Textological, Linguistic and Theological Features of the Newly Identified Corpus of Old Church Slavonic Homilies
Textological, Linguistic and Theological Features of the Newly Identified Corpus of Old Church Slavonic Homilies

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present the newly identified corpus of nine Old Church Slavonic homilies composed and pronounced by one author whose exact identity remains unknown. The corpus includes the homily on the Nativity of the Lord, on Baptism, on the Presentation of the Lord in Temple, on Annunciation, on Ascension, on Pentecost, on All the Saints, on the Conception of John the Baptist, and, finally, on the feast of Heavenly Powers. Some further discoveries are still possible mainly among moveable feasts of the liturgical year. Basic linguistic (lexical and syntactical) characteristics are presented and completed with textological features of each homily. The composition is a result of abundant intertextual loaning from the Bible (Greek and Old Church Slavonic), and from Greek patristic authors like Gregory of Nazianzus, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Severian of Gabala, and others whose texts were chosen, interpreted, and translated by the author of the homilies. Upon consideration of linguistic and extralinguistic facts, the corpus can be dated at the end of the 9th century. The exact geographical attribution is hard to establish but the presence of some theological controversies typical of Western Slavic areas (such as the Filioque quarrel) is incontestable.

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