Erotapokriseis of Pseudo-Kaisarios

In the article the mechanic omissions and mistakes in the text of the Erotapokriseis of Pseudo-Kaisarios are analyzes on the bases of the textological examination of nine of so far eleven known Slavonic copies of the composition. It is established that in it there are three types of absences of text: 1) due to a lack of pages in the hyparchetype of part of the existing testimonies, 2) due to a physical defect in the Old-Bulgarian protograph, from which the Russian copies derive and 3) absences which occurred during the translation. Published for the first time are fragments, which were absent from the edition done by arch. Leonid. In the article some typical mistakes and new meanings are also studied, whose appearance is related to the technology of the translation. The number of the mistakes, which could not have been made if the text had been before the translator’s eyes, leads to the assumption that the translation of the Erotapokriseis was probably done through dictation, aloud pronunciation of the Greek text.

The Slavonic translation of the Erotapokriseis of Pseudo-Kaisarios was made in the first quarter of the X century, but was kept only in Russian manuscripts from XV-XVII century, where it is distributed under a new title and with considerable absences of texts in the beginning and end of the work. The article is dedicated to the composition of the questions and answers in the Erotapokriseis. Examined is the possibility to obtain data about the translation itself, as well as its Greek prototype, from the organization and segmentation of the Slavonic text. The data studied in the article show that the translation of the Erotapokriseis was made completely, without eliminating parts of the text of adding others. The exposed arguments lead to the conclusion that the reason for the absences of text in the Russian copies is a physical fault in their Bulgarian protograph.