The problem of theft depravity in traditional Russian culture(middle of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century)

Abstract

This article touches upon the problem of perceiving and comprehending the theft within its interrelationship with the concept of sin, which is in its turn considered to be one of the most important notions of the Christian ethics. Considering this very aspect theft studies make it easy to pinpoint certain peculiarities of the traditional sense of justice and national morality. In terms of temporal perspective the idea of sin correlates with an image of theft victim. Then the larceny turns into a certain visitation for the recently committed offence or crime. Thus, we can draw up a certain cause-and-effect line: any crime or offence entails punishment, which is actually a crime aimed at somebody, who has committed the crime first. In this case we can talk about the synonymy of crime and punishment as well as about the cumulation of sin.