Службата за Благовещение в славянските староизводни минеи
The Office on the Annunciation in Slavonic Menaia

Summary/Abstract: The Office on the Annunciation is probably among those, which were translated in the earliest period after the arrivel of the disciples of the Holy Brothers in Bulgaria. The same canon was used in all Slavonic menaia (the Festal Menaia and the Office Menaia for March) – this is the canon of John the Monk (St. John of Damascus). It contains a dialog between the Archangel Gabriel and Virgin Mary: the Archangel announces to Her that She is going to become the God`s Mother (Theotokos). But the content of the canon is not the same in all Slavonic manuscripts. There is a group of Festal menaia in which another troparion (a theotokion) is added to each ode. These troparia were not a part of the original canon of John the Monk, they have been added in a single centre and they haven`t been wide spread in Byzantium, as far as they have not been discovered in Greek manuscripts yet. It seems that initially the canon with the added troparia has been translated in Bulgaria, and later, when the Office has been revised on the base of new Greek patterns, these troparia were removed. Further, a big number of stichera were included in the Office and there is a big diversity between the manuscripts as regards to the stichera. Thirty-one stichera were used in the thirteen manuscripts which have been studied, and the stichera were grouped in different ways in the manuscripts, some of them are a part of the Vesper, and others are included in the morning part of the Office, after the canon. Furthermore, these thirteen manuscripts were compared according to the content and the text of the Office on the Annunciation. They can be divided into two groups of the first and second redaction of the Office, and the representatives of the second redaction are divided into subgroups. The history of the Office on the Annunciation is symptomatic for the history of the Slavonic Festal and Office Menaia.

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