Three Versions of the Commentaries by Nicetas of Heraclea on the Homilies of Gregory the Theologian Cover Image
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Три версии толкований Никиты Ираклийского к словам Григория Богослова
Three Versions of the Commentaries by Nicetas of Heraclea on the Homilies of Gregory the Theologian

Author(s): Dmitrii M. Bulanin
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History, Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Middle Ages, Theology and Religion, Translation Studies
Published by: Институт за литература - БАН
Keywords: patristic; homily; translation; commentary; version; edition; function; amplification; imitation; reminiscence

Summary/Abstract: This article compares three Slavonic versions of one and the same theological composition translated from the Greek: the commentaries by Nicetas of Heraclea, the prominent Byzantine exegete of the eleventh century, on the collection of sixteen homilies by Gregory the Theologian. The Slavonic text of the commentaries is known in three versions. Version (1) is abridged and the oldest of the three. It is considered an Old Russian translation and has entered the „Second Slavonic Edition“ of Gregory the Theologian’s collection of sixteen homilies. Version (2) is an extended version, produced by South Slavic writers in the fourteenth century, which appeared in the „Third South Slavonic Edition“ of Gregory’s collection. Version (3) is included in the „Third East Slavonic Edition.“ Its first half, related to Homilies 1–8, is almost identical to the corresponding part of version (2), while its second half (homilies 9–16) contains original Russian commentaries based on the old abridged translation, i.e. version (1), although the content has been considerably altered and expanded. All examples used to compare the three Slavonic versions are taken from Nicetas’ commentaries on one homily dedicated to Gregory of Nyssa. The article significantly corrects our traditional understanding of Gregory the Theologian’s Slavonic reception by proposing, for example, that version (2) is independent from version (1). The author draws his conclusions not only from comparing the texts themselves, but from analyzing the different functions assigned to each version, which, in the final analysis determined the textual discrepancies among them.This article compares three Slavonic versions of one and the same theological composition translated from the Greek: the commentaries by Nicetas of Heraclea, the prominent Byzantine exegete of the eleventh century, on the collection of sixteen homilies by Gregory the Theologian. The Slavonic text of the commentaries is known in three versions. Version (1) is abridged and the oldest of the three. It is considered an Old Russian translation and has entered the „Second Slavonic Edition“ of Gregory the Theologian’s collection of sixteen homilies. Version (2) is an extended version, produced by South Slavic writers in the fourteenth century, which appeared in the „Third South Slavonic Edition“ of Gregory’s collection. Version (3) is included in the „Third East Slavonic Edition“ Its first half, related to Homilies 1–8, is almost identical to the corresponding part of version (2), while its second half (homilies 9–16) contains original Russian commentaries based on the old abridged translation, i.e. version (1), although the content has been considerably altered and expanded. All examples used to compare the three Slavonic versions are taken from Nicetas’ commentaries on one homily dedicated to Gregory of Nyssa. The article significantly corrects our traditional understanding of Gregory the Theologian’s Slavonic reception by proposing, for example, that version (2) is independent from version (1). The author draws his conclusions not only from comparing the texts themselves, but from analyzing the different functions assigned to each version, which, in the final analysis determined the textual discrepancies among them.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 61-62
  • Page Range: 11-37
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Russian