Ethos rycerski św. Joanny d’Arc w religijno-historiozoficznej koncepcji Dymitra Mereżkowskiego
St. Joan of Arc’s Ethos of Chivalry in Dimitry Merezhkovsky’s Religious-Historiosophical Conception

Author(s): Alina Sobol
Subject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Joan of Arc; mysticism; Dimitry Merezhkovsky; sainthood
Summary/Abstract: In the following article, the author performs an analysis of the atypical concept of the ethos of chivalry as outlined by Dimitry Merezhkovsky in the historical essay Joan of Arc.According to the Russian symbolist writer, Joan of Arc’s ethos of chivalry must be understood first and foremost through the prism of faith and her religiousness, rather than solely in the context of the saint’s battlefield conduct (undoubtedly this interpretation of ethos was influenced by Merezhkovsky’s historiosophical concept concerning the Third Kingdom of the Spirit, into which Joan was expected to guide, and by the conviction about war beingthe worst form of spiritual enslavement of man). Merezhkovsky calls St. Joan of Arc – a Crusader of God. He emphasizes her uniqueness among her contemporary knights situating her in the world full of barbarity, blood and cruelty, the world that is religious, yet paradoxically, devoid of God. As seen by Merezhkovsky, Joan of Arc’s character and conduct should also be viewed in a broader context: through the prism of Merezhkovsky’s contemporary geopolitical situation (living through World War I and in the world at the threshold of another war, he sees the saint as a paragon of chivalry and a patron of a contemporary soldier).

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