Извън границите на средновековното общество

Author(s): Desislava Naydenova / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Slavonic,Old Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021

Recently, the question of shaping identity and the perception of “the other” (by this term are commonly embraced not only foreigners, but also individuals, social groups and minorities, characterised by a certain degree of abnormality, marginality and exclusion) has become an increasingly popular topic for the researchers of the Middle Ages. This paper seeks to present translations of some Slavonic texts included in the so-called Nomokanon of Pseudo-Zonaras, a canon-law compilation from the beginning of the fourteenth century, that change, through the imposition of penances, the social status of groups and individuals, placing them in a marginal, intermediate, isolated position. The study shows that heretics and members of other religions such as Latins, Armenians, Jews, Muslims most clearly stand out as a group that could be defined as “the others”. Unambiguous and strictly regulated red lines were drawn between them and the Orthodox Christians that should not be violated, since those, who crossed them, were othered, marginalised, seen as outsiders to society. These were conditioned by rules that can be divided thematically into three groups: 1) applying to those who accept another’s faith, 2) relating to food prohibitions, and 3) governing mixed-faith marriages.

Кратко историческо описание на cветата Велеградска митрополия от Антим Алексудис и сведенията за св. Седмочисленици в него

Author(s): Evgeni Zashev / Language(s): Bulgarian,Greek, Modern (1453-) Issue: 63-64/2021

This paper seeks to present the notes and references to the Seven Slavic Saints in the work by Anthimos Alexoudis, Bishop of Berat, published in 1868 under the title “Σύντομος ἱστορικὴ περιγραφὴ τῆς Ίερᾶς Μητροπόλεως Βελεγραδῶν καὶ τῆς ὑπὸ τὴν πνευματικὴν αὐτῆς δικαιοδοσίαν ὑπαγομένης χώρας”. A short biography of the author is provided to trace his education and career as a clergyman close to the Oecumenical Patriarchate. Particular attention is paid to his research interests in the fields of palaeography, epigraphy and church history by offering a bibliographic description of his most important works. In order to reveal the genesis of bishop Anthimos’s interest in the life’s work of the Holy Heptarithmoi (the Seven Slavic Saints), an attempt is made to reconstruct various aspects of the spiritual atmosphere in the diocese of Berat relating to the Slavic enlighteners: oral tradition, religious services and church representations. A brief overview of the contents of Anthimos Alexoudis’ book is placed within that cultural-historical context. It is noted that in his work the clergyman mentions the Seven Saints three times – in the seventh, eighth and tenth chapters – and the relevant excerpts are translated into Bulgarian. Attention is also paid to the fact that the bishop has committed himself to the preservation of the relics believed to have belonged to Sts Gorazd and Angelarius: a reliquary was made for the purpose with the costs covered by the metropolitan church. In conclusion, it is emphasised that the book by Anthimos Alexoudis testifies to the fact that one century after abolishing the autocephaly of the Archbishopric of Ochrid and placing its diocese under the jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate, the memory of the life’s work of the Seven Saints was infallibly kept alive in the furthermost south-western regions. In the diocese of Berat there were two traditions of commemorating and celebrating these saints in the eighteenth and the ninetenth centuries: in Berat their feast day fell on 26 November; and in Moscopole their feast day fell on 17 July. Influenced by the then available Greek sources, by the oral tradition and by his own impressions, Anthimos Alexoudis composed a “Beratocentric” narrative about the life’s work of the Seven Saints, where he showed himself to be sympathetic both to the facts of the Bulgarian history and toward the contemporary Bulgarians, whom he called “our brethren in Christ”.

The Eucharistic Dove: Considerations on the Meaning of Two Balkan Examples

Author(s): Anita Paolicchi / Language(s): English Issue: 63-64/2021

This essay presents two bird-shaped Eucharistic containers (“doves”), originally belonging to Orthodox foundations in South-Eastern Europe. In Western Europe, the use of eucharistic doves is confirmed by the conspicuous number of examples, survived to the passing of time and preserved in various medieval art collections, both in Europe and in the United States. On the other hand, the scarcity of attestations of objects with this form in use in Eastern-rite churches has not so far allowed to verify their diffusion, nor to define a possible evolution in comparison to the Western examples: despite the ancient sources offering interesting starting points for the research, their use in the Eastern Orthodoxy has not been the subject of intense investigation until now. These two examples possibly mark the two ends of a presumably long tradition of bird-shaped Eucharistic containers in the Orthodox world, and their introduction in the art historical literature represents a starting point for future investigations.

Красимир Станчев. Исследования в области средневековой литературы православного славянства. Kraków, 2012 (Krakowsko-Wileńskie Studia Slawistyczne, 7). 325 p. ISBN 978-83-60163-88-7

Author(s): Maria Yovcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021

Светлана Куюмджиева. На кръстопътя на традициите: кое е истинското българско църковно пеене? Стара българска музика III: ІХ – ХIХ в. София: Национална музикална академия „Проф. Панчо Владигеров“ – София, 2020. 335 с. с ил. ISBN 978-619-7566-03-1

Author(s): Elisaveta Valchinova-Chendova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021

Sapere aude. Сборник в чест на проф. дфн Искра Христова-Шомова. София: Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2019. 432 с. ISBN 978-954-07-4890-0

Author(s): Dimitar Peev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021

Свети Климент Охридски, пръв епископ на българския език. Научен редактор Мария Йовчева. София: Университетско издателство „Св. Климент Охридски“, 2020. 343 с. ISBN 978-954-07-5097-2.

Author(s): Stanka Petrova-­Hristova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 63-64/2021

Синаксарните четива за Велики петък в триод № 138 от сбирката на А. И. Хлудов в Държавния исторически музей, Москва

Author(s): Klimentina Ivanova,Cvetomira Danova / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

The purpose of this article is to introduce two hitherto unknown Middle Bulgarian synaxarion readings contained in manuscript No. 138 from the Khludov Collection (MS Khlud. 138) – a Middle Bulgarian old-redaction Triodion of the second half of the thirteenth century. So far, attention has been given to those readings in it whose author is supposedly St Clement of Ohrid. The rest are undescribed and unknown. This article focuses on two of them, which were read during the Service of the Twelve Gospels at Holy Friday Matins. The first is “Miracle of the Crucifix and the Jew”, whose Greek source is unknown to us. The second, titled “Homily and Sermon on the Passion of Christ”, is most probably not a translation. Its central motif is Christ’s Descent into Hell. The analysis of this Homily has established that it is based mainly on two Byzantine works, translated as early as the ninth–tenth centuries. Its author used the Homily on Holy Saturday attributed to Epiphanius of Cyprus, and Homily XCIX from the Paraenesis associated with Ephrem the Syrian. This article enriches Old Bulgarian literature with new works and draws scholarly attention to synaxarion readings, to their connection with the Byzantine models, the various means of their adaptation, and their place in Triodia and Triodion Panegyrika.

Общите служби от св. Климент Охридски в ръкопис Ундолски 100

Author(s): Iskra Hristova Shomova / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

Manuscript Undol’skii 100 is kept in the Collection of Vukol M. Undol’skii in the Russian State Library. This is a Festal Menaion of the mid-fifteenth century. The Common Offices are on ff. 214b–224c. They were discovered by Blagoy Shalamanov in 1987. He noted his discovery in five consecutive publications but did not publish the full texts of the offices. Thus, this is the first complete publication of the copy of the Common Offices in Undol’skii’s manuscript. There are three other copies of the Common Offices by Clement of Ohrid: (1) in Codex Hankenstein (kept in Vienna, Slav. 37) of the thirteenth century, there are six offices: for a prophet, for an apostle, for a Church Father, for a reverend, for a male martyr, and for a female martyr; (2) in the fourteenth-century manuscript 1052 from the Sofia Collection of the Russian National Library (St Petersburg), only the offices for a male martyr and for a prophet are attested; (3) in the Ohrid Menaion of 1435, four of the offices are extant: for a prophet, for an apostle, for a Church Father, and for a reverend. The comparison between the Common Offices in Undol’skii 100 and the copies in the other three codices shows that only the canons of Clement’s offices have been preserved in this manuscript (the stichera and the kathismata have been replaced with different texts), and moreover, that they have partially been changed: some troparia have been omitted, and some of the theotokia have been replaced. While the canons for a prophet, for an apostle, for a Church Father, and for a male martyr are preserved in Undol’skii 100, the canon for St Euthymius the Great by Clement of Ohrid is used for the canon for a reverend. Further, the texts of the canons in Undol’skii 100 contain errors or new variant readings, but in some instances keep the correct variant, used in the initial, original text of the Old Bulgarian author. The juxtaposition of the texts of the offices in the four manuscripts allows us to divide them into two distinct textual families, each with its common variants and errors. One of them encompasses Codex Hankenstein and the Ohrid Menaion, while the other consists of mss Sofia 1052 and Undol’skii 100.

Оригинално произведение на Константин Преславски ли е 42 слово на Учителното евангелие?

Author(s): Dobriela Kotova / Language(s): Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

This article tackles the question of whether the commentary part of Sermon 42 of Constantine of Preslav’s Uchitel’noe evangelie (Didactic Gospel) is original or translated. It is peculiar for its brevity and lack of real clarification. The whole sermon has hitherto been considered to have been authored by Constantine, as no correspondences have been found in a Greek source. Its comparison, however, with different types of catenae commenting on Lk 17:12–19 shows that the middle part of this sermon is translated. This translation was made mainly from a manuscript which contained a Type A catena to the Gospel of Luke (CPG C 130, sixth century). Some differences with it, however, point to other types of catenae. The brevity and peculiarity of the sermon also stem from the Greek source. The deviations from the main Greek source text have parallels in the commentary of Type B catenae (CPG C 131, seventh century) to the same passage from the Gospel of Luke, but Dobriela Kotova argues that they are rather related to certain fragments preserved in the eleventh-century catena of Nicetas of Heraclea (CPG C 135). It might be assumed that the additions and changes made in the middle part of Sermon 42, as compared to the main source, resulted from the influence of a larger catena or another source which somehow became common to both the Slavonic translator and Nicetas of Heraclea.

Южнославянските наследници на търновската версия на Служебния миней от XIII век

Author(s): Mariya Yovcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

This article examines nine South Slavic manuscripts originating from the Tarnovo version of the Menaion, as the earliest among them are the two thirteenth-century codices of the copyist Dobrian (ОGNB 32 + 24.4.12 (Srezn. 59) of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and ОGNB 33 + GIM Uvar. 1176-4°). Arguments for their relationship are some identification markers from the calendar and the contents of the offices. The indicators specific to this family are given primary importance in the examination of the manuscripts, but others are also applied, based on the opposition new-redaction / old-redaction (i.e., menaia structured according to the old Studite typikon and composed before the fourteenth century / menaia structured according to the Jerusalem typikon and composed mainly during and after the fourteenth century). Twenty-three menaia manuscripts and four early printed books (Greek and Church Slavonic) are used as comparisons. The data obtained lead to several conclusions: (1) the Office Menaion, formed during the thirteenth century in the Bulgarian capital, is non-homogeneous since it contains both unique and old- and new-redaction specificities; (2) although related to the fading Studite liturgical practice, this version was actively used and modified in a Bulgarian and Serbian environment until the seventeenth century. In the fourteenth century it was developed, in connection with the newly introduced Neo-Sabaitic (or Jerusalem) typikon, by adding new hymns, making the compositions more complex, standardizing and updating the calendar, sometimes even by commemorations of the Studite type; (3) the three main levels – calendar, contents, and structure – show an unequal degree of redactor intervention in coordinating the Office Menaion with the new liturgical regulations; (4) not only the protograph but also all subsequent copies are of a hybrid type. This article presents arguments of a diverse nature for the localization of the earliest Bulgarian sources, i.e., the Dobrian codices and menaia of the fourteenth century (No. 19 of the Krka Monastery, No. 33 of the Cetinje Monastery, Zograph 115, Paris. Slav. 23): (1) the area of original copying and distribution; (2) the focus on the feasts of the Theotokos and the registration of a unique commemoration, Consecration of the Church of the Theotokos on 22 August, in ОGNB 33; (3) two commemorations confined only to this family – St Philothea Temnishka on 28 May and St John of Rila (on 18 August, with the canon in Tone Two), which are not supported by other old-redaction liturgical books. The hypothesis is advanced that the place of origin of the Tarnovo “new menaion” and of part of the Bulgarian copies could be the Monastery of St. Bogoroditsa Temnishka.

Бойка Мирчева. Славянски кирило-методиевски извори. Интерфейс и графичен дизайн: Alike Studio. София: Кирило-Методиевски научен център, 2021. https://www.kmnc.bg/издания/е-книги/; https://cyrmet-sl.kmnc.bg/. ISBN 978-954-9787-51-1

Author(s): Neli Gancheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

Публикации по старобългарска литература и култура, излезли в България през 2021 г.

Author(s): Adelina Germanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 65-66/2022

Византийските източници на Учителното евангелие на Константин Преславски

Author(s): Dobriela Kotova / Language(s): Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

Because of the lack of a catena to Mark, in the Uchitel’noe evangelie there are either no separate sermons on this Gospel or there are sermons compiled from C110.1 and therefore attributed to John Chrysostom. The attribution of seven sermons to Isidore of Pelusium is erroneous and is probably due to the fact that he is the most-cited author in C130. The appearance of his name in the heading of Sermon 35 is correct to some extent: a fragment of a letter of Isidore quoted in the catena is indeed included into its commentary part, while the rest of the catena text translated by Constantine comes from a scholium by Severus of Antioch. The scholia in the sermons attributed to Isidore are anonymous in C130, but probably belong to Cyril of Alexandria. Recently discovered evidence about translations of texts from C130 in sermons outside of the Uchitel’noe evangelie allows the conclusion to be drawn that the set of three catenae to the Gospels of Matthew, John, and Luke compiled by the same compiler – catenae primae Typus A in Matthaeum et Iohannem (C110.1, C140.1) and catena Typus A in Lucam (C130) – circulated in a Slavic environment in the late ninth and early tenth centuries.

Славянските версии на словото За суетния живот (За Спасението на душата, CPG 4031 / 4622). Издание на версията от хомилиарите

Author(s): Aneta Dimitrova / Language(s): Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Bulgarian,Old Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

The homily In vanam vitam (CPG 4031 / 4622) was very popular both in the Greek and Slavonic traditions. At least three Greek versions (α, β, γ) are known; they are defined by several significant variant readings and numerous smaller variations. The Slavonic versions (V1, V2, V3, V4) are very diverse as well. Some differences between them correspond to the different Greek versions, other deviations and additions in the text have no parallel in Greek, and yet other passages are identical in most of the versions. The textological analysis shows that the homily was translated into Old Church Slavonic twice, and that one of the translations went through at least three redactions based on different Greek versions as well as through multiple secondary revisions. The Slavonic translations and revised versions became part of several types of manuscripts (e.g., the Zlatostruy collection and some homiliaries) probably as early as the tenth century. The article systematizes the main differences between the versions, groups the known Slavonic copies according to their beginnings and major distinctive features, and discusses the similarities and differences between them in comparison to their Greek sources. At the end, it offers an edition of the homiliary version of the text with an extensive critical apparatus with the variant readings of the manuscripts from the same textual group.

The 25 September Commemoration of Martyr Romanus in Slavic Menologies

Author(s): Cynthia M. Vakareliyska / Language(s): English,Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Old Slavonic Issue: 67-68/2023

The subject of the article is a menology commemoration on 25 September for a St. Romanus who is identified only as a martyr. The commemoration appears in the earliest extant Slavic menologies, and in a number of later South and East Slavic menologies up through the 14th century. The article traces the commemoration back to its earliest extant Slavic witnesses, looking at earlier Greek witnesses and Latin and Syriac sources, and examines the implications of its careful preservation for our understanding of the compilation and preservation of calendars of saints, not only in the Slavic tradition, but in the Greek, Latin, and Syriac traditions also.

Още един фрагмент от Жеравненския постен и цветен триод

Author(s): Elissaveta Moussakova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

The Zheravna Triodion is a late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century fragmented manuscript well known to scholarship. Three of its fragments, those kept in the National Library in Sofia – NBKM 574, NBKM 935, NBKM 1379 – make up a total of 20 folios. Another five fragments have found their way to the libraries in St Petersburg: three of them are in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and two in the National Library of Russia. A search in the digital library of the Ivan Vazov National Library in Plovdiv has led to the discovery of yet another fragment of the manuscript, apparently previously unidentified by researchers. This article provides a brief description of the new fragment whose history remains obscure. In addition, an attempt is made to shed a little more light on the history of the fragments and, in particular, of the Sofia fragment NBKM 1379, in which an inscription of 1839 has not been the subject of much attention until now. The author offers some observations, on the basis of which it is assumed that the fragment was in the possession of Father Neophyte of Rila, or that it was at his disposal at least for some time.

The Slavonic Translation of the Introduction to Isaac of Nineveh’s Sermones Ascetici (The Epigramma on Silence, Stillness, and the Quiet Life)

Author(s): Ivan P. Petrov / Language(s): English,Greek, Ancient (to 1453),Old Slavonic,Old Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

This article introduces into scientific circulation the Homily on Silence, Stillness, and the Quiet Life, an anonymous text that appeared around the mid-fourteenth century in part of the codices containing the Greek translation of the ascetical homilies (Sermones ascetici) of Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Nineveh. In a Slavonic environment, this homily began to be used as an introduction in all the lists of the so-called Second Translation of the works of Isaac the Syrian. The Slavonic translation itself, Middle Bulgarian, demonstrates the literal adherence to the Greek original that is typical of the period. Its text is published as a diplomatic edition based on the copy dated 1381 and kept at the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Lavra, collated with another nine of the twelve known copies of the homily. The cases in which the Slavonic text differs from the Greek are presented and commented upon, assuming that the translation was made from a Greek Vorlage differing from the Greek text we know today (which has no critical edition, since the Greek tradition of this homily has not been studied). On the basis of the lexical variants between the Slavonic copies, some preliminary relationships within the Slavonic tradition are formulated that can be used in further work with the witnesses of the Second Slavonic Translation of Isaac the Syrian.

Един щрих към книжовния живот на Сер в 60-те г. на ХІV в.: съчинението на придворният философ кир Теодор Педиасим за нимбовете

Author(s): Nina Gagova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 67-68/2023

In the first part of the article, the extant scarce, and mostly indirect data about literary life in Serres during the Serbian domination in the region between 1345 and 1371 are collected and analyzed. An overview of the administrative policy of the Serbian rulers and the dynamics of the ecclesiastical subordination of the dioceses of the Serres region is offered, as well as of the donation activity of the important families and the influence of the proximity to Mount Athos and of the spread of Hesychasm. The importance is shown of Serres as a political and spiritual centre in the period under review – a centre where a lively exchange of theological ideas, cultural models, and texts took place, and where the paths of some of the most prominent representatives of the political and cultural elite of the Balkans in the fourteenth century crossed. The possibility that there was a Slavic literary centre in Serres is discussed through an analysis of the connections with other manuscripts and centres of several manuscripts certainly or presumably produced in Serres: The Four Gospels of metropolitan Jacob of Serres, 1354 (British Library, Add. MS 39626), and two autographs of the Slavonic translations prepared in the same literary circle – the Corpus of Pseudo-Dionysios Aeropagite with the commentaries by Maximos the Confessor, 1371, made by the elder Isaiah on commission of metropolitan Theodosios of Serres (RNB, Gilf. 46), and the Homilies of Gregory Palamas and Barlaam of Calabria, made by two anonymous translators (Deč. 88). The conclusion is drawn on the basis of the analysis, that at least two literary phenomena representative of the fourteenth century were very probably related to Serres (without being precisely localized): 1) the group of luxurious Bulgarian and Serbian manuscripts of the 1340s–1360s, related to the Four Gospels of metropolitan Jacob of Serres; 2) the translation circle of the elder Isaiah and his colleagues in which Gilf. 46 and Deč. 88 were produced, each of them containing the Slavonic translation of a work by a contemporary Byzantine author associated with Serres (Theodore Pediasimos and George Glabas).The second part of the article is dedicated to the text of one Byzantine philosopher working in Serres about the mid-fourteenth century – Theodore Pediasimos’s Theorems on the Nimbi of the Saints, whose translation (an excerpt from the Greek text) is a unique example of the Byzantine genre for the Slavonic repertoire, and whose presence as an appendix to the Areopagite Corpus raises interesting questions regarding the adaptation of Byzantine philosophical concepts relevant to it in a South Slavic environment. The content of the complete Greek text is presented together with some of its commentaries in the scholarly literature and a brief analysis of the Slavonic translator’s selection. The Appendix offers a translation of the Slavonic text into modern Bulgarian, based on its earliest copy (RGB, f. 173, No. 144), together with a digital copy of the manuscript text.

Проекции на старобългарската преводна проза: За злите жени в Хилендарския сборник 466 от XV в.

Author(s): Mariyana Tsibranska-Kostova / Language(s): Bulgarian,Old Slavonic Issue: 67-68/2023

This article examines and offers a typeset edition of the Sermon against Evil Women in Hilandar monastic miscellany HM. SMS 466 of the 1420s. The copy shows a textual proximity to the earliest textual prototype in the eleventh-century Miscellany of Tsar Simeon (Izbornik of 1073), and linguistic changes at least some of which can be linked to the literary trends on Mount Athos or in the contact areas in the Balkans under the direct influence of Mount Athos in the early fifteenth century. A range of lexical variants between the two main sources is analyzed in the article. On the threshold of the changing cultural and historical context on the Balkans under Ottoman rule, miscellanies such as HM. SMS 466 became anthologies of South Slavic literature. Zones of strong Athonite influence were formed around Kratovo, Kosovo, Morava, the lands north of Skopje, and the dioceses of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, which sustained Slavic-Byzantine literary interactions. The author attempts to answer the question of what place the Sermon against Evil Women had in the overall compiling conception of miscellany HM. SMS 466.