A short story “The Pure Monday” by Ivan Bunin in the light of Christian anthropology
The article is dedicated to the analysis of Ivan Bunin’s short story “Pure Monday” in the light of some provisions of the Christian anthropology. The author explains the inconsistency of the heroine’s character in terms of the Christian doctrine on trichotomic composition of the human nature, interaction among the spirit, soul and body according to the concept described by saint bishop Theophan the Recluse. The author makes an attepmt to interpret the reasons of the heroine’s moral fall through the Orthodox concept on the interaction of the three forces immanent to the human soul formulated i.a. by Venerable Ephraim the Syrian and Symeon the New Theologian. In the conclusion the author proposes a way of interpretation of the end of the “Pure Monday”, stating that going away to the Convent of Martha and Mary for the female protagonist is not the result but rather the commencement of her spiritual warfare, and for the male protagonist of the story the dreamlike encounter with his sweetheart becomes the point of the possible spiritual metamorphosis and finding of the genuine Christian love to the heroine.