the Akathist, and then talked about the cross (Arseny (Stadnitsky)).

The linguistic units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content (reverence, prudence, contemplative, virtue, long-suffering, soul, spiritual care, pity, sacrifice, temptation, repentance, contemplation, humility, hope, chastity, etc.) are key in the formation of meaning, reflect the features of the religious-Christian worldview of church writers, testifying that the authors believe in God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, in the Providence of God, are convinced of the need to observe the gospel commandments, the importance of acquiring virtues and fighting sins, sinful thoughts, passions. Most often we find these linguistic units in discussions about spiritual growth, salvation of the soul, ways of acquiring virtues, the importance of inner spiritual work, advice to students, parts of the text containing the teaching. From the letter of Archimandrite John: And the Lord, through your maternal prayers, will revive the soul of his son (John (Krestyankin)).

The names of persons associated with Christian religious activity (monk, hieromonk, monk, schemer, canonarch, deacon, ascetic, etc.) are found in stories about missionary activity, in discussions about Christian spiritual life, in descriptions of religious customs, advice and instructions, memories of events related to the spiritual formation of the author, narratives about divine services, church life. From the letter of Archimandrite Sergius: There are several temples in the monastery, two very large, extensive rooms for monks (Sergius (Stragorodsky)).

Linguistic units denoting Christian texts (names of texts, their fragments and collections (Bible, Old Testament, New Testament, Gospel of John, Book of Acts, Prayer Book, Psalter, Synaxary, Typicon, Triodion, Book of Hours, etc.) and genre names (Akathist, Gospel, Litany, Confession, Life, Ikos, canon, kontakion, prayer, paterik, sermon, psalm, parable, troparion, etc.)) are most commonly used in sections of the text devoted to divine services, containing arguments about the ways of spiritual growth, teachings, advice. The presence of these units is explained by the fact that the authors of church-religious texts are immersed in Christian culture, their appeal to Christian texts is permanent. From the letter of Archimandrite Savva: ...the Byzantine historian Nikephoros Xanthopoulos wrote a whole set of instructions for the Triodion. These texts are called "Synaxari", that is, collections, collections (Savva (Mazhuko)).

Christian georthonyms (names of significant church holidays, memorable dates and celebrations – Lent, Epiphany, Lazarus Saturday, Easter, the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Nativity of Christ, Holy Week, etc.) are more often found in descriptions of divine services, stories about missionary work, narratives about Christian Orthodox traditions, in congratulations on church holidays. The celebration of significant dates for the Christian world is an important part of the life of believers, therefore Christian georthonyms become an integral part of church–religious auto-documentary texts.

The names of items of clergy vestments (stole, hood, doll, omophorion, panagia, cowl, cassock, skufya, etc.) are not so common in the texts we study, mainly when describing divine services, memories of Church servants, as well as in stories about missionary activities, memories of their Christian life. From the memoirs of Metropolitan Veniamin: ...both Sasha and I were dressed not in our student jackets with blue bows and silvered buttons, but in monastic underclothes ... (Veniamin (Fedchenkov)).

The names of liturgical objects, church utensils (oil, censer, lamp, liar, panikadilo, candlestick, prosphora, seven candlesticks, banners, etc.) are used when describing services, in stories about Christian life, the Christian path of a particular person, including the author himself, in narratives about missionary activities, in stories about events from the life of the Church. From Metropolitan Arseny's diary: On behalf of "my former flock, in gratitude for the appointment," a large prosphora was presented to me here (Arseny (Stadnitsky)).

The names of the details of the interior and exterior decoration of temples, monasteries (pulpit, altar, bell, throne, etc.) are found in narratives about church life, about spiritual searches, in descriptions of divine services, discussions about spiritual formation, in full-scale sketches. From the diary of Archpriest Alexander: Outside the window in the gray sky – a binding of black, wet branches. For some reason, for a long, long time, the bells are ringing for hours (Alexander (Schmeman)).

The names of church bodies of hierarchical governance (the Synod of Bishops, the Supreme Church Council, the Diocesan Council, the Local Council, the Synod, etc.) may occur in discussions about the Christian faith, theology, intra-church organization, Church-state relations occurring in church parishes. From Metropolitan Anthony's letter: If you know anything in the Synod about the retinue of His Grace Methodius of Orenburg, and in particular about Father Seraphim, then do not refuse to inform me briefly (Anthony (Khrapovitsky)).

The use of names of religious-Christian groups of persons (clergy, monasticism, monastics, Church (as a community of people who believe in Christ), parish, priesthood, etc.) is observed in stories from the life of the Church, in descriptions of divine services, memories of becoming in the faith, in discussions about the life of a Christian, about theology, church formation, religious-Christian traditions, in parts of the text containing the conviction of the need to participate in church life. From the work of Archimandrite Savva: When St. Gregory Palamas undertook to defend hesychasm, hesychasm itself was already more than a thousand years old. This tradition was born together with monasticism, was kept by monks ... (Savva (Mazhuko)).

Names of persons by religion (Christian, Christian, Christians, Catholic(s), Protestant(s), Shintoists, Buddhists, pagan(s)) function in sections of the text containing stories about missionary practice, narration of events related to intra-church life, description of divine services or reasoning about the essence of this or that religion, confessional features. From the letter of Archimandrite Sergius: Christians write a general letter to the bishop or more often to the council (which happens every year) with a request to send them a catechist (Sergius (Stragorodsky)).

Linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts (hell, hell torments, eternal life, ordeal, paradise, the Last Judgment, the Kingdom of God, etc.) are found in parts of the text telling about the Providence of God, about the fate of man and humanity, about punishments for sins, as well as in sections of the text containing arguments about inner spiritual work on oneself, rejection of sins, struggle with one's passions. These linguistic units play a very important role in the formation of meaning, since many of them denote such concepts that form the basis of Christian doctrine. The main life goal of a Christian is the salvation of the soul, and bringing him to the possibility of achieving it becomes a significant component of Christian education. "Education can be properly delivered when it is understood as salvation. <...> The churching of the personality leads to its salvation… To enter the Church means to sanctify with the light of faith the whole range of concepts and practical life of a person, to base life not on the goal of personal development, but on the goal of saving the human soul," writes Archpriest E. Shestun ^{[19, pp. 30-31]}. About the essence of salvation, Archbishop Sergius (Stragorodsky) said: "Salvation ... is the deliverance of man from sin, curse and death"; "Salvation is necessarily mediated by the transition of man from sin and selfishness into the kingdom of goodness and love, which is anticipated by man here, in its entirety will be inherited in the next century" ^{[20, p. 180, p. 265]}. Salvation presupposes the renunciation of sin and the desire to achieve the Kingdom of God, this is what the authors of auto-documentary works often write about, which determines the appeal to linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts.

The names of infernal entities (demon, enemy, enemy of the human race, day, devil, devil, Khvostinsky) are usually found in discussions about sins and passions, their nature and sources, in discussions about the confrontation of good and evil, about the spiritual causes of what is happening to a person, about the essence of individual events analyzed by the author, the actions of specific people, their actions. From the diaries of Archpriest Alexander: Patience is needed most of all to fight the devil, and it is the least in a person, especially a young one. The main danger of youth is impatience (Alexander (Schmeman)). The use of these names is due to the specifics of the worldview of Christian writers, namely, such a feature as eschatology – an attitude to the world associated with ideas about the ultimate destinies of the world and man, being after earthly life.

Let us focus on a number of stylistic functions performed by religious names in church-religious auto-documentary texts.

First of all, we note the pictorial function (the creation of specific, individual representations of phenomena). This function is mostly performed by various names of religious objects and phenomena, for example, the names of liturgical objects, church utensils: ...I am sitting in the temple, especially the Forerunner and Makarievsky, – peace, silence all around, the lamps are glowing before the holy icons; the vigil has not yet begun (Nikon (Belyaev)); the names of the details of internal and external decorations of temples, monasteries: Usually the cross is carried through the northern doors of the altar, carried around the throne, and carried through the entire temple ... (Savva (Mazhuko)).Of course, this function is also performed by theonyms: humility… It is divine, and Christ reveals him as Divine, as the essence of Divinity (Alexander (Schmeman)).

The characterological function (descriptions and characteristics of people, objects and phenomena of reality) is characteristic mainly of linguistic units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content, names of religious-Christian groups of persons, names of persons on a religious basis:

After all, Svetlana is living in mortal sin ... and this will ruin her (John (Krestyankin));

I am not a monk, but a dreamer of monasticism... (Sophrony (Sakharov)); The truly pious life of a Christian makes his face look like Christ (Sophrony (Sakharov)).

In the emotive function (expressions of emotions and feelings, the emotional attitude of the speaker/writer to the reported), theonyms, biblionyms, hagioanthroponyms, icononyms, Christian georthonyms, linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological representations, names of infernal entities, names of angels and other religious names are used. Let's give an example of the use of a Christian georthonym in an emotive function, but this is an Easter hymn! And this is not all the echoes of Easter! (Savva (Mazhuko)).

The evaluative function (expressions of positive or negative evaluation) is mainly characteristic of linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts, as well as names of infernal entities, names of angels and linguistic units related to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content. From the letter of John (Krestyankin): Do not look for excuses for your behavior – it is in pride ... The use of linguistic units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content (as in the example given), most of all contributes to the expression of evaluation.

In the prescriptive (prescriptive) function (prescribing certain actions and behavior to the addressee), theonyms, hagioanthroponyms, language units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts, language units related to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content, language units denoting Christian texts, names of evangelical heroes are mainly used. Let's give an example of the functioning of the names of evangelical heroes: We must cry out like a publican: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Abbot Nikon (Vorobyov)).

The syndicative function (bringing the author and the addressee closer together, strengthening the community between them) is characteristic of theonyms, biblionyms, icononyms, ecclesionyms, Christian georthonyms and other (it can be argued that all) religious names. Here is an example of using a theonym and a language unit denoting a Christian text in this function: You know from your life what is done by prayer to the Lord (John (Krestyankin)).

All types of religious names are used in the meaning-forming function (generation, formation of meanings). Here is an example of the functioning of linguistic units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content: Then I prayed for salvation, for nothing else, because I felt that I could not stand this darkness for a long time (Alexander (Schmeman)).

The axiological function (orientation to values) is mainly characteristic of theonyms, hagioanthroponyms, icononyms, ecclesionyms, Christian georthonyms, names of angels, linguistic units related to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content, linguistic units denoting Christian texts, linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts. Here is an example of the use of linguistic units denoting Christian texts: The Gospel sets us the task of learning to love people ... (Savva (Mazhuko)).

Text-forming function (realization of the most important textual categories (including coherence, integrity, regularity)) it is typical for all types of religious names. Let's give an example of the use of the theonym in this function: Thank the Lord that, although with difficulties, you can still visit the temple of God, and there you cry out in prayer to the Lord and for me, a sinner. God save you for this! (Raphael (Sheychenko)).

All types of religious names can be used in the nominative function (naming persons, objects, objects and phenomena). Here is an example of the use in this function of linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts: The posthumous path of the soul is ordeal (Sophrony (Sakharov)).

The explantor function (explanatory) is mainly characteristic of theonyms, hagioanthroponyms, linguistic units related to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content, linguistic units denoting Christian texts, linguistic units denoting concepts related to Orthodox eschatological concepts, but other types of religious names can also be used in this function. Let us give an example of the use in the explantor function of language units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content - the word cross in the meaning of "severe trials, suffering" ^{[21, p. 112]}: And this means that two people should form one harmonious person. And this is creation, this is creativity, and I would say that it is more difficult than owning a watercolor. And it is also a cross for life (John (Krestyankin)). In the considered function, religious names are mainly used in spiritual letters, since most of them are addressed to spiritual disciples and contain explanations of various phenomena related to the Christian faith.

The study of the functioning of religious names in Russian ecclesiastical and religious auto-documentary texts leads to a number of conclusions, the main of which is the following: the use of theonyms, hagioanthroponyms, icononyms, Christian georthonyms, linguistic units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content and other religious names becomes emblematic for spiritual letters, diaries and memoirs, we can say that It is shown that the functioning of all types of religious names considered by us in the course of the study is a stylistic feature of church-religious auto-documentary texts and distinguishes them from other texts of this property functioning in journalistic and artistic styles. The variety of religious names and the frequency of their use, noted by us when analyzing the texts under study, allow us to speak about the richness of the language of church writers and the high level of their speech culture. The use of the considered religious names in pictorial, characterological, emotive, evaluative, prescriptive, syndicative, sense-forming, axiological, text-forming, nominative, explantor functions also indicates a high level of proficiency in Russian by the authors of the texts studied and is a feature of the functioning of religious names in spiritual letters, diaries and memoirs. It is also specific that religious names are used in their direct, religious meanings, and constitute a special semantic core of the field of linguistic means used by the authors to express their thoughts, affirm ideas. The frequency and ways of using religious names by church writers indicate that they are part of their vocabulary, the appeal to them is natural and reflects the religious-Christian worldview of the authors, in contrast to the artificial use of religious names by some authors of journalistic texts, resorting to them intentionally to achieve a stylistic effect in some cases, in general, not using religious vocabulary due to the lack of immersion in Christian culture, in some cases – isolation from it.

The results of the presented research are part of a large work on the study of Russian Christian vocabulary, which, among other things, includes lexicography of language units belonging to the corpus of Orthodox vocabulary of spiritual and moral content, language units denoting Christian texts, in addition, it is part of the planned work to promote the development of methods and models for the analysis of religious texts, which is one of the ways of development of Russian theolinguistics. Prospects for further research are seen in continuing to study the functioning of religious names in the works of Russian church writers, expanding the typology and examining in more detail the features of the existence of each type. In addition, the prospects for further work include the creation of a dictionary of religious names. In the future, it is also planned to consider the functioning of religious names in the works of Russian classical literature, in particular in the texts of A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, F. I. Tyutchev, F. M. Dostoevsky and other authors.

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The article was received by the editorial office on 08.04.22