These two thematic sessions are devoted to the Slavonic reception of what in Byzantine studies is known as the Byzantine ‘culture du recueil’ (cultura della syllogè) or florilegic/anthological habit. In the centuries of doctrinal disputes that led to the Triumph of orthodoxy (843) collections of proof texts from Scripture and the Fathers were used on both sides of the doctrinal divide to prop the argument, and from the 10th century onwards compilations of selected texts from the past played a pivotal role in knowledge transfer and instruction, as voices with authority and prescriptive power. Within an orthodox culture, compendia of useful knowledge lent themselves well to demonstrate, defend, and impose orthodoxy – e.g. in compilations as the Melissa or the Soterios, in questions-and-answers as those by Anastasius Sinaita, in synthetic works as John Damascene’s, in chronicles as that of George the Monk etc. The sessions explore how this anthological attitude was received in Orthodox Slavonic translation literature of the 9th to the 15th century, which has the sbornik – that is, the syllogè or collection – as its most typical carrier. We aim to examine the role of Byzantine collections both as translation models and as paradigms of textual reuse and renewal; levels of authorship in the original Slavonic compilation of translated texts; the way in which the circulation and transmission of individual texts was influenced by their inclusion in the larger structure of a (thematically marked or more casual mixed-content) collection (sbornik). On a more general level, the papers focus on the question how the influx of Byzantine Greek texts and related modes of textual production played a role in the construction of textual authority, and hence in the conversion of the Slavs and the consolidation of Slav Christianity.
This paper will explore the reception of John of Damascus’ works in early Slavonic translation literature, focusing on his commentaries on Corpus Paulinum and their role in the Christianisation of the Slavs. While John’s De fide orthodoxa (also known as Expositio fidei, CPG 8043) was only partially translated – excerpts preserved in Izbornik 1073, and…
REGEST, the Reference Tool for medieval Greek-Slavonic Translations, introduces a translation-centered model for tracing the transmission of texts. At its core stands the concept of the Collection – the anthological habit of grouping works, both in Greek and in Slavonic. The “Collection” entry type links authors, works, translations, and compilations, allowing movement through the whole…
Collections of question-and-answer literature exploring ideal Christian conduct, as outlined in Scripture and the Church Fathers, circulated widely in various forms. In this paper I focus on three such collections. (1) In the ninth century, an anonymous editor reworked 103 questions by Anastasius of Sinai into a set of 23, which continued to circulate under…
Ende des 9. und zu Beginn des 10. Jh. verbreitete sich im slavischen Schrifttum die Reihe der drei vom gleichen Autor verfassten neutestamentlichen Katenen des Typus A (CPG C110.1, CPG C 130.1 und CPG C140.1). Ihre Verwendung steht im Kontext des dringenden Bedarfs der jungen bulgarischen Kirche an einer Exegese des Evangeliums und an der…
The reception of Byzantine religious literature among the Slavs has long been characterized by a strong preference for ethical, spiritual, and hagiographical texts, while works of a more dogmatic or speculative nature were received with considerably less enthusiasm. As a result, the genre of dogmatic florilegia remains significantly less represented – and studied – compared…