UDC

130.3+236.9

DOI

10.37482/2687-1505-V185

Authors

Aleksandr M. Prilutskiy
The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia; nab. reki Moyki 48, korp. 20, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7013-9935 e-mail: alpril@mail.ru

Abstract

Traditionally, a double (or doppelgänger) is considered to be a personified part of one’s consciousness or subconsciousness, social experience, behavioural patterns, etc. represented as an independent actor of social relations (in a literary text, an independent character or a character claiming independence). Doubles are characters that have something in common. The study of the doubles phenomenon is often limited to artistic discourse, its religious interpretation, including in eschatological narratives, being poorly investigated. In the Christian tradition, the eschatological interpretation of doubles goes back to early Christian hermeneutics of the New Testament texts about false apostles and the Antichrist. This article analyses the mythology of doubles formed under the influence of modern eschatology. In terms of hermeneutics, modern versions of the theological mythologeme of doubles are attempts at an apocalyptic interpretation of information technology, while information models are assigned the role of demonic doppelgängers. Thus, a binary opposition is formed: the real world created by God vs the digital world of the Antichrist, functioning in a similar way to binary oppositions of mythological discourse. The content analysis of modern eschatological discourse identified the following key mythologemes of doubles in it: digital double-image, digital kingdom of the Antichrist, doubles of rulers and prominent personalities. The abovementioned mythologemes are analysed using the methods of semiotic and hermeneutic analysis. The sources of the study are original texts of the prophetic and pseudo-prophetic genres, popular among Orthodox subcultures, but found in the canon of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) as well.

Keywords

modern eschatology, digitalization, a person’s digital image, modern information technologies, semiotics of religion, mythology of doubles, digital double

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