Abstract: With a strong religious and cultural heritage of Russian literature, Turgenev's novels, outwardly, are tinted with little Christian tradition. However, his works inwardly contain the potential Christian (Eastern Orthodoxy) proposition. In his representative novels, the Christian proposition is embodied by two kinds of cultural representations-“wandering” and “taboo”. Wandering is an ideal life pattern for Orthodox Christians, and also a way to break away from the shackles of the worldly achievements. However, taboo is an obstacle to the secular achievements and a guarantee of keeping people wandering. In fact, wandering is his lifelong pursuit and practice which are achieved by his protagonists with wandering personalities. The wandering personalities imply the Christian interpretation for the hero who is in pursuit of the spiritual mortification instead of the secular achievements. In Turgenev's novel, Rudin, as a redundant person, fails to meet the standard of “hero”. Therefore, Turgenev creates another “action” hero, Insarov. However, the “action” virtually violates author's views on the standard of “hero”. Thus, in the process of crossing “taboo” to “being punished”, Turgenev deconstructs the meaning of the protagonist's action, ultimately returning to the hero with conviction.

Key words: I. S. Turgenev, Christian, wandering, taboo, concept of hero