Св. Методий в латинската небогослужебна традиция до началото на Новото време

Author(s): Anna Vlaevska-Stantcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 52/2015

The present publication continues to explore images of St. Methodius in the Western (Catholic) tradition, a topic already addressed in an article by K. Stantchev and A. Vlaevska-Stantcheva (see Kirilo-Metodievski studii 17, 2007: 687–701). It focused on how the person of Methodius is represented in the Western European, predominantly non-Slavic non-liturgical tradition from the 16th through the beginning of the 17th century. The lower chronological boundary of this study is the time of Emperor Charles VI (1355–1378), who officially added SS. Cyril and Methodius to the patrons of the Czech Kingdom in 1347. The article traces mentions of Methodius in works by the chroniclers of his court, Giovanni Marignoli and Přibík Pulkava. Special attention is paid to the little-known Historia Bohemica by Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405–1464, Pope Pius II 1458–1464), which introduces Methodius-related motives previously known only in the Czech tradition into non-Slavic Western historiography. In this connection, the article examines works by several notable representatives of Italian and German Humanism, such as Rafaelle Maffei (also known as Raphaele Volaterano), Johannes Nauclerus, Johann Georg Turmair (Johannes Aventinus), Giovanni Battista Cipelli (Battista Egnazio), and Girolamo Bardi. It acknowledges that the figure of Methodius appears mostly sporadically, albeit in works of various genres, and follows the evolution of his representation from the middle of the 16th century onward, from the historiographical texts of Johannes Dubravius and Marcin Kromer (Martin Cromer) to the Ecclesiastical Annals by Cardinal Cesare Baronio, which was largely responsible for confirming the Western European image of Methodius as an Apostle to the Slavs. The last part of the publication focuses on the image of Methodius in Benedictine historiographic and hagiographic literature from the end of the 14th through the middle of the 17th century, claiming that this tradition has its own independent development and serves as a “mirror” for the evolution of Methodius’s image in the non-Slavic West.

Преводи и книжни контексти. Деяние на св. Никола (Praxis de stratilatis) и южнославянските календарни сборници

Author(s): Diana Atanasova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 52/2015

Praxis de stratilatis is a story about a miracle of St. Nicholas who rescued three generals from death. The text was translated not once but twice at the dawn of Old Bulgarian literature. My research aims to explore the earliest translation of Praxis de stratilatis produced in a South Slavic milieu. The main objective of the study is to identify the Greek prototype of the Slavonic version and to trace the textual tradition of this account in the South Slavic context. The study is based upon the hypothesis that the two translations were affected by the introduction of specific types of calendar collections. In this respect, the earliest translation of Praxis de stratilatis was introduced into the repertoire with the emergence of a collection known in the Byzantine tradition as panegyrikomartyrology – an assemblage of texts that pertain to both the movable and immovable Orthodox feasts. Witnesses of the earliest translation of Praxis de stratilatis date from the 14th through the 17th centuries. Despite the large temporal scope, however, individual manuscripts do not show significant differences or other traces of deliberate editing or interventions. This gives us reason to believe that the Slavic version of the collection panegyrikomartyrology was not reproduced as a whole, which would account for the fact that the texts, although they were copied in the later manuscript tradition, remained relatively unchanged.

Параметри на преводаческия избор в един атонски книжовен кръг от 60-те години на XІV в.

Author(s): Lora Taseva / Language(s): Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 52/2015

The subject of this study is data about the individual styles of two Athonite men of letters of the 1360s. The first translated Gregory Palamas’ First and Second Logoi apodeiktikoi; the other translated Polemics against the Latins and Syntagma by Barlaam of Calabria. Our main source – Codex 88 of the Visoki Dečani monastery – presents us with the translators’ working copies. This study compares the approaches of the two translators through a quantitative analysis of the originals and their translations, searching for equivalences at the lexical level (additions and repeatedly translated words, periphrastic, analytical and double translations), at the level of word-formation tendencies, morphological changes, and lexical synonymy (both quantitative and qualitative). The systematically organized data are evaluated not only in isolation, but also in the context of other translated works from the same literary center, both contemporaneous with the target works and belonging to earlier periods. The facts presented in the article confirm that the governing principles of the 14th-century Athonite translation circle are relatively uniform, while revealing considerable differences in the personal translation technique of the two bookmen. Barlaam of Calabria’s translator is more independent from his original in choosing qualitative Slavonic lexical equivalents, resorting to lexemes without any Greek parallel, duplication of prepositions and content parts of speech, and pleonastic translations. By contrast, the translator of Gregory Palamas demonstrates greater freedom in choosing Slavonic correlates: his translations deviate more often from the morphological categories in the original, offer a greater number of Slavonic variants for the same Greek lexeme, and use more collocations to render two-stem Greek words. Each of the two translators prefers different Slavonic equivalents for particular Greek lexemes, especially those drawn from the terminological sphere. Some of the variants stand out against the background of correlates traditionally used in Athonite theological translations and could, therefore, be seen as features of the translators’ individual styles.

Житие на св. имп. Теофана от дякон Николай: издание на среднобългарския превод

Author(s): Maya Petrova-Taneva / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Slavonic,Old Bulgarian Issue: 53-54/2016

The article presents the full text of the Life of St Theophano the Empress, the first wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (866‒912), attributed to an otherwise unknown author called “Nicholas, Deacon of the Great Church of St. Lazaros, Bishop of Drynopolis” in the title of the text. The Greek original of this Life is unknown. This text is now preserved in a few Bulgarian, Serbian and Moldovian manuscripts, dating from the end of the 14th to the beginning of the 16th centuries. Its Slavonic translation has been made during the Middle-Bulgarian period, most probably in Tărnovo, as a result of the dissemination St Theophano’s cult after the transfer of some of her relics to the Bulgarian capital. The full text of the Life of St Theophano the Empress is published according to its copy preserved in the Zagreb miscellany from 1469 written and compiled by Vladislav the Grammarian. Variant readings are given according to the four other existing MSS witnessing the same translation.

Охридский архиепископ Иоанн Каматир как вероятный автор славянской службы Михаилу Воину из Потуки

Author(s): Sergey Yurievich Temchin / Language(s): Russian Issue: 55-56/2017

In a previous publication, the author demonstrated that the Slavonic liturgical Office for St. Michael of Potuka is a translation from а lost Greek original: reverse translation of the canon’s incipits into Greek allowed him to reconstruct, with a relative certainty, a fragment from the original Greek acrostic which contained the saint’s name ΜΙΧΑΗΛ. Using the same method in this publication, he reconstructs another fragment of the Greek acrostic, which, in the last two odes of the Canon, features the Greek name IΩΑΝΝΗΣ—apparently, the author’s name. This person may tentatively be identified as the archbishop of Ohrid John Kamateros (after 1183–1215).

Словото за Въведение Богородично от Теофилакт Български и неговият славянски превод

Author(s): Iskra Hristova Shomova / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Slavonic,Old Bulgarian Issue: 55-56/2017

The first part of the article discusses the content and stylistic features of the Sermon. It is strictly catechetic and contains no epideictic rhetorical turns. Its central theme is the journey of humankind toward the temple and the role of the Christian temple in a human life. The article’s second part focuses on the Slavonic translation of the Sermon. Its earliest extant copy is found in MS no. 107 from the Zograph monastery on Mount Athos and dates from the last quarter of the 14th century. The Slavic translator demonstrates excellent linguistic competence and a good stylistic sense. He uses some rare lexemes registrated also in liturgical books that had been revised in the 14th century in accord with the Jerusalem Typicon. The vocabulary of the Sermon’s Slavonic translation is thus representative of texts written in the 14th century in Bulgaria and the Balkans. The article includes a publication of the Slavonic text according to Zograph 107, with a parallel edition of its Greek original.

Vis et Sapientia: Studia in honorem Anisavae Miltenova. Нови извори, интерпретации и подходи в медиевистиката. София: Издателски център „Боян Пенев“, Институт за литература – БАН, 2016. 800 с. ISBN 978-619-7372-00-7 .

Author(s): Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 55-56/2017

Ана Стойкова. Свети Георги Победоносец. Агиографски произведения в южнославянската средновековна традиция. София: Изток‒Запад, 2016. 724 с. ISBN 978-619-152-903-2

Author(s): Klimentina Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 55-56/2017

Публикации по старобългарска литература и култура, излезли в България през 2016 г.

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Bulgarian,Russian Issue: 55-56/2017

Папското освещаване на славянските книги през 868 г.: факти и хипотези

Author(s): Krassimir Stantchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 57-58/2018

This article analyzes the available evidence about Pope Adrian II’s consecration of Slavic books in 868, which in effect consecrated the Glagolitic alphabet created by Constantine-Cyril. The evidence, found in the Slavonic Lives of St. Cyril (VC) and St. Methodius (VM), is absent from both the Latin Italian legend and the few other extant documentary sources from that period. The author argues that the description of the event in VC, with its rich topographic and prosopographical details, must have been written by a well-informed eyewitness, and should therefore be considered more credible. By contrast, the narrative in VM features prosopographical inaccuracies, abbreviations, contaminations, and creative additions, whose role most probably was to protect Methodius from possible charges. Specifically, the author supports the view that the Epistle of Adrian II in VM is not a paraphrase of an actual document, but a compositional element devised by the hagiographer. In the final analysis, while the exact nature of the papal blessing remains unclear, it is beyond doubt that, without this event—and the better documented papal elevation of Methodius to the rank of Moravian (arch)bishop—the further history of the Slavonic alphabet would have followed a very different trajectory.

Папският благослов на славянските книги като полемичен аргумент

Author(s): Aleksander Naumow / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 57-58/2018

Based on extant texts, this article analyzes the attitudes of the pontiffs of Rome toward the introduction of the Slavonic language into Christian worship, beginning with the blessing of the liturgical books that SS Cyril and Methodius brought to Rome. The decision of Adrian II and John VIII to allow the use of the new barbarian language was gradually cancelled out or reduced to a marginal phenomenon (Dalmacia, Prague, Olesnitsa, Cracow). After the Union of Brest (1596), however, it became a tool of Catholic proselytism with respect to the Orthodox Slavs. According to the ideology of Paposlavism, this blessing sanctified Slavonic writing and culture and introduced Bulgaria and Kievan Rus’ into the sphere of Western Christianity, a gesture not unlike the anointing of the newly baptized in the Eastern rite. Significantly, in this view, submission to the Pope was the only criterion for belonging to the Church and the right faith. In the East, by contrast, the Slavonic alphabet and writing were considered a gift from God that, by the will of the Emperor and the Synod, found its application in missionary work. The Papal blessing did not concern the essence of the gift of the Word, but was only an administrative decision of the ruling hierarch, which affected only local practice. The discussion about the place and role of SS Cyril and Methodius in the history of cultural, ecclesiastic and political relations between Slavs and Greeks, Slavs and “Romans,” as well as among the different Slavic peoples, has not lost its relevance today, as it provides scholars with a wide range of more or less familiar arguments and facts.

„Славянские книги“ и папское благословение: о чем рассказывают (и о чем умалчивают) Пространные Жития Константина-Кирилла и Мефодия

Author(s): Cristiano Diddi / Language(s): Russian Issue: 57-58/2018

The article takes as a starting point the account about the “Slavic books” (книгы словенскыѥ –Vita Constantini 17:5) brought to Rome by the Slavic apostles Cyrill and Methodius, and their blessing by Pope Adrian II. By “Slavic books,” scholars usually mean loosely defined “liturgical books” that could reasonably be identified with the Slavonic Gospel (словѣньское евангелиѥ) mentioned in Vita Methodii 6:1. The liturgical books referred to in VC, however, still remain undefined, as it remains unclear who completed their translations, when and where. In an attempt to answer these questions, the author considers some passages from the Lives of the Slavic apostles with explicit references to “books,” and “letters.”Careful reexamination of the vitas’ entire manuscript tradition cannot support the assumption that, after his arrival in Moravia, Constantine continued to engage in translation activities. Taking up a proposal advanced in the past by other scholars, the article assumes that, instead of translating some undefined “liturgical texts” (VC 15:2 вьсь црк҃овныи чинь прѣложь/прїимь), Constantine “transferred”, “transcribed”, and “fixed” in Slavic letters texts that had already been translated (by the way, different passages of VC mention Constantine’s dispute with the Latin and Franco-Germanic clergy that related not so much to the translation of books as to the Slavic letters – see VC 15 and 16). For a more precise identification of these translations, the article briefly reexamines the literature produced by Irish and Frankish missionaries in the dioceses of Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, Passau during the 7th and 8th centuries, as well as translations made by the Frankish clergy in the 9th century. The interpretation proposed in this article fits well with the Pope’s willingness to bless books written in Slavonic, since the practice of translating [essential Christian] texts into local languages served a well-established and long-standing missionary program, one that aimed far beyond the Slavs of Moravia. Through this politics, the papacy could regain control of territories that had previously been under the jurisdiction of Rome, yet had meanwhile fallen under the control of the Franks.In conclusion, the author challenges us to reread the Cyrillo-Methodian sources afresh, without any theoretical nor ideological bias, keeping in mind that these texts are primarily literary and ideologically inflected works, not historical sources.

Новгородски ли са Новгородските чети-минеи?

Author(s): Elka Mircheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 57-58/2018

The article examines the Slavonic translation of the complete Reading Menaia, containing readings for the entire liturgical year, and its genesis. The author contests the position of the Russian scholar D. Afinogenov on this subject, and offers the alternative hypothesis that the translation was completed during the First Bulgarian Kingdom and is associated with the Preslav cultural center.

Венета Савова. ПЕСНИ ОТ КЛИМЕНТ. Химничната прослава на св. Алексий, човек божи сред православните славяни. София: Парадигма, 2017, 392 с. ISBN 978-954-326-311-0

Author(s): Mariya Yovcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 57-58/2018

Пренасянето на мощите на св. Николай Мирликийски от Мира в Бари в православнославянската традиция: Основните наративи за празника

Author(s): Nina Gagova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 59-60/2019

The article examines the introduction of the feast Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas from Myra to Bari in the Slavic Orthodox tradition and the inclusion of related texts in the Slavic (Cyrillic) repertory, with an emphasis on the narratives of the translation. We analyze data from calendars, where the feast is attested from mid13th century onward, as critically examine the origin and dating of texts circulating in South Slavic and Russian copies since the 14th century. Special attention is given to the received opinion that both the feast itself and the purported principal text related to it (the so-called Discourse for the translation of the relics of St. Nicholas from the end of the 11th century) are of Russian origin. The relation of this text to the other two existing narratives (Legend from the Prologue, and Tale) is subjected to critical reconsideration. In the Appendix, we publish and analyze a previously unknown version of the Discourse found in MS no. 105, fol. 19, from the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius (the text is provided in a parallel edition alongside the version from the Reading Menologia of Makarius).Based on analysis of the available sources, we conclude that the feast and its companion texts were introduced into the Slavic Orthodox repertory in the Balkans, most probably in the last quarter of the 12th century or the first quarter of the 13th century. This conclusion is supported by both the historical context of Slavic cultural contacts with Southern Italy and by the texts' middle-Bulgarian linguistic features. At this stage of the study, we cannot consider this issue resolved, but it is clear, in light of the new discoveries, that the traditional claim about the Russian origin of the feast and the texts cannot be maintained any longer.

Славия Бърлиева. Cyrillo-Methodiana & Varia Mediaevalia. Паметници на кирило-методиевската традиция. София: Българска академия на науките – Кирило-Методиевски научен център, 2019. 392 с. ISBN 978-954-9787-40-5

Author(s): Krassimir Stantchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 61-62/2020

Диляна Радославова. Българската книжнина от XVII в.: центрове, книжовници, репертоар. София: Издателски център „Боян Пенев“, 2020. 296 с., ил. (Studia mediaevalia Slavica et Byzantina, 6). ISSN 1314-4170

Author(s): Olga Mladenova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 61-62/2020

Огни святого Эльма над Балканами: Мучение Еразма в древнеболгарском переводе

Author(s): Vadim B. Krysko,Ksenia Yu. Doykina / Language(s): Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Russian,Old Slavonic,Old Bulgarian,Latin Issue: 63-64/2021

The Life of St Erasmus (The Martyrdom of Erasmus, Passio Erasmi) is known in three versions, i.e. Latin, Greek and Slavic. The Latin version is represented by dozens of copies since the nineteenth century, the Greek one, by only three copies of the eleventh–fourteenth centuries. A number of facts, especially the rendering of toponyms, indicate the primacy of the Latin text, in comparison with which the three Greek copies appear as a reflection of two different translations or recensions. The Old Bulgarian translation of Passio Erasmi, unknown to the researchers of Latin and Greek hagiography, has been preserved in an Old East Slavic manuscript of the twelfth century and in several Russian copies of the fifteenth–sixteenth centuries; these two branches of the Slavic tradition show considerable similarity, but go back to the different archetypes. The article presents a critical edition of the Slavic text according to the oldest copy with significant variants from other manuscripts; in parallel, the oldest copy of the Greek version is published for the first time with variae lectiones of other copies relevant to the Slavic translation as well as the readings of the Latin version close to the Slavic one. The publication is accompanied by a reconstruction of the Old Bulgarian text and its translation into modern Russian. An analysis of the Slavic translation suggests that it was based on a Greek text that was different from the three surviving copies, but in a number of points coincided with the earlier Latin text. Some features of translation techniques and archaisms give grounds to trace the Slavic translation back to the tenth century. The fact that the Life of Erasmus, who suffered martyrdom in the Balkan lands, was chosen among thousands of others for translation in the First Bulgarian Empire, reflects the still living tradition of the veneration of Erasmus as a Balkan martyr par excellence, a tradition that was preserved by the Byzantine Church and was handed over to the Bulgarian Church, and from it – to the Russian Church and Russian scripture.

Петър Богдан. За древността на бащината земя и за българските дела. Критично издание, превод и коментар Цветан Василев. T. I–II. София: Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2020. 620 с., 170 с. ISBN 978-954-07-5045-3; 978-954-07-5053-8

Author(s): Krassimir Stantchev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021

Лиляна Грашева (1936–2021)

Author(s): Ana Stoykova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021