THE HOLY TALE OF THE MOON IN THE COMPOSITION OF PALAEA INTERPRETATA

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

The author examines the history of the text of the article The Holy Tale of the Moon, found in the copies of the Alexander Nevsky edition of the Palaea Interpretata and absent from other editions of the monument. Information about this article is not reflected in the publications of the Palaea Interpretata, it is not in the variant readings of the critical edition of the Palaea Interpretata of 1892–1896. Information is given about the copies of the Alexander Nevsky edition and three text versions of the article, found in different manuscripts, are presented. The Holy Tale of the Moon is an interpretation of the 4th day of creation, wedged into the commentary on the biblical text, borrowed by the editor- compiler of the Palaea Interpretata from the Hexaemeron of John the Exarch of Bulgaria. An attempt is made to characterize the composition and sources of each version of the article The Holy Tale of the Moon. It is indicated that the Tale contains apocryphal materials (borrowings from the Slavic Book of Enoch, excerpts from Galenovo na Gipppokrata, the use of the term fraclny chasets in a special meaning), Old Russian calendar and chronographic information from different eras. Fragments of some text variants (“Ugrian Circle” not in the form of a table, the treatise “A egda budet Luna”) are known only from the palei text. The nature of borrowing from the Slavic Book of Enoch in the article is similar to the type of reminiscences from this book in the denunciations of the editor- compiler of the Palaea Interpretata. The history of the existence of the article The Holy Tale of the Moon, its constant editing during the 16th–18th centuries confirms the thesis about the encyclopedic nature of the Palaea, which could satisfy the most diverse intellectual demands of the Old Russian reader.
Keywords: Old Russia, Palaea Interpretata, textual criticism, The Holy Tale of the Moon, apocrypha, calendaric and chronographic information.
Author: Anna Yu. Kozlova
Information about the author:

Anna Yu. Kozlova, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Russian Linguistics Department, State University of Humanities and Social Studies, Zelyonaya St., 30, 140411 Kolomna, Moscow district, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5684-9586

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

Kozlova, A.Yu. “‛The Holy Tale of the Moon’ in the Composition of the Palaea Interpretata.” 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. 62–100. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-62-100 (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/LVMUUH
UDC: 821.161.1.0
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-62-100
Received: 01.05.2025
Approved after reviewing: 15.06.2025
Date of publication: 13.07.2025

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