THE LIVES OF ST. ARSENIUS THE GREAT IN OLD RUSSIAN HAGIOGRAPHУ: ON THE PROBLEM OF GREEK SOURCES

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 24
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Abstract:

The paper deals with the Greek sources of three Lives of St. Arsenius the Great: two Lives have been included in the Old Russian Menaia RSL. F. 304/I, No. 669, RSL. F. 113, No. 597, etc., the third one — in the Collections of the Lives of Saints RSL. F. 310, No. 1173, RSL. F. 113, No. 630 (“Sobornik” of St. Nil Sorskii), etc. The author traces the history of the Byzantine Lives of St. Arsenius the Great, provides information about their composition, structure and intertextual connections. It is revealed that all Byzantine sources of Church Slavonic Lives of St. Arsenius the Great have been compiled in the 9th century, between 814 and 871/2. The composition and structure of the Lives of St. Arsenius the Great in the Old Russian Menaia in comparison with the Greek original Lives, BHG 167z and BHG 169, are analyzed. It is proved that the translation of the first part of the Life BHG 167z has been included in the Old Russian Menaion. For the first time, the sources of the Life of St. Arsenius the Great that is in the Collections of the Lives of Saints are established: there are, first, the Church Slavonic translation of the Chronicle of George the Monk (“Vremennik of George the Monk”) and, secondly, excerpts from the second part of the Life BHG 167z. In the Appendix for the first time the fragments of the Life BHG 167z are published, that which are the sources for the Old Russian Menaia on the one hand and for the Collections of the Lives of Saints on the other.
Keywords: Lives of St. Arsenius the Great, BHG 167z, BHG 169, Greek manuscripts, The Chronicle of George the Monk, Old Russian Menaia, Old Russian collections of the Lives of Saints, “Vremennik of George the Monk,” “Sobornik” of St. Nil Sorskii.
Author: Ludmila I. Shchegoleva
Information about the author:

Ludmila I. Shchegoleva, PhD in Philology, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii prospect, 32A, 119334 Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3990-2058

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Shchegoleva, L.I. “The Lives of St. Arsenius the Great in the Old Russian Hagiographу: on the Problem of Greek Sources.”  Germenevtika  drevnerusskoi  literatury  [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 24. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova, sci. ed. M.V. Kaplun. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 20–61. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-20-61 (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/MVRNRY
UDC: 821.161.1.0
Publication Type: Research Article and Publication of Archival Documents
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-20-61
Received: 18.05.2024
Approved after reviewing: 15.07.2024
Date of publication: 13.07.2025

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