Ethnopoetic Aspects of I. S. Shmelev’s Prose in Short Stories “Christ’s All-Night Vigil” and “The Light of Reason”

Based on the shortstories “Christ‘s All-Night Vigil” and “The Light of Reason,” this article examines the ethno-poetic aspects of the “parish prose” of Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelev, a writer of the first wave of Russian emigration whose work is deeply connected to the Orthodox Christian worldview. It reflects the specifics of the spiritual life of the individual and society within the context of the historical changes in early 20th-century Russia. The study focuses on identifying and analyzing the features of parish prose. Currently regarded as a phenomenon of the contemporary literary process, the genesis of this genre is nonetheless inextricably linked to the philosophical and artistic quests of precursor writers such as F. M. Dostoevsky, N. S. Leskov, B. K. Zaitsev, and I. S. Shmelev himself. Shmelev’s late work is marked by an evolution from critical to spiritual realism: the significance of liturgical and non-liturgical parish motifs increases, becoming sacred symbols of the loss and eventual return of Russia as a spiritual ideal for the writer. The article analyzes key motifs and artistic devices (categories of sacred time, symbolic imagery, themes of repentance and sanctity) that convey the depth of inner spiritual experience and the importance of Orthodox world perception amidst changing historical and cultural realities. It is concluded that an analysis of selected shortstories by Shmelev through the prism of ethno-poetics and axiology helps to reveal not only the literary and stylistic specifics of the writer’s works but also new ways of perceiving Russian spirituality and Orthodox values in émigré literature. This approach creates a perspective for further research into the genre of parish prose and spiritual literature within Russian culture.