The article deals with one of the four redactions of the cycle of seven-day prayers by Cyril of Turov — the Kiev Redaction of the prayers, which is preserved in a single copy of the second half of the 15th century. The text was created in the southwest of Rus’ at the end of the 14th or at the beginning of the 15th century and, in comparison with the Main Redaction, contains interpolations in eleven texts and the secondary readings. Some of the changes belong to the editor, others go back to the Abridged Redaction. The number of interpolations varies in each individual prayer; the interpolations vary in size from a phrase to the several sentences. Nearly all brief interpolations are found in the Thursday and Friday morning prayers. Their potential source is the Abridged Redaction of the cycle of seven-day prayers by Cyril of Turov. The large editorial interpolations, as a rule, continue and develop the ideas expressed by Cyril and appear very close to the author’s text. However, if Cyril’s style can be characterized as spontaneous and emotional, then the interpolations add a feeling of thoughtfulness, comprehensiveness, and wholeness to the prayers. Cyril’s prayers were not only liturgical but also literary works. The texts in the Abridged Redaction more closely resemble oral prayers, but some interpolations in the Kiev Redaction gave the text a more literary character.
The article is devoted to the phenomenon of werewolfism in the non-fairytale prose of the Ossetians. The author analyzes epics and bylichki, as well as comparative material in the form of songs and religious traditions that gives an overview of the ethnographic context. Particular attention is paid to the classification of the types of werewolves in various non-fairytale genres and to the highlighting of their main features and role in oral folklore. The article reveals that there are three types of werewolves in the epic — tricksters, who change their appearance due to their infernal characteristics; heroes, who turn into sacred animals to perform feats; and magical brides, who want to test the groom. At the same time, the bylichki contain two special stories about the spirits of the Upper World, who reincarnate in order to interact with people, and about wolf-women, who exterminate cattle. Despite the varying significance and prevalence of folklore texts, stories about werewolves show typological similarities.
The article deals with the Three-part Canonical Miscellany, which includes the Alphabetical Syntagma of Matthew Blastares, the Pseudozonar and the Nomocanon, translated from Greek. The first two parts were known in Slavic writing since the 14th century, while the Nomocanon appeared in the 16th century. The work of editing and assembling the Three-part Miscellany was carried out at the beginning of the 17th century (no later than 1603) in the circle of Stryatin and Kyiv Orthodox scribes. The miscellany was edited again in 1620 and in this form appeared in Moscow. Based on a study of Russian State Library, f. 173/I, manuscript no. 53, the author proposes that this manuscript originally belonged to Iosif Kurtsevich and later was gifted by the cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Alexander Bulatnikov. The Three-part Canonical Miscellany appeared in the Solovetskii Monastery, where it was copied in 1637 by Boris (Bogolep) Lvov. The eight copies of the Three-part Miscellany followed the principle “sheet by sheet, line by line” to enable the use of the Index to the Alphabetical Syntagma. In the 1640s, the miscellany ended up at the Patriarch’s Court in Moscow and was repeatedly rewritten there. It was also used at the Printing House and at the Ambassadorial Department where Bogolep’s brother Gregory served. The miscellany was used in the publication of the Printed Kormchaja and in the trial of Patriarch Nikon. These three canonical texts, which were exceptionally important for seventeenth-century Russian culture, continued to be copied and published in the 18th–20th centuries.
The subject of the present research is a polemical-theological passage from the Brief Tale about Symeon Metaphrastes (Povest’ kratkaya o Simeone Metafraste) by Andrey Kurbsky. The author of the article proposes new readings and interpretations based on the analysis of paleographical and lexical features. The article gives a critical overview of the latest publication of the Brief Tale.
The heretics named ‘Judaizers’ by their persecutors were executed in Moscow in 1504, although it is not easy to recognize the Jewish element in their heretical deeds. Nevertheless, during the 16th century it proved to be necessary to organize new church councils (in 1525, 1531, 1549, 1553–1554, 1582) against heretics, who were also labeled ‘Judaizers’. The author of the article points out that as before in Byzantium, such battles against presumed heretics in Moscow were mainly symbolic in nature. Their purpose was to strengthen the position of the Russian Church within the ideological construct of the “sacred tsardom” that Muscovite Rus declared itself to be. Notwithstanding the absence of a real antagonist, careful literary preparations paved the way for the councils. These preparations were made by outstanding writers, such as Iosif Volotskii and Metropolitan Daniil. An analysis of Maxim the Greek’s literary activity allowed the author to conclude that the initiators of the council of 1553–1554 planned to make Maxim the ideological proponent of their undertaking. Although Maxim the Greek received a personal invitation from the tsar he did not want to be involved in the council since he feared that he would be branded as a heretic.
