"If the age aspires to the abyss, it is better to get behind it" – the biblical text in the novel by B.A. Sadovsky "The Sixth Hour"

The article’s materials complement the topic “Christianity and Russian literature” based on the example of B.A.Sadovsky’s novel “The Sixth Hour”. B.A.Sadovskaya (1881-1952) is known as the author of historical novels devoted to the study of the causes of the fall of the monarchical system in Russia in the twentieth century. He examines the history of Russia from the time of Peter I to Nicholas II from the point of view of Orthodox historiosophy. The author of the article describes the role and significance of the biblical text in creating an apocalyptic artistic picture of the world in B.A.Sadovsky’s novel “The Sixth Hour”. The biblical text was introduced by the writer into the titles (the title complex), represented by quotations from the New Testament, and is present at the level of associative symbolism in the images (names) of the characters. The novelty of the research is determined not only by the insufficient study of the writer’s literary heritage and the lack of full-fledged works on his novel work, but also by the attempt to present the novel “The Sixth Hour” by B.A.Sadovsky as a warning novel that Russia must return to monarchy and Orthodoxy as the only sources of its civilizational existence.The author concludes that the biblical text in B.A.Sadovsky’s novel “The Sixth Hour” defines its stylistic unity and forms an idea of the author’s historiosophical concept, in which pre-revolutionary and pre-war Russia is depicted as a place of battle between good and evil, emphasizing the inevitability of its sacrificial path as a condition for its future revival.