Един изряден старобългарски катехизис: Прологът на ПАМѦТЪ И ЖИТИѤ БЛАЖЕНАГО ОТЪЦѦ НАШЕГО И УЧИТЕЛѦ МЕТОДИꙖ, АРХИЕПИСКОПА МОРАВЬСКА
A Perfect Old Bulgarian Catechism: The Prologue to ПАМѦТЪ И ЖИТИѤ БЛАЖЕНАГО ОТЪЦѦ НАШЕГО И УЧИТЕЛѦ МЕТОДИꙖ, АРХИЕПИСКОПА МОРАВЬСКА

Summary/Abstract: The results of the analytical exegesis of the biblical quotations and references (more than 40) found by the author in the introductory chapter of the Vita enable her to determine this unusually long part of the monument (over one quarter of the entire text) as an extremely valuable and doctrinally sound Old Bulgarian catechism. Unfolding in complete harmony with the sublime work of Methodius, who was chosen to be a terrestrial instrument of God and predestined to implement through God's grace the plan of salvation, the text builds up the laudation of the Slav apostle adhering most strictly to the main literary norm of the Christian Middle Ages, a norm that required jubilant glorification of God. Parallel with that the salvational gift destined by the Most High for Slavdom finds its most telling expression in the apostolic dignity awarded to the work of Methodius, a dignity like that of the apostle Paul. And so that nobody may fail to note the exceptional significance of this high recognition the author of the Vita twice and at key points (in the end of the Prologue-catechism and in the conclusion of the Vita itself) adduces the words with which Paul discloses in 1 Cor. 9:22 his selfless service for the benefit of the flock. In the first quotation these words justify the praise, admiration and gratitude that issue forth from the text of the Prologue, words that are always subordinated to the didactic purpose of the catechism. When, however, the quotation is repeated at the end of the monument they express the satisfaction with the perfect implementation by Methodius of the mission entrusted to him by God. For the first time the paper gives results of the scholarly edition in Italian of the long vitae of Cyril and Methodius and of the two panegyrics. The edition is accompanied by a commentary, which the author is preparing with the help of the University of Palermo.

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