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The research focuses on the main texts of the Old Bulgarian hagiographical cycle about Saint John of Rila. Text analysis of the post-biographical parts leads to the conclusion that the relics of the Rila saint extremely actualize their impact in historical periods that are dramatic for the ethnic destiny.
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Among the texts known to the Slavic people and ascribed to Athanasius of Alexandria there are seven that we find included in the medieval Triodion homiliaries. With the exception of one homily (i.e. Homily on the Betrayal of Jude), all of them were part of the Triodion Panegeric (Hilandar MS, Ohio, HM.SMS.404), whose origin is connected to the Patriarch Euthymius of Tarnovo and whose texts were later included in various Bulgarian, Serbian, and (sometimes) Russian miscellanea up until the XVII century. To have this many texts of Athanasius within one sbornik is quite unusual both for the Church Typica, and for the known Greek Homiliaries. It is suggested that this fact points to a unique feature of the type of Panegirics that were produced in the literary circle of scribes in Tarnovo.
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This article presents an unknown until now old printed books collection of the “Holy Trinity Monastery” in Novo Selo, Apriltsi. It contains 18 printed books, most of them are Russian liturgical books, the earliest of which are the Gospel and the Apostle, published in the Kievo-Pechorian Lavra in 1752. Rare editions of engravings are presented and is given the content of the contributions, which gives information about the books themselves, about their owners and about the history of “The Holy Trinity Monastery” in Novo Selo. Particular attention is paid to an unknown note from the famous Bulgarian Revival writer Stoyan Kovanlushki.
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The article discusses some scholia by St. Cyril of Alexandria from the Greek Catena on the Book of Prophet Isaiah in comparison with the Preslav translation according to several representatives of the two Slavonic manuscript traditions – the Middle Bulgarian (F.I. 461 from the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg) and the Russian ones (Mss. Chudovski 182, 183 and 184 from the State Historical Museum in Moskow and Ms. 89 and Ms. 90 from the Collection of the Troitse-Sergieva Laura). The parallels between the Greek and Slavonic manuscript traditions make it possible to draw the following conclusions. The complex Slavonic tradition should be explored because the Middle Bulgarian manuscript tradition is incomplete and represents only a part of the Preslav translation, and the conclusions made on its basis are incomplete. The parallel study of the Slavonic translation with samples from the Greek Catеnae shows that it is insufficient to work only with the full text of the commentary in Patrologia Graeca, as some translation decisions in Slavonic can be explained only by the Greek source used. The study of the scholia by St. Cyril of Alexandria in Slavonic translation, as well as the study of the scholia by Theodulus and John Chrysostom, point to the possibility that the Slavonic translation represents unknown or today unpreserved abbreviated version of the Greek catena.
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The subject of this paper is version of the service to St. Nicholas of Myra in two Bulgarian menaions of the 14th century. One is taken from the collection of the National Library of Russia and another one so called “Dragan’s menaion” is taken from the collection of the Zograf monastery. The service in the both menaions demonstrates the brevity of the composition. This composition is different from the version of the Russian menaions of the 12th – 14th centuries. The composition of services for both Bulgarian menaions is almost identical but there is an important difference – there are different canons with the same kontakion and ikos. Both canons are not known by other traditions. The canon of the Dragan’s menaion is particularly interesting. The origin of this canon undoubtedly goes back to an old one, since it keeps the second second Ode. The images and lexical material also show its antiquity. The paper is devoted to the analysis of this services and in particularly of the canon of Dragan’s menaion.
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An abridged version of the Slavonic Scaliger Patericon is shown to be copied both from Cyrillic and Glagolitic antigraphs; the same circumstance is observed in the translations of the Scete Patericon and Athanasius of Alexandria’s Homilies Against the Arians. Twofold transmission makes it possible to contrast the features of copying from Glagolitic with those of copying from Cyrillic.
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The article examines the Slavonic translation of the Asceticon Magnum and the ascetical sermons of St. Basil the Great, which can be found in the manuscript No. 3 from the library of the Zographou Monastery on Mount Athos. There are described the morphological and lexical features of this important text and also is presented the reception of this translation in the Slavic Middle Ages.
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The article summarises the author’s work on the excerpt of Letter N from the Glossary of Patriarch Euthymius. It presents a preliminary observation of part of the vocabulary in the writings of this 14th-century Bulgarian man of letters. The statistical structure of the Glossary is presented in summary – the letter N and the dissemination of the words beginning with N on the micro- and macro-level both in the works by this author and in the Medieval literature with a view to following the continuity of the language and influence of the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition on the writers associated with the Literary School of Tarnovo. A general characteristic of the Glossary is made in relation to the grammatical and semantic category of the constituent lexemes in comparison with the word-forming tendencies in the Old Bulgarian as well as with regard to the origin and functional delimitation of words. Special attention is paid to the vocabulary which has not been lexicographically described so far, as well as to the lexis which is considered diagnostic when ascribing this precise author to a particular literary tradition.
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The restoration of the Bulgarian Tzardom in the end of the 12th – the beginning of the 13th c. in the current historiography is often described in the terms of wide political and ideological program, which was continuously realized by three brothers – founders of the new Asenides dynasty – Peter, John and Kaloyan from 1186 to 1207. Another trend of research considers the activities of the first Asenides as situational but in this case the mobilization of the historical memory provided substantial ideological resources, too. The article contains five cases – of the brothers’ meeting with Isaac II Angel in Kipsela in 1185; using the term Zagora to designate their restored Tzardom; role of Preslav in the époque of the first Asens; the rite of Theodor-Peter’s coronation and transfer of St. John’s of Rila relics from Sredets to Turnovo by John Asen. Their consideration leads to the conclusion, that the strategic course of the first Asens to restore the Bulgarian Tzardom was combined with situational decisions, while the arguments to support them were taken from common historical memory of Bulgarians and received the appropriate connotations in their actions. Later these arguments received verbal interpretations in agiographical, hymnographical, canonical and historiographical works created in Turnovo and Athos.
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The paper analyzes the role of heritage of the Tarnovo Literary School in the preservation of historical memory of Bulgarians about their distant past of the period of the First Bulgarian Kingdom during the 15th – 16th centuries. The investigation shows that due to the heritage of the Tarnovo Literary School and connection with Slavonic Orthodox tradition the historical memory about St. Ivan of Rila and SS. Cyril and Methodius preserved.
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The subject of this article is the social status of 22 grammarians known from the medieval Bulgarian sources. The period on which names “grammarians” are found in the Bulgarian Middle Ages is of Xth to beginning of XVth century. One of the goals is to point out what is the status of the “grammarian” in Medieval Bulgaria – is it a service, an alias, a title or an epithet. The places which are connected to these people have been researched. The work of grammarians is mainly connected with copying theological books or with translations from Greek to Old Bulgarian. The Old Bulgarian grammarians are mostly secular persons who work for churches or monasteries. Their work is custom-made or in some cases the work for a fee. The alias “grammarian” in medieval Bulgaria has no official character, it is not a title with designated service. In indicates to certain professional skill, level of education and deserved status higher than the one that an ordinary medieval scribe has.
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For the existence of women monasteries we lack sources, unlike men monasteries, for which we have plenty of written, archaeological and hagiographical data. Relying mainly on the written sources – building and gravestone inscriptions, bead-rolls and marginal notes – I will try to examine the existence of female monasticism in the territory of the Balkan Peninsula from the period of Christianization till the end of the 18th c. (using the above-mentioned sources). Despite some separate mentions of nuns, it could be traced back through the sources that the development of female monasticism in the Balkans was not interrupted from the period before the Ottoman conquest till the end of the 18th c.
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In April 2021, the U.S. intelligence community published the extensive report “Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World”. It analyses the main demographic, political, and strategic trends that will likely shape the world for the next two decades. The report will be intensively used by the Biden administration in the preparation of the new U.S. National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy, as well as in new military doctrines. The “Global Trends” document reflects the main tendencies in American strategic thinking, such as the growing “Sinocentrism” and traditional U.S. attachment to transatlantic relations.
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