Saint John of the Cross, or San Juan de la Cruz (1542-1591) was a great Spanish mystic, poet and theologian. His poetry and his treatises on the soul are considered among the greatest works of Spanish literature. In 1726 he was canonized and in 1926 proclaimed a teacher of the Catholic Church. His works influenced the poets of the "generation of 1927" (Damaso Alonso, Jorge Guillen, Federico Garcia Lorca, etc.), as well as T. S. Eliot. He inspired philosophers and theologians (Edith Stein, Jacques Maritain, Thomas Merton) and artists (Salvador Dali). Pope John Paul II wrote a dissertation on the mystical theology of John the Cross. Songs of the Soul is the first edition in Russian of the complete collection of his poems, prepared by the poet and philologist Maria Ignatieva (Oganisyan). The book includes a biographical sketch, key fragments of all four treatises of John the Cross ("Ascent to Mount Carmel", "Dark Night", "Spiritual Hymn" and "Flame of Living Love") and articles about his literary heritage.