The book by Aleksey Sergeevich Uvarov (1825–1884), famous collector, archeologist, honourary member of the Ac. of Sc. (1857), founder of the Uvarov’s award (since 1857); it was published in 1908 on the recommendation of the Moscow Archeological Society, the Chairman of which was the wife of the author, Countess Praskovia Sergeevna Uvarova. He did not have time to finish his work, and publication was prepared by his widow and his disciples – outstanding scholars N. P. Kondakov, D. V. Ainalov, and E. V. Redin; S. V. Zhebelev helped them with the proof reading. The book became the biggest publication of Early Christian epigraphic. The second part of the book, ‘Russian Symbolism’, was partly published in 1999.
The work is started with the story of the roots of Christian symbolism; the author used a great volume of Early Christian epigraphic; he wanted to show the difference between that Christian worldview – and that one contemporary to U. He analyzed the symbolical layers connected with Christian rituals (sacraments, liturgics). There important etudes on certain symbols (boat, fisherman’s tools, fish, bird, etc.). The book was a phenomenon of intellectual history, the first fundamental research of Early Christian symbolism in Russian. Reflecting norms and views of the research of the second half of the nineteenth century, the book not only preserves the results of studies of that epoch, but also serves as a preliminary step for further works.