Contenu du sommaire : La figure de Judas Iscariote dans la culture russe

On the Mitigation of the Sorrows of Hell in the Legends of Judas The legend of Judas, related by Jacques de Voragine in the Golden Legend and spread in Russia from the 15th century, does not mention the destiny of the traitor. It is obvious that he goes to hell, but in some medieval texts (in particular in the Navigation of Saint Brendan), one сап find the pattern of a mitigation of the sorrows of hell for one or several days. In Russia, this pattern only appears at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century (by Gor´kij, Remizov, Vološin). The principal theological justification of the redemption of Judas is due to S. Bulgakov («Judas Iscariot the treacherous Apostle», Put´, 1931).

The Last Supper, a picture by the Peredvižnik Nikolaj Ge: Opposition Between Profane and Sacred: Judas in the Byzantine Hymnography Describing the picture (the center of which is Judas, an enormous shadow facing the Christ), the A. stresses its inadequacy in relation to Ge's sources (the Gospel) deprived of their sacred character. This provoked a scandai in Russian society (1863). The Orthodox party was shocked by the profanation of the «colossal event» (Dostoevskij), «foundation of Christianity» (Pogodin). On the contrary, the Peredvižniki (and the Radicals) admired it. Most of them were positivists and did not confess Jesus Christ' s divinity. In 1886, Tolstoj wrote a commentary for his disciple' s picture. The most important according to him was Christ' s love for Judas, His ennemy. In 1891, encouraged by his master, Ge painted a picture of Judas alone. Tolstoj wanted him to stress the feeling of pity for Judas. This kind of approach is in contradiction with the hymnography where predominates a repulsion for the avaricious «demon», etc. Certain critics of the time considered Judas as a religious nationalist, a sort of «Old Believer» of fanatic Judaism. Yet is any kind of apology possible for a Christian who considers the traitor as a deicide? Can an attitude of mercy and hope for his salvation exist? Though the problem of his eternal destiny remains a mystery, Saint Isaac the Syrian — who had a great influence on Russian religious thinkers and especialy on Dostoevskij — prayed 'even for démons'. There are 'no limits to God's mercy', he insists. However, the fear of becoming a Judas is typical of the Russian religious mind, and it may be due to the hymnography of the Holy Week reinforced by the prayer constantly repeated when the Holy Eucharist is celebrated: 'I shall not give Thee a kiss like Judas'. Looking nowadays on Ge's picture, one might see in the gigantic shadow facing the Christ ail the Judas who, during the Soviet persecutions, condemned to death millions of innocents (the novomučeniki), i.e. re-crucified Jesus. A Russian Judas? Probably. The most dramatic figure of the Bible has deeply influenced the religious mentality and the culture issued from it.

'Added to the Evil': the Theme of Betrayal in the Poem Judas by A. Remizov The spread of autobiographical themes in Remizov's works was also seen in places, where it was hardly imaginable in the way. Не often added some autobiographical features to his versions of apocryphal stories. Moreover, for Remizov the choice of the apocryphal story is strongly dependent on his autobiographical features. That is why his poem Judas (1903) is worth essential attention. Due to the high importance of the motif of betrayal in his own biography, he also chose it as a subject of his writings. By the time he wrote Judas, Remizov's biography concealed two épisodes tighly connected with the theme of betrayal. Concerning the two themes of betrayal and rejection in the story of Judas, the poem is an attempt not only to give explanation to the evangelic story, but to explain some of his own biography as well. Well-known is writer's saying: 'While listening The Passion of Matthias by Bach I could clearly hear the weakening of Peter in the tinkling story told by the Evangelist, and after the cock-crow did I feel sharply the despair of Judas. What sort of sin or crime caused this feeling in me? I think that I was born into this world in the wrong time. As though I wormed myself into this world without being neither wanted nor welcome.' Remizov implicitly identified himself with Judas and his tale of Judas is simultaneously a tale of himself.

Who is Leonid Andreev's Judas? Interpretations of luda Iskariot usually fall into two camps. Some writers emphasise the philosophical problems (the so-called 'eternal issues') in which L. Andreev was considered an expert. Others, however, refer to the contemporary political context, which was, around 1905, especially characterised by the theme of betrayal. Our own reading of luda Iskariot is, on the other hand, essentially autobiographical. Among the correspondence between M. Gor'kij and L. Andreev one саn find a number of letters which, by their tone, subject matter and even certain specific turns of phrase suggest that the relationship between these two writers сап be compared to that between Judas and Christ in Andreev's story. It is possible to view Leonid Andreev's Judas as nоnе other than Leonid Andreev himself.

M. Vološin's Judas: 'Stumbling Stone' or 'Cornerstone' of the Gospel Christ' s best disciple, distinguished by the communion of salt. The 'stumbling stone' of the Last Supper's underlying meaning, concealed by Tradition. The apostle made heroic through the purity of his sacrifice. A man worthy of inspiring artists in accordance with the holy texts... In Maximilian Vološin's very first article dedicated to the representation of the Mystery of the Oberammergau Passion in 1900, one can find both the problematics and ail the elements of the enigma of Judas, which haunted him from 1906 to his death and which he developed more than any other writer of the Silver Age through numerous critiques, conferences, essays and poems. With erudition and passion, Vološin jointly explored the trail of both the Apocrypha and Gnostics, and never stopped expanding the rich theme of moral and political implications, historical and metaphysical perspectives... to such an extent that after the Bolshevik Revolution, he made it the 'cornerstone' of his historiosophic reflection on the Paths of Russia and the role of Jews in the economy of Salvation.