Literary Texts

Guidelines to Repertorium Initiative XML Model for Manuscripts Descriptions

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Remarks on the Grammar of the Slavonic Dioptra. Part I: Orthography and Phonetics

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The Ancient Armenian Translations of Greek Philosophical Texts: the Works of David the Invincible Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 10-11, 2012 floyd Wed, 12/26/2012 - 12:28

Les origines de la littérature arménienne, au début du Ve siècle, sont directement associées à une entreprise de traduction d'œuvres religieuses. Les Arméniens traduisirent tout d'abord la Bible et les écrits des Pères de l'Église grecque et syriaque dans le but de parachever l'évangélisation de l'Arménie commencée un siècle auparavant. Essentiellement religieuse d'abord, l'activité des “écoles” de traduction arméniennes s'ouvrit néanmoins très tôt à d'autres courants. À la fin du Ve siècle, les Arméniens tournèrent leur attention également vers les œuvres profanes qu'ils avaient pu connaître grâce à la fréquentation des écoles grecques de l'Antiquité. A l'époque de l'“Ecole hellénisante” (Ve-VIIIe s.), ils traduisirent ainsi des œuvres de grammaire, rhétorique et philosophie dans le but de favoriser en Arménie aussi la création d'un cursus studiorum. Le corpus philosophique arménien en particulier, qui comprend les traductions d'une partie des œuvres d'Aristote, Porphyre, David, Philon, etc., révèle plusieurs coïncidences avec les programmes en usage dans les Ecoles néoplatoniciennes d'Athènes et d'Alexandrie. La comparaison du corpus arménien avec le répertoire des œuvres philosophiques traduites en syriaque à la même époque montre par ailleurs plusieurs affinités qui permettent de supposer la circulation d'un corpus d'œuvres grecques commun dans ces deux régions. Il convient ainsi de souligner l'importance de ces deux communautés orientales pour la transmission de l'héritage classique à une époque où l'on a pu parler de “siècles obscurs” à propos du cœur même de l'Empire. Si la filiation gréco-syro-arabe de l'aristotélisme est bien connue, la réception du corpus philosophique grec en arménien reste un domaine peu exploré, qui mériterait d'être mieux étudié et de sortir du cadre exclusif des études arméniennes. Le but de cette communication est de présenter dans ses lignes principales ce corpus, en partant de l'expérience d'un projet de recherche récemment dirigé par l'Université de Genève, en collaboration avec l'Institut des manuscrits d'Erevan, portant sur les Commentaria in Aristotelem Armeniaca (Davidis Opera).

Subject: Literary Texts Armenian literature Early 5th c. Neoplatonic School of Athens and Alexandria David the Invincible

Old Christian Hymns (Adversus Eumdem) in Byzantium and the Poetry of Georgian Romanticism

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A Short Overview of the Nationalised Peculiarities of the Abgar Legend in Georgian, Armenian and Slavonic traditions

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Medieval Georgian Polemical Literature Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 10-11, 2012 floyd Wed, 12/26/2012 - 12:22

Religious polemics is not the most developed genre of the medieval Georgian literature. Compared to the neighbouring Armenia medieval Georgia was far less affected by various Christian denominations and has produced rather few original theological works in the first five centuries of literacy. We know of very few samples of writing that targeted various Christian denominations or non-Christian religions. Instead the medieval Georgian literature abounds of translations of Greek texts that were adapted to suit immediate needs, whether educational or polemical. The true outburst of religious polemics coincides with the so-called Athonite period of the Georgian literature, when a number of such works were translated and actively edited on the Holy Mountain, Mt. Sinai, Petition monastery and other cultural centers. In the eleventh century Arsenic Vačesdze created a compilation of various dogmatic and polemical treatises nowadays know as the Dogmatikon, apparently a study book for the monastic schools. The compendium comprises over seventy-three dogmatic and polemical treatises and is attested in twenty-three manuscripts, which suggests its high popularity in the Georgian tradition. Despite the numerous translations the medieval Georgians both in Georgia and in the monastic centers abroad were concerned mainly with two problems: the anti-Armenian polemics, which has its roots in the Caucasian ecclesiastical separation of the early seventh century and which became especially ardent in the tenth and eleventh centuries, when a need for political and ecclesiastical integration of northern Armenia into the Georgian kingdom arose, and the anti-Byzantine one, when the Georgians had to protect their canonical rights against the attacks from the Byzantine Church. Due to the lack of historical knowledge of concrete ecclesiastical developments in the Late Antique Georgia and also due to lack of experience in theological polemics, the Greek sources were translated and used to defend the Georgian case. It is in this political and ideological framework that the Georgian polemical literature developed further and created a need for intensive translating.

Subject: Literary Texts Medieval Georgian tradition Mount Athos Arsenic Vačesdze Polemical literature

The Fate of the Poetry and Prose in the Reception of Literature about Job

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Problems of the Critical Edition of Byzantine and Slavonic Services

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The Chronicle of Julius Africanus in Slavic Translation

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Owning the Byzantine Literary Tradition: Balkan Adaptation and Transformation

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Translated Literature in the Bulgarian Middle Ages as a Social and Cultural Phenomenon Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 10-11, 2012 floyd Wed, 12/26/2012 - 12:13

The study reviews the Medieval Bulgarian translations from Greek as a multi-centennial process, preconditioned by the constant contacts between Byzantium and its Slavonic neighbor and dependant on the historical and cultural circumstances in Medieval Bulgaria. The facts are discussed from the prospective of two basic determining factors: social and cultural environment (spiritual needs of the age, political and cultural ideology, translationsʼ initiator, centers of translation activities, degree of education/literacy). The chronological and typological analysis of the thematic and genre range of the translated literature enables the outlining of five main stages: (1) Cyrillo-Methodian period (the middle of the 9th centuty – 885) – reception of the corpus needed for missionary purposes; (2) The First Bulgarian Tsardom period (885–1018) – intensive translation activities, founding the Christian literature in Bulgaria; (3) The period of The Byzantine rule (1018–1185) – a standstill in the translation activities and single translations of low-level literature texts; (4) The Second Bulgarian Tsardom – the period of Asenevtsi dynasty (the late 12th and the 13th centuries) – a partial revision of the liturgical and paraliturgical books; (5) The Second Bulgarian Tsardom – the Athonite-Tarnovo period (the 14th – early 15th century) – extensive relations with Byzantium and alignment to the then-current Byzantine models, intensifications of the translations flow and a broad range of the translation stream.

Subject: Literary Texts Medieval Bulgarian literature Social and cultural environment Centers of translation activities Degree of education/literacy

On the Developing Iconography of the Ascent of the Prophet Elijah: Inscriptions to Miniatures and Text Commentaries in Manuscripts of the Ninth to...

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The Psalter of King John Alexander in its Slavonic and Byzantine Context

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The Holy Church Fathers’ Fountain of Wisdom in the Sixteenth-Century Church at Mrzen Oreovec

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The Old Testament Wall Paintings in the Šiševo Monastery of St Nicholas (1630)

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The Reverse of the Orthodox Icon: an Aspect of Holy Images at once Obvious and Hidden

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Peculiarities of the Two Old Bulgarian Kanons Dedicated to St Methodios Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 10-11, 2012 floyd Wed, 12/26/2012 - 11:53

The author of the paper analyses the volumes and contents of songs in both original kanons dedicated to St. Methodius: of St. Clement of Ohrid and of Konstantin of Preslav. The basic unit of measurement shall be the verse. The difference between troparia of I-VI song and VII to IX is illustrated. The proposed explanation for this difference in the total number of verses takes into account the presence of two stanzas inserted after VI song (kontakion and ikos) which do not belong to the kanon. Perhaps the authors have sought to build two relatively equal parts of a whole liturgical composition “kanon and kontakion and ikos”. This formal feature could be the exception to be typical of the style of both authors, or it could be specific to a certain period of development of the hymnological genre.

Subject: Literary Texts Bulgarian hymnography St. Clement of Ochrid Konstantin of Preslav Structure of the kanons
The Supernatural Agents in Medieval and Early Modern Bulgarian Charms: Magical Functions and Quotidian Contexts Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 10-11, 2012 floyd Wed, 12/26/2012 - 11:51

This article explores the quotidian functions and roles of the supernatural powers, attested by Bulgarian charms from the middle Ages and Early Modern times. Using the textual source material as a starting point, the focus is put on the supernatural presence as a cultural phenomenon in the context of quotidian sphere. The supernatural power of evil and good act within the frames of a crisis and its seizure is analyzed. They are integral part of the system of charms and other powerful words, the purpose of which is to counteract the serious challenges in everyday life. Thus the supernatural powers create dynamic and constant interaction between the human and supernatural world. These interactions could be seen also as complicated relations of the powers which sustain the verbal magic as effective network for crisis management.

Subject: Literary Texts Bulgarian charms Verbal spells Late medieval literature

Towards the Study of the Psalter NBKM 13 from the Manuscript Collection of the National Library in Sofia

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On the Illumination of the Four Gospels Book – MNIR invert. 131507, Bucharest, Romania

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Das Corpus des Dionysios Areiopagites in der Slavischen Übersetzung von Starec Isaija (14. Jahrhundert). Edited under the supervision of H. Goltz ...

The Slavic Corpus Dionysiacum in translator's autograph

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Andreas Schminck und Dorotei Getov. Repertorium der Handschriften des byzantinischen Rechts. Teil II. Die Handschriften des kirchlichen Rechts I...

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Водени знаци хиландарских српских рукописа XIV–XV века [Watermarks of the Hilandar Serbian Manuscripts of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries]... Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 10-11, 2012 floyd Wed, 12/26/2012 - 11:30
Watermarks of the Hilandar Serbian Manuscripts of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth CenturiesBelgrade, 2007, 543 pp. and Watermarks of the ...

Reviews / Водени знаци хиландарских српских рукописа XIV–XV века [Watermarks of the Hilandar Serbian Manuscripts of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries]. Belgrade, 2007, 543 pp. and Водени знаци хиландарских српских рукописа XVI века [Watermarks of the Sixteenth-Century Hilandar Serbian Manuscripts]. Belgrade, 2010, 302 pp.

Subject: Literary Texts

Spiritually Beneficial Tales in Byzantine and Slavic Literature - Foreword

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La Vie du philosophe Secundus à Byzance et dans ses alentours: les lectures édifiantes d’une historiette païenne Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 8-9, 2010 floyd Sun, 12/26/2010 - 10:56
Vita of the Philosopher Secundus in Byzantium and Around: Instructive Readings of a Pagan Story

La Vie du philosophe Secundus est un petit texte qui, composé au cours de la seconde moitié du IIe s., n’a suscité qu’un intérêt mitigé de la part des chercheurs. L’historiette qu’elle renferme est très simple, mais peu banale: après avoir reçu une formation pythagoricienne loin de ses parents, Secundus revient, encore jeune, chez sa mère, son père étant mort depuis longtemps. Sans être reconnu, il décide de mettre à l’épreuve sa génitrice. Il obtient un rendez-vous nocturne, pendant lequel rien de scabreux ne se passe. Mais, révélant sa véritable identité au petit matin, il cause le suicide de la mère. Suite à cet évènement tragique, Secundus se damne au silence perpétuel. Lorsque, plusieurs années plus tard, l’empereur Hadrien se trouve à Athènes, il est pris par l’envie de rencontrer le célèbre philosophe et de profiter de sa sagesse. Il reçoit donc Secundus qui, impassible, ne change pas d’attitude et reste muet face au souverain qui l’interroge. Les mots les plus respectueux, tout comme les menaces les plus extrêmes et le risque du martyre n’ont aucun effet sur le mutisme du philosophe. L’empereur n’a donc d’autre solution que de dialoguer avec lui au moyen d’une tablette, grâce à laquelle Secundus répond à une série de questions "philosophiques" concernant des concepts très généraux. Ses réponses, qui sont précédées d’une dissertation au sujet de la vanité du pouvoir et de la vie, constituent des affirmations apodictiques, prenant souvent la forme d’oxymores. Hadrien, ému par la sagesse et la cohérence du philosophe, ordonne de copier ses oeuvres Les chercheurs partagent aujourd’hui l’avis selon lequel la Vie et les Sentences constitueraient un ensemble unitaire dès l’origine. Ils invoquent généralement des traductions (remontant aux V-VII s.), ainsi qu’un manuscrit byzantin, tout à fait isolé par rapport au reste de la tradition médiévale. Le témoin le plus ancien du texte, un papyrus que l’on peut dater entre la fin du IIe et le début du IIIe s., ne contient que la Vie. Puis, les Sentences ont connu, tout au long de l’époque byzantine, une ample circulation indépendante, dont témoignent à la fois la tradition directe et des citations. La création de la Vie est décidément étrangère à la tradition chrétienne: elle est clairement païenne et semble liée à un milieu érudit. Au fil des siècles, les lecteurs, copistes et traducteurs chrétiens semblent avoir considéré l’histoire de Secundus, au-delà de son appartenance à une dimension culturelle originairement "autre" (dans le cas spécifique, païenne). Plusieurs stratégies d’appropriation, actualisation et adaptation de ce petit ouvrage furent en effet mises en place dans l’empire et dans ses périphéries, par des milieux chrétiens souvent éloignés dans l’espace et dans le temps. Dotée d’une valeur littéraire modeste, la Vie de Secundus fut conçue dans un milieu païen et avait presque certainement à l’origine une fonction tout à fait étrangère à celle de l’édification. Comme d’autres ouvrages

Subject: Literary Texts Vita of Secundus Isaac of Nineveh Transformation of the genre

The Genre of the Spiritually Beneficial Tale

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Redeeming the Genre’s Remnants: Some Beneficial Tales Written in the Last Centuries of Byzantium

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Four Byzantine "Spiritually Beneficial Tales" Preserved Only in Slavonic Translations

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A Russian "Spiritually Beneficial Tale" Featuring Andrew The Fool Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 8-9, 2010 floyd Sun, 12/26/2010 - 10:24

The text of “A Sermon on a very sinful” man which is published in this article came down to us in seven copies dating back to the late 16th – 17th centuries. In several cases, it is included in the Russian translation of the Life of Andrew the Fool, but it has no Greek prototype either in this vita or in Byzantine hagiography in general. At the same time, the text follows the rules of Byzantine hagiography. Some of the Greek “spiritually beneficial tales” exhibit a pattern that can be labeled as “reconciliation between the quick and the dead”. These tales could be known to Old Russian litterati through their Slavonic translations. The Vita of Andrew the Fool was immensely popular in Rus’: its Russian translation survived, until the beginning of the 17th century, in 56 manuscripts, but the appearance of Andrew the Fool as a character of the “spiritually beneficial tale” at the first glance looks strange: not a single episode of his vita resembles reconciliation between “the quick and the dead”. The Greek tradition has not preserved any tales in which a criminal guilty of abominable crimes would address for absolution first to a hermit and later to a holy fool. Yet, such tale could easily have existed, since we have a Latin story in which this happens. Since the setting of the novel is obviously Early Byzantine, it can be surmised that there has existed its Greek version which could also have been known to the author of our text. The first half of the text is a heart-rending story of an evil woman and her malicious parents who entangled her husband killing his own parents. There are no analogies to such tale in Byzantine hagiography. We can suppose that the tale combines some hagiographic and some folklore features. It is an original story which demonstrates how the Byzantine genre developed within the Russian cultural milieu of the post-Byzantine epoch.

Subject: Literary Texts Muscovite Rus’ Late medieval literature Vita of St Andrew Salos

The Slavonic Vita of Stephen I the Pope of Rome: the Issue of Its Latin or Greek Origin

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A New Source for Studying the Symeonic Zlatostruy Collection (An Unknown Selection of Chrysostomian Homilies in MS Voskr. 115-bum.)

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Hamartolos or Zonaras: Searching for the Author of a Chronicle in a Fourteenth-century Slavic Manuscript: MS. Slav. 321 from the Library of RAS

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Сколько Дечанских евангелий в собрании Гильфердинга?

How Many Dechany Gospels Has Been Received in the Gilferding’s Collection?

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A Tale about Job in Manuscript 747 of the National Library of Sofia Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 8-9, 2010 floyd Sun, 12/26/2010 - 09:59

This article introduces manuscript 747 of the National Library of Sofia and focuses especially on the Tale about Job in this codex, the text of which has also been published. The physical description of the manuscript and the examination of its contents supplement the information provided in Conev’s catalogue. Manuscript 747 contains the end of the Life of Alexius (1a-1b), a Tale about Job (complete; 1b-4b), part of the Passion of Charalampius (4b-12b), half a page of a narrative about Alexander the Great (13a), the Life of Alexius (complete; 13a-25b) and Rites and Prayers for the Liturgy (incomplete; 27a-34b). After the introduction of the codex as a whole, this article provides a preliminary study of the Tale about Job. This Tale has been compared with the prose frame of the Book of Job in the witnesses presented verse by verse by Hristova-Šomova. It seems closest to the text of the Ostrog Bible. Divergences of the Tale about Job from the prose frame of the Book of Job include the title, part of the first line, a few words throughout the composition and (especially) frequent omissions. This raises the issue of how much divergence is needed for a composition to be recognised as a different creation, rather than as a version of an existing composition. It has been proposed that the Tale of Job can still be described as a version of the prose frame of the Book of Job. The suggestion can be made that it represents a fifth way in which (part of) the Book of Job circulated in the Slavonic Middle Ages. Besides the versions mentioned by Hristova-Šomova (Paramejnik lessons, and four different versions of the full biblical Book (with and without commentaries)), this article has developed the argument that the Tale about Job from manuscript 747 of the National Library of Sofia represents a version of the prose frame of the Book of Job which circulated as a didactic story.

Subject: Literary Texts Tale about Job MS 747 of the National Library of Sofi Didactic story

Ιl potere demiurgico del Diavolo in alcuniapocrifi dualistici

Devil’s Demiurgic Power in Some Dualistic Apocrypha

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Toponymical Errors as Text-Critical Criteria when Studying Translated Manuscripts (a Case in Point: Onuphrius Vita)

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The Bulgarian Translation of the Vita of St. Basil the New Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 7, 2009 floyd Sat, 12/26/2009 - 09:18

Among the valuable manuscripts found in the Sinai monastery “St Catherine” in 1975, is the codex No 20N. It contains only the Vita of St. Basil the New in Middle Bulgarian translation of the 14th c. The manuscript contains 120 sheets of paper that are kept in a very good condition. At the end of the manuscript is preserved the author's colophon who notes that its name is Father Peter, it provides also information on how he works, the place and time when the manuscript was created. The paper includes the publication of the Vita of St. Basil the New, published in this translation for the first time. The edition follows the orthography and punctuation of the manuscript all possible accuracy preserving the superscripts and accent signs. The publication is crucial for research work on the language and history of Bulgarian literature in the 14th c.

Subject: Literary Texts Vita of St. Basil the New Tarnovo literary school 14th c. Sinai monastery “St Catherine”

Creating Sacred Space by Commemorating Destruction: The case of the Monastery of Zographou

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Рукопись 217 Г из университнской библиотеки в Софии и поздняя южнославянская традиция "Слова о 12 снах царя Шахиншаха" Scripta & e-Scripta vol. 7, 2009 floyd Sat, 12/26/2009 - 09:11
Manuscript No. 217 G from University Library in Sofia and Late Mediaeval Tradition of "Story about 12 Dreams of King Shahinshahi"

В публикации представлены опись недавно найденной южнославянской копии „Слова о двенадцати снaх царя Шахиншаха“ и текстологическое исследование доступных для автора южнославянских копий и одной рукописи русского произхождения, являющейся представительной для первой русской редакции. Цель исследования – оределить место этой поздней рукописи начала XIX века в окружении более ранней средневековой традиции – в основном среди копий XV–XVI века, а также раскрыть еe особенности в ракурсе переплетения традиций Средневековья и Возрождения. Текст Слова очень интересный – это символическое толкование двенадцати снов царя Шахиншаха, имеющее эсхатологический характер. Представлена картина „последних времен“ земли в битовых и нравственных измерениях. По мнению некоторых авторов корни этого текста – очень древние – тибетского или персийского происхождения. Представляет интерес проследить, с точки зрения языка и литературы, наступившие изменения в тексте под влиянием разницы во времени и этно-культурном окружении.

Subject: Literary Texts Story about 12 Dreams of King Shahinshahi Apocrypha with Eastern origin Late Mediaeval tradition

Georgi Petkov at 70

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Возникновение славянских служебных миней: общие гипотезы и текстологические факты Scripta & e-Scripta vol 6, 2008 floyd Fri, 12/26/2008 - 08:03
Formation of the Slavonic Menaion: General Hypotheses and Textological Facts

The article traces the earliest history of the Slavonic Menaion for December, based on the textological research of a wide range of manuscripts of East Slav, Serbian and Bulgarian origin, dating from the 11th and until the 14th century. The multiple layers of the contents of South-Slavonic codices of the 13th - 14th century are outlined, proving, at the same time, the unconvincingness of the hypothesis for the significant influence of Old Russian originals in their formation. The study confirms the textological connection of the non-standard Russian menaia (RGADA, Synod. Typ. 98; RGADA, Synod. Typ. 130; RGADA, Synod. Typ. 131) to the Old-Bulgarian protographs. The article discloses also the unhomogeneousness of a number of offices in the East Slav menaia for December, where a more archaic layer is incorporated. The data show that the formation of the 12-volume East Slav collection is the result not of a single translation, but of a longer and gradual process of reception of the Byzantine hymnographic repertoire, starting as early as the 9th - 10th century at the literary centres of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. Therefore the Old Russian menaia reflect not the opening stage of that liturgical book in the Slavonic environment, but an older, comparatively established stage, marked by its unification, backed by approximately a century and a half of tradition.

Subject: Literary Texts South-Slavonic codices of the 13th-14th c. Slavonic Menaion Textological research

On the Authorship Сьлание о празднице Пасхы Attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria

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The Miracles of the Great Martyr Menas in the Medieval Slavic Pre-Metaphrastic Menaia-Cheti (critical edition of the text, based on MS 1039 from the N

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Once Again on the Cult and Hagiographic Texts about St. Paraskeve/Petka of Rome in the South-Slavic Middle Ages

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Сказание о 12-ти пятницах в позднeм возрожденческом списке попа Панчо Димитриевича

Narration about 12 Fridies in a Copy of Father Pancho Dimitrievich of Late Revival Period

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Gregory Camblak – on some controversial issues

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The Ideological Use of Biblical Motifs and Quotations in the Canon on the Translation of the Relics of St. Clement of Rome

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О Скопльской минее XIII в.

The Festal (Skopje) menaion from 13-th century

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The Cycle of Texts Dedicated to the Virgin Mary in an Unstudied Manuscript from the 14th Century

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The Third Russian Version of the Turnovo Synaxarion Vita of St. John of Rila Scripta & e-Scripta vol 3-4, 2006 floyd Tue, 10/10/2006 - 11:50
Третья русская редакция Тырновского положного жития св. Йоанна Рыльского

Object of a research interest is the literary history of the so called Third Russian revision of the Tarnovo prologue vita of the national Bulgarian St. John of Rila. The revision is resented in six copies from the end of the 15th to the 17th century (the earliest in prologue for September – February from the end of the 15th century, RNB, Main assembly, No F. I. 297) and it is distributed in collections with permanent and mixed structure: in prologues about the winter half of the church year, in codex with vitas, instructions and stories, in collections with services and vitas. Discussed are issues about the Third revision of the Prologue, whose origin is connected with the literature of Novgorod and Pskov, and in whose composition we find the earliest copies of the new version. In the Bulgarian, Serbian and Moldovan-Romanian hagiographic tradition this version is not known. The new version of the Tarnovo prologue vita later penetrates the literature of the Moscow state and the Moscow cultural centers, and its distribution continues in the 16th and 17th century. In this way it turns into a significant element of the entire cult of the Bulgarian saint in the medieval Slavonic Cyrillic tradition. The results from the textological study of the copies and the interrelations between the separate texts have been presented.

Subject: Literary Texts Third Russian revision of the Tarnovo prologue Vita of St. John of Rila literature of Novgorod and Pskov

(“Making sorcery and fruits crawl” from the Boril's Synodicon (some notes to one written source)

"Творящихъ влъшвения и плодовь влачения" dans le Synodicon de Boril (quelques notes sur un témoignage écrit)

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Some Principles of Isocolic Structuring in the Medieval Bulgarian Writing Scripta & e-Scripta vol 3-4, 2006 floyd Tue, 10/10/2006 - 11:34

Having in mind that the specially organized rhythmic phrase is one of the most characteristic peculiarities in the style of Euthimius of Tarnovo, the authoress of this article focuses her attention to the figure of speech isocolic. Her purpose is to mark the main principles of structuring the isocolic in the Saint Euthimius vitas and eulogies, and also the analysis principles of these isocolics. The authoress prefers to concentrate on only one isocolic, as a thorough analysis of the rhythmic in the Saint Euthimius style cannot be the object of such a brief study. An isocolic of the Vita of St. Petka has been taken as an example. In it analyzed is the punctuation, the syntagmatic structure, the rhythmic, the grammatical and lexical structure. The observations bear evidence that the meaning, syntax and rhythm form a united structure, where we can clearly distinguish two halves with a complex symmetry between each other. The accumulation of several markers about the structure of the columns in the isocolic may be interpreted as a defense mechanism, coded by the author, against later interventions in the text and the text structure at its copying and performing. The main principles of isocolic structuring are a complicated parallelism and contradistinction. The complicated parallelism is manifested between respective columns, as well as between the halves of the isocolic period. This peculiar parallelism finds expression in the following: 1) presence of syntactic, semantic and rhetoric similarities and differences in the respective columns of the isocolic, 2) the number of the accents in the two halves of the period is the same, but their distribution in the composing columns is different and 3) by given markers (mainly rhetoric) the first two columns in each half of the isocolic are parallel, and the rest are not. The analysis of the syntagmatic structure reveals that the punctuation simultaneously follows syntactic, as well as rhetoric principles.

Subject: Literary Texts Rhethoric St. Euthimius of Tarnovo Organized rhythmic phrase Isocolic structures

Byzantine Laws and their Slavonic Translation in the Time of First Bulgarian Kingdom

Die byzantinischen Gesetze und ihre slavische übersetzung im Ersten Bulgarischen Reich

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Copies of the Book of Revelation of St. John in Festal Collections Scripta & e-Scripta vol 3-4, 2006 floyd Tue, 10/10/2006 - 11:02

The description and the examination of the preserved Slavonic Cyrillic texts of the Apocalypses have so far been focused mainly on the most numerous Russian interpretation copies, on the accepted as textologically earliest Bosnia copies and Croatian Glagolhic fragments. The latest studies are aimed at finding, systematization and research of the preserved South Slavonic copies, which have not yet found their due place in the entire textological history of the book. As a result of this research up to now three versions at the distribution of the text have been known, which differ in structure, purpose and location in the content of the collections where they appear. These are: the interpretational version of the book by Andrey Kesariisky, divided in 24 orations, 72 chapters and 314 verses, distributed mainly amongst the Eastern Slavs; the Bosnia Cyrillic copies, non-interpretational, divided in 72 chapters, and the Serbian copy HM 474, also divided in 72 chapters (the first 5 are written, the rest are noted with an initial); the Croatian Glagolhic texts, separated in 22 chapters by the Latin tradition. In the present article introduced in scientific use is one more unknown up to that moment South-Slavonic tradition of distribution of the text. This is the Bulgarian panegyric version, presented by the Bulgarian copy from the middle of the 14th century, predatonic connected with the East-Bulgarian Tarnovo literature. The revision of the book in the Serbian interpretational copies, kept from the 15th to the 16th century, which is probably a result of the work of the Mount Athos scholars, also has not been object of scientific attention. The purpose is to trace the tradition they reflect on the bases of the lexical data. Thanks to the study of K. Grunberg the lexical exchanges, consequently done between the accepted as initial translation of the book from the 15th century and the editing of the text from the 14th and the 15th century are examined. The translation taken as initial is presented by the Bosnia Cyrillic copies from the 15th century (H), and the editing of the text from the 14th and 15th century – from the earliest Bulgarian copy (MS), the Serbian interpretational copies (PI), the earliest Serbian copy (HM), the Apocalypses of the Miracle New testament and its copy from 1493 (?), supported by the data from the Eastern-Slavonic interpretational copies (NI) and the text from the Ostrojka Bible (O).

Subject: Literary Texts The Book of Revelation of St. John Slavonic Cyrillic texts of the Apocalypses Croatian Glagolhic fragments
The Copy of the Isaiah Vision about the Last Times in the miscellany “Zlataja Matica”, 15th c.) Scripta & e-Scripta vol 3-4, 2006 floyd Tue, 10/10/2006 - 10:58
Список “Видения Исайи пророка о последнем времени” в рукописном сборнике XV века “Златая Матица”

In the article reported is a newly discovered copy of “Vision of the prophet Isaiah of the last times” in the collection “Zlataya Matitza” (HCPK № F.312), from the 70s of the 15th century, collection of the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. It is mechanically attached to the text of the early Slavonic composition „Слово святого Григория изобретено в толцех о том, како первое погани съще языци кланялися идолом и требы им клали, то и ныне творят”. The last text is an instruction against the pagan rituals, which belongs to a very early epoch of the history of the Slavonic literatures and cultures. It is established that the historical-apocalyptic work “Vision of the prophet Isayah” according to the newly discovered copy is close to the earliest known copy – in the Dragol collection from the third quarter of the 13th century. The author analyzes the manuscript tradition of “Слово святого Григория изобретено в толцех”, defines the history and the specific of the work, and at the same time makes suggestions about the penetration of “Vision of the prophet Isaiah” in the Russian manuscripts. The text of the collection “Zlataya Matitza” is published with different readings by the rest of the copies, accompanied by an analysis of some important linguistic peculiarities.

Subject: Literary Texts Vision of the prophet Isaiah of the last times Sermon of St. Gregory with interpretation Russian - South-Slavic literary relations
Le premier penitential vieux slave “Zapovedi svetih otec” en tant que modele du texte Scripta & e-Scripta vol 2, 2004 floyd Sat, 10/09/2004 - 11:18
The first old-slavic penitential “Zapovedi svetih otec” as text model

The article studies the repeatedly published text of the Penitential of the Glagolitic Sinai Euhologion, X-XI century, in comparison with the archaic Cyrillic copy of the same text of Ustiujka Kormchaia, XIII-XIV century and with other later Cyrillic copies. The stability of the text model is studies, as well as the linguistic changes it is subject to. The authoress defends the view that the Glagolhic and the Cyrillic copies advance to one and the same unremaining archetype – this of the first and only Slavonic translation of the model of Poenitentiale Merseburgense, type ? or of a source very close to it. The latter, dating from the end of the VIII or the beginning of the IX century, is representative of the practice of the Franks Empire and Church and most likely it was respected and influential in its Latin aspect in the close west-Slavic lands oven before being translated into Slavonic. It is impossible to determine the authorship of the translation. Nevertheless, a number of considerations of historical-cultural and linguistic nature make the authoress support the most distributed thesis about the Moravian-Panonic origin of the translation. In that sense the text undoubtedly should be added to the church-juridical heritage, created during the Cyril-Metodii’s mission. The influence of the canonic apparatus of the Orders is also searched – especially of the formula “bread and water” on another early juridical monument, such as Law to judge people.

Subject: Literary Texts Old-slavic penitentia Glagolitic Sinai Euhologion Ustiujka Kormchaia

Medieval Slavonic Childbirth Prayers: Sources, Context and Functionality

  • Summary/Abstract

Holy Fools in an Age of Hesychasm: A Comparison between Byzantine and Bulgarian Vitae Scripta & e-Scripta vol 2, 2004 floyd Fri, 10/08/2004 - 19:14

The study is dedicated to two Bulgarian texts, which appeared in the collections with mixed content in XIV century. One of them is Vita of Simeon Jurodivy, and the other one is Vita of St. Andrey Jurodivy. The purpose of the study is to examine the two vitae and outline the broad context in which they enter in the Bulgarian, as well as in the Byzantine culture. The article does not aim to exhaust the questions connected to these saints, but rather to determine and find new ways of research and examination of the phenomenon. The main sources are two copies – in manuscript No. 434 of the Hilendar Monastery in Mount Athos, containing the text with the vita of St. Andrey and in manuscript No. 152 of the National Library of Vienna, containing that of St. Simeon. The study consists of four parts. In the first one the examined are peculiarities of the jurodivy saints and their manuscript and cultural Byzantine context. The second one is dedicated to the appearance of the Bulgarian translations of the vitae of St. Simeon and St. Andrey, the collections in which their eventual relations with the epoch of hesychasm are published. The last two parts look at each vita in detail with its Greek and Bulgarian variants.

Subject: Literary Texts Vita of St. Andrew the Fool Vita of Simeon the Fool Slavic translations and versions

A Newly Discovered Hymnographic Work of St. Clement of Oxrid

  • Summary/Abstract

Sound and Sense in the Hymnographic Text (On a Troparion from the Acrostic Triodion Kanon Cycle of Konstantin of Preslav)

  • Summary/Abstract

The Pause as a Storyteller (Notes on the Punctuation in a Fourteenth-Century Masterpiece)

  • Summary/Abstract

A Glance at Medieval South Slavonic Anthologies of Wise Sentences (Genre Peculiarities, Terminology and Text Headings) Scripta & e-Scripta vol 1, 2003 floyd Wed, 10/08/2003 - 14:17

The article is an attempt to track down and sup up problems related to genre terminology in the wisdom literature. A comparison is made between Greek and Slavic titles of collections of wise sentences and apophthegms in order to shed light on their genre specifics. The titles emphasize the act of selection and compilation, as well as the instructive discourse within the general notion of the literature of wisdom. Unlike the Greek nominations, the Slavic models miss the refinement of the genre forms. This situation may be a consequence of the lack of cultivated practice for the use of genre names in Slavia Orthodoxa.

Subject: Literary Texts Lexical analysis Alphabethical composition Genre typology Anthologies of wise sentences Text headings
The Prayer-Book of Niketa (No. 646 NBKM): A Case Study Scripta & e-Scripta vol 1, 2003 floyd Wed, 10/08/2003 - 14:13

The article presents a study of a manuscript No 646 from the collection of the National Library "SS Cyril and Methodius" in Sofia, known as the collection of Niketa. In terms of content, the collection is similar to the scrolls with amulets. Contains both canonical and non-canonical prayers, spell texts, talisman seals, etc. The owner has written his name everywhere, as the owner of the manuscript and the user of its apotropaic functions.

Subject: Literary Texts Amulet Prayerbook Spells Magical practicies
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