Stepanova* Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia Received 14.02.2015, received in revised form 20.04.2015, accepted 23.05.2015 This article deals with the models of Christian feasts as an important plot-constructing topos of Rasputin’s prose. <...> The Christian orientation of the writer’s prose manifests itself in his oeuvre in signs, symbols and logical system of the plot, which is associated with the Orthodox picture of the world. <...> The motif of death, leading to the creation of the writer, is developed in accordance with the logic of the Christian feasts: Candlemas, Assumption, Transfi guration, Resurrection and Ascension. <...> The models are signifi cantly transformed; Christianity is presented at the level of intentions in the dialogue with the pagan, indicating that the writer’s worldview is dual. <...> It is important to understand the convention of festive models incarnation since the text is not composed upon the canon. <...> However, the idea of death, formed in Orthodox culture through the feasts as well (one of the fi rst actions aimed at the destruction of paganism was replacing pagan feast by the Christian ones), is refl ected in the V. Rasputin’s prose. <...> Summing up, we could say that the choice of festive models and rites, associated with it, is a sign of new emphases in the writer’s worldview. <...> However, one cannot deny the fact that V. Rasputin’s works display not only their Christian foundation but also the elements of paganism (brownies, mermaids, the Owner of Vasilina А. <...> Rasputin’s later work gets a trace of speculative metaphysics (Rybal’chenko, 2007, 6-26) as a variant of an intellectual hero’s transformed religion. <...> Yet, these are Christian or Russian agrarian feasts that are most commonly chosen as time reference points. <...> Models of Candlemas and Assumption as feasts of preparation to death Perception of death as a feast roots from the faith in the Resurrection of Christ and immortality of the soul. <...> It is a common thing throughout Rasputin’s mature works: the old woman Anna sees a rainbow at the moment of enlightenment before death; dying Nastyona hears the bells “calling <.> someone to holiday” (Rasputin, 2007b, 254); in “Farewell to Matyora” (1976) decorating the houses (izbas) before the fl ood is accompanied with festive rituals – making <...>