Old Russian literacy: experiences of reading and source interpretation. In memory of Vladimir Vladimirovich Milkov (1951–2021) and Ram Alexandrovich Simonov (1929–2023) (Moscow, December 16, 2024)

Abstract. The paper is review of the National research conference “Old Russian literacy: experiences of reading and source comprehension. In memory of Vladimir Vladimirovich Milkov (1951–2021) and Ram Alexandrovich Simonov (1929–2023)”, held on December 16, 2024 in Moscow, at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The conference was organized by the Department of the History of Russian Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the editorial board of the journal “Paleorosia. Medieval Russia: in time, in personalities, in ideas”. The conference has become an interdisciplinary platform for discussing a wide range of issues related to the Old Russian literature and its impact on the history and culture of Russia. The conference participants discussed church law issues of the Russian Middle Ages, considered philosophical and theological aspects of Old Russian literature (diophysitistic and soteriological views of Joseph Volotskii, the “intellectual resource” of Simeon Polotskii and his methods of working with bibliographic sources, the legacy of Kirill Turovskii, etc.), touched upon new perspectives for studying The Life of Arsenii Konevskii, the image of the “Great City” in the books of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus’, Slavic-Russian polytheism and the possibility of understanding Philip Monotrope’s “Dioptra” in the context of the problems of contemporary education.

Keywords: V.V. Milkov, R.A. Simonov, the history of Medieval Rus’, textual criticism, Old Russian philosophy.