The fragment of the “Sermon” by Vladimir Monomakh in which the prince tells about his hunting feats dating back to the time of his reign in Chernigov is considered. This description is recognized as reliable, but at the same time affected a literary influence of a number of works included in the circle of reading of the prince. Among such works are the apocryphal “Covenant of Judah”, the story of the First Book of Kings about David’s struggle with wild beasts, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians of the Apostle Paul and a chronicle article about the devil’s temptation of hermit Isaky from Kiev-Pechersk. These texts were used by Vladimir as literary samples in a functional and partly meaningful way. Therefrom, he borrowed the narrative model and individual images, thereby giving the story about himself not only an instructive character, but also a sacred meaning associated with the memory of the contexts of his sources.