Today, the ideas of the Russian monarch or Russia itself as “katechon” are popular in the right‑conservative circles, and on this basis attempts are made to explain the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent events of the twentieth century as a fight against “katechon” up to his “ritual murder”. According to these views, the Freemasons and Jews were responsible for the Revolution, as they were preparing the coming of the Antichrist. What role such representations played in pre‑revolutionary and revolutionary Russia and whom did they attract?

Based on the extensive collection of interviews with Soviet, mostly Ukrainian, Jews born before World War II, the essay examines changes in their reading experience and reading priorities from Bible-centered religious booklore to kulturnost’ — a broad bookish culture of the Soviet intelligentsia.