The oldest Romanian translations of the work of St. Symeon the New Theologian circulated in two ways: a corpus of 24 discourses and in a fragmentary form. The first one consists of 6 Catechesis, 16 Hymns, 62 Practical and Theological Chapters and the Pseudo-simeonian Method of prayer. Six sermons and the Method survive in the oldest Romanian manuscript: Prodromos No. 1 (3674), issued in 1766. These were selected from the newly translated corpus of the 24 slovo, as attested by Staretz Basil of Poiana Mărului’s letter of 1766 to his apprentice Alexios. According to the same letter, the work of St. Symeon had been already known to the monks from Poiana Mărului Skete (Buzău county) but in a fragmentary form. This is a different translation produced, therefore, ante 1766. The oldest Romanian manuscript that preserves this translation is Rom. MS Slatina Monastery II-1 from 1763. In this case, the manuscript witnesses a process of selecting excerpts from some of the Catechesis, Hymns and Practical Chapters.
Subject: Debuts Language and Literature Studies Studies of Literature Philology Translation Studies Theory of Literature Keywords: Symeon the New Theologian the community of Paisius Velichkovsky complete/ fragmentary circulation Romanian textual tradition ascetic miscellaniesCopyright © 2024. All rights reserved.