The Gospel Tradition of Number Symbolism in Twentieth-Century Russian Poetry

The article discusses the issues of studying and interpreting number symbolism in a literary work and characteristics of gospel number symbolism in the Christian context. In 20th-century Russian literature, the Christian tradition had a decisive impact on shaping the meaning of number symbolism. An important feature of the Christian symbolism of numbers is the correlation of number symbolism with two spheres, which can be designated as “positive” (sacral) and “negative” (sinful). The author proposes a methodology for interpreting number symbolism, which comprises three stages: 1) a description of the numbers in a literary text, 2) the correlation of these numbers with the tradition of number symbolism, 3) the interpretation of the meaning of number symbolism, which is an integral part of literary work. The article also distinguishes between two concepts — that of the number image and of the image of number, and substantiates the differences in interpretation of such images. Theoretical notions are supported by the interpretation of number symbolism in the poems of Boris Pasternak, Zinaida Gippius and Alexander Blok, where it is presented explicitly. Other images, motifs and concepts presented in the literary works augmented and added complexity to the tradition of gospel number symbolism in the poems of these authors.