«Crime and Punishment»: mystical novel about the birth of the Savior in the world of the evil Demiurge

Евлампиев, Игорь Иванович

doi:10.17588/2076-9210.2020.3.140-156

Solov’evskie Issledovaniya

2020

DOI: 10.17588/2076-9210.2020.3.140-156

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«Crime and Punishment»: mystical novel about the birth of the Savior in the world of the evil Demiurge

Игорь Иванович Евлампиев

Abstract: The article proposes a new interpretation of F.M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment”. It is shown that in addition to realistic and socio-psychological plans, the novel contains a symbolic and mystical plan, which is the main one. A detailed analysis of the text of the novel and the preparatory manuscripts for it suggests that Dostoevsky used as the basis of the novel the Gnostic myth of our world as the creation of the evil God the Demiurge and of the fallen Sophia (lower divine aeon), who was captured… Show more

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“…It has also been recorded that many of Raskolnikov's traits and elements of his story hint at his likeness to Jesus Christ [23]. Summarizing all these observations, one can conclude that there is an apparent realistic and sociopsychological plan of depiction in the novel and a mystical-mythological one, in which many elements of the Gnostic myth are coherently presented [24].…”

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Dostoevsky's Christianity

Евлампиев

Смирнов

2021

Vestn. Ross. univ. družby nar., Ser. Filosofiâ

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The article refutes the widespread view that Dostoevsky's Christian beliefs were strictly Orthodox. It is proved that Dostoevsky's religious and philosophical searches' central tendency is the criticism of historical, ecclesiastical Christianity as a false, distorted form of the teaching of Jesus Christ and the desire to restore this teaching in its original purity. Modern researchers of the history of early Christianity find more and more arguments in favor of the fact that the actual teaching of Jesus Christ is contained in that religious movement, which the church called the Gnostic heresy. The exact philosophical expression of the teaching of Christ was received in the later works of J.G. Fichte, whose ideas had a strong influence on the Russian writer. Like Fichte, Dostoevsky understands Christ as the first person who showed the possibility of revealing God in himself and gaining divine omnipotence and eternal life directly in earthly reality. In this sense, every person can become like Christ. Dostoevsky's main characters walk the path of Christ and show how difficult this path is. The article shows that Dostoevsky used in his work not only the philosophical version of true (Gnostic) Christianity developed by German philosophy (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel), but also the key motives of the Gnostic myth, primarily the idea that our world, filled with evil and suffering, is created not by the supreme, good God-Father, but by the evil Demiurge, the Devil (in this sense, it is hell).

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confidence: 86%

Dostoevsky's Christianity

Евлампиев

Смирнов

2021

Vestn. Ross. univ. družby nar., Ser. Filosofiâ

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The Problem of “Higher Individuals” in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky

Евлампиев

2021

Solov’evskie Issledovaniya

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This article deals with the controversial issue of F.M. Dostoevsky’s concept of “Higher Individuals.” The latter are people who rise above other people and have a special influence on society and on history. The authors argue that this concept is most clearly expressed in “The Diary of a Writer” (1876) as well as in the story “The Sentence”, along with Dostoevsky’s commentaries on this story. By means of a detailed analysis of Raskolnikov’s “theory” within the novel “Crime and Punishment”, it is demonstrated that only a superficial version of the concept of “higher individuals” is refuted in the heroes’ argumentations; at the same time, the novel’s characters – Marmeladov, his wife Katerina Ivanovna, and Raskolnikov – can be viewed as examples of different degrees in the personal accomplishment of this “higher personality” state. In conclusion, it is observed how a person must go through three stages of development in order to become a “higher character”: firstly, the experience of an existential crisis and the understanding of the lack of meaning in one’s life; secondly, the “rebellion” against the Creator of the world and its laws along with the rejection of the traditional church faith, whose rejection leads this person on the edge of suicide; thirdly, the acquisition of a new faith, first of all, a faith in one’s immortality, which happens in an unusual, unorthodox form, as is well demonstrated by the character of Svidrigailov in Dostoevsky’s novel. According to Dostoevsky’s doctrine, the meaning ofimmortality lies in the continuation of a person’s existence in a new form in the earthly world or in a “parallel” world similar to the earthly one, and not in the ideal Kingdom of Heaven, as the church claims. Finally, the authors maintain that the process of a character’s transformation into a “higher individual” was consistently and fully described by Dostoevsky in the stories of Raskolnikov and Ivan Karamazov.

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Demiurge and Sophia in the world of Star Trek: gnostic ideas in the film «USS Callister»

Ishchenko¹

2022

Semiotic studies

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The article analyzes the plan of expression and the plan of content of the American film USS Callister (2017) using the structural-semantic method. Four levels of analysis of signs in cinema are considered: three types signs that make up the characterological trait of a personality, referring to a character understood as an individuality, which in turn is a symbolic expression of a myth. In the film text USS Callister the gnostic images of the Demiurge and Sophia are created by means of cinematography, and such gnostic ideas as the hierarchy of the worlds, the abhorrence to flesh, souls life in the material world under the reign of the evil demiurge and the salvation-destruction of the world by Sophia, have been implemented into the plot. The film also refutes the gnostic idea that the God of the Old Testament is the evil demiurge of the gnostic cosmos via semantic mimicry. The film visualizes the gnostic mythology about two Sophias, earthly and heavenly, whose reunion marks the destruction of the material world and the humiliation of the Demiurge. The protagonist of the film a genius programmer Robert Daly, who has created еру the modding of Boundlessness on his PC, in which he has reconstructed the Callister starship. The crew has been created using the Daly co-workers DNA to create sentient digital clones of them. When Nanette Cole, a genius female programmer, who has been copied into the above-mentioned modding, she is able to get in touch with her celestial incarnation, execute a break plan and, as the result, the whole artificial world is destroyed together with the demiurge. The film recreates gnostic mythology for an audience thinking in terms of 20th century American culture, and more specifically in the famous sci-fi franchise Star Trek.

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«Crime and Punishment»: mystical novel about the birth of the Savior in the world of the evil Demiurge

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Dostoevsky's Christianity

Dostoevsky's Christianity

The Problem of “Higher Individuals” in the Works of F.M. Dostoevsky

Demiurge and Sophia in the world of Star Trek: gnostic ideas in the film «USS Callister»

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