This paper pertains to the relationship between the veneration of icons and the acts of their insult in nineteenth-century Imperial Russia, the starting point of which are fragments of the polemical writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky (about The Sealed Angel by Nikolai Leskov) and his novel Demons. Dostoevsky often touches on the subject of popular beliefs, reactions to inappropriate behaviour towards icons. He also deals with the issue of the material value of icons. The works of the writer (and other authors) contained descriptions of the feelings evoked by icons and the ways of handling with them among Russians. Therefore, these texts should be taken into account in future studies of nineteenth-century icons.
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