EARLY BYZANTINE TRADITIONS IN THE NOVEL ?ODYSSEUS POLIHRONIADES? BY K. N. LEONTYEV

Despite the current interest in the works of Konstantin Leontyev, scholars have so far mainly addressed his philosophic and political essays, with his works of fiction attracting considerably less attention. Our article is devoted to one of Leontyev least studied text ? the novel Odysseus Polihroniades, which the author himself considered his best work. The novel is written as memoirs of a Greek man from Zagora and is based on real-life events. We have traced a link between the writer's outlook as reflected in his essays and the proto-Byzantine tradition as defined by S. S. Averintsev which plays an important role in the novel. An important feature of the early Byzantine culture is the synthesis of the Christian and the heathen. We examine the issue of mutual influence of the classical and Christian traditions in Leontyev's texts. We also suggest that “old age in infancy” is one of the key motifs of the novel. Greek characters have specific speech features, with the emphasis on Gospel language preserved in patriarchal Greek society. The article concludes by reaffirming the thesis of affinity existing between Leontyev's view of the world and the early Byzantine religious consciousness.