The speech act 'silence' in the structure of sacred communication

The article is devoted to the study of the speech act «silence» which is considered as an integral part of interpersonal sacred communication. In this article, for the first time, the communicative situation is analyzed on the basis of the texts of the Holy Scripture, when a believer acts as a speaker, and God becomes the silent addressee. The involvement of the addressant – the speaker and the addressee – the silent God in the communicative process becomes a distinctive feature of the sacred communicative act «silence». The study shows that silence is an obvious significant structural component of interaction. Targeting, intentionality and purposefulness can be considered the main communicative characteristics of silence as a speech act. Analyzing the biblical material, the author of the article comes to the following conclusions: 1) silence, unlike other speech acts, becomes more effective in an interpersonal sacred situation; 2) silence is the most expressive and convenient way of transmitting information; 3) silence is a strategic tool that is used to express a communicative goal related to the spiritual transformation of a person; 4) silence in interpersonal communication is used by God as a means of influencing the interlocutor; 5) the perception of silence by the listener depends on the communicative situation, and the correct interpretation of the addressee's intentions directly depends on the addressant's presuppositional spiritual knowledge. The results of the study are important in order to understand the essence of religious communication, to have an objective idea of the process of religious communication.