Current issue

Issue 67-68 (2023)

Abbreviations9-12/issues/67/9-Abbreviations.pdf
ARTICLES
Dobriela Kotova(Sofia) – The Byzantine Sources of Constantine of Preslav’s Uchitel’noe Evangelie13-46THE BYZANTINE SOURCES OF CONSTANTINE OF PRESLAV’S
UCHITEL’NOE EVANGELIE

Dobriela Kotova

Keywords: Constantine of Preslav’s Uchitel’noe evangelie (Didactic Gospel); Greek sources of Uchitel’noe evangelie; catena manuscripts of the Greek New Testament; John Chrysostom’s homilies on the Gospels of Matthew and John; Greek-Slavonic translation

Abstract: This article provides a summarized and systematized review of the Greek sources used by Constantine of Preslav in compiling the sermons in his Uchitel’noe evangelie (Didactic Gospel). Wholly translated from Greek are the middle (commentary) parts of all fifty-one sermons, as well as the conclusion of Sermon 16. Translated passages also occur in other conclusions. The introductions and most of the conclusions were written by Constantine himself.
The commentaries on the pericopes of Matthew and John, though attributed to John Chrysostom, are not taken from his original homilies. The Greek source is their abridged versions found in Type A catenae to the two Gospels. The complete catenae (catenae integrae) of this type have been published by John Cramer, but the text of the Uchitel’noe evangelie differs from them in many places. This is because Constantine selected and translated passages from two other catenae of this type: catena prima Typus A in Matthaeum (CPG C110.1) and catena prima Typus A in Iohannem (C140.1). However, Constantine was critical of the version of his main source, and in a number of sermons on Matthew he either integrated into the translation of the catena text passages of different lengths taken directly from Chrysostom’s homilies, or preferred Chrysostom’s original expressions and words to the variants in the catena. The translated passages in some of the conclusions and the whole conclusion of Sermon 16 are based on Chrysostom’s original text.
The commentary parts of the sermons on pericopes of Luke contain translated texts from catena Typus A in Lucam (CPG C130). In it, scholia from the homilies on Luke by Cyril of Alexandria, Titus of Bostra, and Origen, and from John Chrysostom’s homilies on Matthew are combined into a single anonymous text. Fragments of Isidore of Pelusium and other authors are quoted. It is characteristic of the catena that a number of passages from the Gospel text are left without commentary; instead, the catena compiler, who also compiled C110.1 and C140.1, refers to his commentary on Matthew. These omissions are the reason why the commentary parts in some of the sermons on Luke, in whole or in part, are translations of texts from C110.1, and why Chrysostom’s name figures in the headings.
Because of the lack of a catena to Mark, in the Uchitel’noe evangelie there are either no separate sermons on this Gospel or there are sermons compiled from C110.1 and therefore attributed to John Chrysostom.
The attribution of seven sermons to Isidore of Pelusium is erroneous and is probably due to the fact that he is the most-cited author in C130. The appearance of his name in the heading of Sermon 35 is correct to some extent: a fragment of a letter of Isidore quoted in the catena is indeed included into its commentary part, while the rest of the catena text translated by Constantine comes from a scholium by Severus of Antioch. The scholia in the sermons attributed to Isidore are anonymous in C130, but probably belong to Cyril of Alexandria.
Recently discovered evidence about translations of texts from C130 in sermons outside of the Uchitel’noe evangelie allows the conclusion to be drawn that the set of three catenae to the Gospels of Matthew, John, and Luke compiled by the same compiler – catenae primae Typus A in Matthaeum et Iohannem (C110.1, C140.1) and catena Typus A in Lucam (C130) – circulated in a Slavic environment in the late ninth and early tenth centuries.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198310
Aneta Dimitrova(Sofia) – Slavonic Versions of the Homily In Vanam Vitam (De Salute Animae, CPG 4031 / 4622). Edition of the Homiliary Version47-80SLAVONIC VERSIONS OF THE HOMILY IN VANAM VITAM (DE SALUTE ANIMAE, CPG 4031 / 4622). EDITION OF THE HOMILIARY VERSION

Aneta Dimitrova

Keywords: textual criticism; Old Church Slavonic translations from Greek; edition; John Chrysostom; Ephrem the Syrian; homiliary

Abstract: The homily In vanam vitam (CPG 4031 / 4622) was very popular both in the Greek and Slavonic traditions. At least three Greek versions (α, β, γ) are known; they are defined by several significant variant readings and numerous smaller variations. The Slavonic versions (V1, V2, V3, V4) are very diverse as well. Some differences between them correspond to the different Greek versions, other deviations and additions in the text have no parallel in Greek, and yet other passages are identical in most of the versions. The textological analysis shows that the homily was translated into Old Church Slavonic twice, and that one of the translations went through at least three redactions based on different Greek versions as well as through multiple secondary revisions. The Slavonic translations and revised versions became part of several types of manuscripts (e.g., the Zlatostruy collection and some homiliaries) probably as early as the tenth century. The article systematizes the main differences between the versions, groups the known Slavonic copies according to their beginnings and major distinctive features, and discusses the similarities and differences between them in comparison to their Greek sources. At the end, it offers an edition of the homiliary version of the text with an extensive critical apparatus with the variant readings of the manuscripts from the same textual group.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198311
Cynthia Vakareliyska(Oregon, USA) – The 25 September Commemoration of Martyr Romanus in Slavic Menologies81-106THE 25 SEPTEMBER COMMEMORATION OF MARTYR ROMANUS IN SLAVIC AND OTHER MENOLOGIES

Cynthia M. Vakareliyska

Keywords: menologies; menologia; synaxaria; medieval Slavic manuscripts; St. Romanus; Martyrologium Hieronymianum

Abstract: The subject of the article is a menology commemoration on 25 September for a St. Romanus who is identified only as a martyr. The commemoration appears in the earliest extant Slavic menologies, and in a number of later South and East Slavic menologies up through the 14th century. The article traces the commemoration back to its earliest extant Slavic witnesses, looking at earlier Greek witnesses and Latin and Syriac sources, and examines the implications of its careful preservation for our understanding of the compilation and preservation of calendars of saints, not only in the Slavic tradition, but in the Greek, Latin, and Syriac traditions also.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198312
Iskra Hristova - Shomova(Sofia) – St Andrew of Crete’s Canon for the Nativity of St John the Baptist and Its Slavonic Translations107-153ST ANDREW OF CRETE’S CANON FOR THE NATIVITY OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ITS SLAVONIC TRANSLATIONS

Iskra Hristova-Shomova

Keywords: canon; Menaion; troparion; Old Church Slavonic translation; Slavonic manuscripts

Abstract: St Andrew of Crete’s Canon for the Nativity of St John the Baptist in Tone Four is a polymelodic composition. The odes are composed of two or three troparia which follow different heirmoi. This canon has an early Old Bulgarian translation, which went through several revisions. The article provides a comparison of nine Slavonic copies of this canon, whereby four Slavonic redactions can be distinguished. The first redaction is represented in the Dragota Menaion, the Sinai Menaion and the Ohrid Menaion. In this redaction, the second ode is missing and the odes consist of four troparia each. The second redaction is represented in the Menaion of Dobrian, the Menaion of Dragan, the Palauzov Menaion and Menaion Khludov 166 (kept in the State Historical Museum in Moscow). The second ode was added in this redaction, and so were several troparia (from three to five) in each ode. The third redaction is represented in the East Slavic menaia Sin 895, kept in the State Historical Museum in Moscow, and Sof 206, kept in the Russian National Library in St Petersburg. It is based on the second redaction, but does not contain the second ode. In this redaction, the texts of the troparia are revised and the sixth, seventh and ninth odes are composed of troparia which are different from those in the South Slavic menaia and follow different heirmoi. The fourth redaction is represented in Manuscript No. 2/8 from the Rila Monastery and in all new-redaction menaia (i.e., menaia structured according to the Jerusalem typikon and composed mainly during and after the fourteenth century in Tarnovo or on Mount Athos), including printed Church Slavonic menaia which are used in liturgy to this day. In it the second ode is missing, and the third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth odes are composed of troparia which are different from those in the old-redaction menaia (structured according to the old Studite typikon and composed before the fourteenth century) and follow different heirmoi. The text of the first and fifth odes is based on the second redaction, with some revisions.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198313
Elissaveta Moussakova(Sofia) – Another Fragment of the Zheravna Triodion154-167ANOTHER FRAGMENT OF THE ZHERAVNA TRIODION

Elissaveta Moussakova

Keywords: Zheravna Triodion; Neophyte of Rila; Koprivshtitsa; Slavonic manuscripts; fragments

Abstract: The Zheravna Triodion is a late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century fragmented manuscript well known to scholarship. Three of its fragments, those kept in the National Library in Sofia – NBKM 574, NBKM 935, NBKM 1379 – make up a total of 20 folios. Another five fragments have found their way to the libraries in St Petersburg: three of them are in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and two in the National Library of Russia. A search in the digital library of the Ivan Vazov National Library in Plovdiv has led to the discovery of yet another fragment of the manuscript, apparently previously unidentified by researchers. This article provides a brief description of the new fragment whose history remains obscure. In addition, an attempt is made to shed a little more light on the history of the fragments and, in particular, of the Sofia fragment NBKM 1379, in which an inscription of 1839 has not been the subject of much attention until now. The author offers some observations, on the basis of which it is assumed that the fragment was in the possession of Father Neophyte of Rila, or that it was at his disposal at least for some time.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198314
Ivan P. Petrov(Vienna) – The Slavonic Translation of the Introduction to Isaac of Nineveh’s "Sermones Ascetici" ('The Epigramma on Silence, Stillness, and the Quiet Life")168-209THE SLAVONIC TRANSLATION OF THE INTRODUCTION TO ISAAC OF NINEVEH’S SERMONES ASCETICI (THE EPIGRAMMA ON SILENCE, STILLNESS, AND THE QUIET LIFE)

Ivan P. Petrov

Keywords: Isaac of Nineveh; medieval Slavonic translations; Old Slavonic translations from Greek; Middle Bulgarian

Abstract: This article introduces into scientific circulation the Homily on Silence, Stillness, and the Quiet Life, an anonymous text that appeared around the mid-fourteenth century in part of the codices containing the Greek translation of the ascetical homilies (Sermones ascetici) of Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh. In a Slavonic environment, this homily began to be used as an introduction in all the lists of the so-called Second Translation of the works of Isaac the Syrian. The Slavonic translation itself, Middle Bulgarian, demonstrates the literal adherence to the Greek original that is typical of the period. Its text is published as a diplomatic edition based on the copy dated 1381 and kept at the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Lavra, collated with another nine of the twelve known copies of the homily. The cases in which the Slavonic text differs from the Greek are presented and commented upon, assuming that the translation was made from a Greek Vorlage differing from the Greek text we know today (which has no critical edition, since the Greek tradition of this homily has not been studied). On the basis of the lexical variants between the Slavonic copies, some preliminary relationships within the Slavonic tradition are formulated that can be used in further work with the witnesses of the Second Slavonic Translation of Isaac the Syrian.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198315
Nina Gagova(Sofia) – An Overview of the Literary Life of Serres in the 1360s with a Case Study: Kyr Theodore Pediasimos’s "Theorems on the Nimbi of the Saints"210-266AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITERARY LIFE OF SERRES IN THE 1360S WITH A CASE STUDY: KYR THEODORE PEDIASIMOS’S "THEOREMS ON THE NIMBI OF THE SAINTS"

Nina Gagova

Keywords: Serbian domination in Serres, 1345–1371; Theodore Pediasimos; Theorems on the Nimbi of the Saints; Byzantine philosophy in the fourteenth century; Slavonic translations of Byzantine philosophers

Abstract: In the first part of the article, the extant scarce, and mostly indirect data about literary life in Serres during the Serbian domination in the region between 1345 and 1371 are collected and analyzed. An overview of the administrative policy of the Serbian rulers and the dynamics of the ecclesiastical subordination of the dioceses of the Serres region is offered, as well as of the donation activity of the important families and the influence of the proximity to Mount Athos and of the spread of Hesychasm. The importance is shown of Serres as a political and spiritual centre in the period under review – a centre where a lively exchange of theological ideas, cultural models, and texts took place, and where the paths of some of the most prominent representatives of the political and cultural elite of the Balkans in the fourteenth century crossed. The possibility that there was a Slavic literary centre in Serres is discussed through an analysis of the connections with other manuscripts and centres of several manuscripts certainly or presumably produced in Serres: The Four Gospels of metropolitan Jacob of Serres, 1354 (British Library, Add. MS 39626), and two autographs of the Slavonic translations prepared in the same literary circle – the Corpus of Pseudo-Dionysios Aeropagite with the commentaries by Maximos the Confessor, 1371, made by the elder Isaiah on commission of metropolitan Theodosios of Serres (RNB, Gilf. 46), and the Homilies of Gregory Palamas and Barlaam of Calabria, made by two anonymous translators (Deč. 88). The conclusion is drawn on the basis of the analysis, that at least two literary phenomena representative of the fourteenth century were very probably related to Serres (without being precisely localized): 1) the group of luxurious Bulgarian and Serbian manuscripts of the 1340s–1360s, related to the Four Gospels of metropolitan Jacob of Serres; 2) the translation circle of the elder Isaiah and his colleagues in which Gilf. 46 and Deč. 88 were produced, each of them containing the Slavonic translation of a work by a contemporary Byzantine author associated with Serres (Theodore Pediasimos and George Glabas).The second part of the article is dedicated to the text of one Byzantine philosopher working in Serres about the mid-fourteenth century – Theodore Pediasimos’s Theorems on the Nimbi of the Saints, whose translation (an excerpt from the Greek text) is a unique example of the Byzantine genre for the Slavonic repertoire, and whose presence as an appendix to the Areopagite Corpus raises interesting questions regarding the adaptation of Byzantine philosophical concepts relevant to it in a South Slavic environment. The content of the complete Greek text is presented together with some of its commentaries in the scholarly literature and a brief analysis of the Slavonic translator’s selection. The Appendix offers a translation of the Slavonic text into modern Bulgarian, based on its earliest copy (RGB, f. 173, No. 144), together with a digital copy of the manuscript text.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198316
Mariyana Tsibranska - Kostova(Sofia) – Projections of Old Bulgarian Translated Prose: "About Evil Women" in Fifteenth-Century Hilandar Miscellany 466267-288PROJECTIONS OF OLD BULGARIAN TRANSLATED PROSE: ABOUT EVIL WOMEN IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HILANDAR MISCELLANY 466

Mariyana Tsibranska - Kostova

Keywords: Sermon against Evil Women; monastic miscellanies in the early fifteenth century

Abstract: This article examines and offers a typeset edition of the Sermon against Evil Women in Hilandar monastic miscellany HM. SMS 466 of the 1420s. The copy shows a textual proximity to the earliest textual prototype in the eleventh-century Miscellany of Tsar Simeon (Izbornik of 1073), and linguistic changes at least some of which can be linked to the literary trends on Mount Athos or in the contact areas in the Balkans under the direct influence of Mount Athos in the early fifteenth century. A range of lexical variants between the two main sources is analyzed in the article. On the threshold of the changing cultural and historical context on the Balkans under Ottoman rule, miscellanies such as HM. SMS 466 became anthologies of South Slavic literature. Zones of strong Athonite influence were formed around Kratovo, Kosovo, Morava, the lands north of Skopje, and the dioceses of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, which sustained Slavic-Byzantine literary interactions. The author attempts to answer the question of what place the Sermon against Evil Women had in the overall compiling conception of miscellany HM. SMS 466.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198317
Evelina Mineva(Athens) – New facts about the transfer of St Parasceve of Epibatae’s relics in the 16th‒17th c.289-300NEW FACTS ABOUT THE TRANSFER OF ST PARASCEVE OF EPIBATAE’S RELICS IN THE 16TH ‒ 17TH C.

Evelina Mineva

Keywords: St Parasceve of Epibatae; translation of relics; Belgrade; Istanbul

Abstract: This paper presents some new facts about the translation of the relics of St Parasceve of Epibatae from Belgrade to Istanbul and their stay in the city until the fourth decade of the 17th century: 1. After converting the Metropolitan Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Belgrade into a mosque, Sülejman I (1494/1495‒1566) allowed its clergy to take the relics to Istanbul. 2. Perhaps for some time the saint’s relics were located in the Serbian church of Istanbul, and therefore it was originally called St. Petka. 3. After the obtaining of the relics by the Greek patriarchate, they were kept in a separate chapel of the Pammakarystos monastery. 4. The story about the Patriarch Parthenius being drowned by the Ottomans, because he donated the relics secretly to Voivode of Moldavia is a legend.These new facts testify that the popularity of the saint’s cult did not die out with the conquest of Belgrade by the Turks and was one of the main reasons for the last journey of St Parasceve of Epibatae’s relics to the place of their present residence in the city of Iași, Moldavia.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198323
Angel Nikolov(Sofia) – A Newly Discovered Mixed-Content Miscellany of the Second – Third Quarter of the Eighteenth Century301-343A NEWLY DISCOVERED MIXED-CONTENT MISCELLANY OF THE SECOND – THIRD QUARTER OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Angel Nikolov

Keywords: Slavonic Apocrypha; Bulgarian miscellanies of mixed content; Latin abecedary; Sisinnius’ prayer; Vidin; Teteven

Abstract: This article is devoted to a Bulgarian manuscript collection written in the town of Vidin by several hands around the second – third quarter of the eighteenth century; not later than the first quarter of the nineteenth century it was brought to Teteven, where it has been kept ever since. The collection of texts examined here is a typical example of the later miscellanies of mixed content, which are distinguished by the presence of numerous apocryphal and non-canonical works. Moreover, the inclusion of a number of apotropaic texts in the miscellany allows us to assume that its transcribers – most likely members of a relatively wealthy Vidin family of merchants and priests – had access to older amulet collections, which in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were frequently used in teaching children to read and write. The miscellany is also remarkable in that it reflects the personal tastes and pragmatic needs of its owners, who were not only obsessed with keeping evil forces at bay but also took pains to equip themselves with accurate calendar information on church festivals and fasts throughout the year, a Latin abecedary, and even a short Bulgarian-Hungarian dictionary whose presence in the manuscript hints at distant (most likely commercial) travels.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198324
CRITICAL REVIEWS
Anna-Maria Totomanova(Sofia) – TatyanaSlavova. Starozavetni knigi v slavjanskata rǎkopisna tradicija. Sofija: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“, 2022. 313 s. ISBN 978-954-07-5363-8344-349/issues/67/344-Totomanova.pdf
Yavor Miltenov(Sofia) – Atanasij Aleksandrijski. Pǎrvo slovo protiv arianite. Tom I. Izdanie na teksta. [Podg. ot] A.-M. Totomanova, Iv. Hristov, T. Slavova, G. Ganeva, M. Totomanova-Paneva, P. Penkova. Sofija: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“, 2022. 429 s. ISBN: 978-954-07-5546-5; Tom II. Izsledvanija. [Podg. ot] T. Slavova, A.-M. Totomanova, P. Penkova, Iv. Hristov, Hr. Trendafilov, M. Totomanova-Paneva. Sofija: Universitetsko izdatelstvo „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“, 2022. 303 s. ISBN: 978-954-07-5547-2350-354/issues/67/350-Miltenov.pdf
Ivona Karachorova(Sofia) – Radomirov psaltir. Paleografski i tekstologičen analiz. Naborno i faksimilno izdanie. Zografska izdatelska poredica Biblioteka „Kǎm izvorite“. Zografski manastir, Sveta gora. 1–2. Sofija: Fondacija „Nasledstvo na Zografskata sveta obitel“, 2022. 700 s. ISBN 978-954-770-466-4354-361/issues/67/354-Karachorova.pdf
Krassimir Stantchev(Rome) – Marcello Garzaniti. Storia delle letterature slave. Libri, scrittori e idee dall'adriatico alla siberia (secoli IX–XI). Roma: Caroicci editore, 2023. 550 pp. (Manuali universitari, 232) ISBN 978-88-290-1839-0362-374/issues/67/362-Stantchev.pdf
Elisaveta Nencheva(Sofia) – Manastirskite biblioteki v južnoslavjanskite zemi i Rusija prez XIV–XVI vek. Dokladi ot Meždunarodnata naučna konferencija 26–28 april 2021 g. Otgovorni redaktori Marko Skarpa, Elena V. Beljakova, Tatjana V. Pentkovska. Sofija, 2022 (Kirilo-Metodievski studii, 32). 385 s. ISSN 0205-2253; ISBN 978-954-9787-53-5; 978-954-9787-54-2 (online)374-381/issues/67/374-Nencheva.pdf
DISCUSSIONS
Boyka Mircheva(Sofia) – Once More about the Cult of St Erasmus of Ohrid (of Formia) in the Eastern and Western Christian Tradition382-408ONCE MORE ABOUT THE CULT OF ST ERASMUS OF OHRID (OF FORMIA) IN THE EASTERN AND WESTERN CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Boyka Mircheva

Keywords: cult of saints; Latin, Greek, and Slavic hagiography; Passio Sancti Herasmi; Old Bulgarian translation; etymology of the name of Ohrid

Abstract: This article draws attention to several Bulgarian publications devoted to the cult of St Erasmus of Ohrid (of Formia), which have remained outside the attention of the Russian scholars Vadim B. Krysko and Ksenia Yu. Doykina in their article “St Elmo’s Fire over the Balkans: The Martyrdom of Erasmus” (Starobulgarska Literatura, 63–64/2021, 15–96), and clarifies some important issues related to the dissemination of works dedicated to his memory in the Latin, Greek, and Slavonic manuscript traditions. One of them is the absence of blending of cults of homonymous saints in the Balkan and Orthodox tradition in general, which is suggested by the Russian researchers, as is evident from the title of their article. Exactly the opposite phenomenon is characteristic of the Western Christian tradition, which has witnessed numerous homonymous saints attached to the name of the renowned martyr of Formia. The veneration of this martyr and proto-evangelizer across the Bulgarian lands, especially in Ohrid and its surroundings, as well as the possibility to reconstruct the missing link in the phonetic development of the old Greek name Lychnidus to the modern name of the town, Ohrid, precisely from the works about St Erasmus in all three versions of his Vita, are indicative of the differences between the two traditions.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1198333
CHRONICLE
Ivan P. Petrov(Vienna) – An International Conference “Constantine of Preslav’s Uchitel’noe Evangelie and the South Slavonic Homiletic Texts (9th–13th century): Philological and Interdisciplinary Aspects”. Sofia, 25–27 April 2023409-414/issues/67/409-Iv. Petrov.pdf
IN MEMORIAM
Regina Koycheva(Sofia) – A Life of a Discoverer Enlightened by God: Professor Georgi Popov, DSc (1943–2023)415-420/issues/67/415-Koycheva.pdf
Dilyana Radoslavova(Sofia) – Elena Tomova (1947–2023)421-429/issues/67/421-Radoslavova.pdf
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adelinа Germanovа(Sofia) – Publications on Old Bulgarian Literature and Culture Published in Bulgaria 2022430-480/issues/67/430-Bibliography.pdf