“Апокрифическая” надпись с Мангупа и обряды “изобличения вора”: магия и право между Античностью и Средневековьем

The discovery of a Byzantine bread stamp inscribed with the text of Ps 29:8 in the ruins of Mangup Basilica in Crimea allows the authors of this article to revise the entire tradition of the Byzantine magical and folk “recipes” for revealing a thief; it is this context in which this verse is used in combination with a special bread. Prototypes of these recipes and procedures are attested in the late antique syncretic (pagan-Judeo-Christian) magical papyri, in which private persons are advised to detect thieves by means of special spells, used either on their own or in combination with bread and cheese, an image of an eye, birds, bowls of water, and laurel leaves. In middle- and late-Byzantine manuscripts, these procedures are still present but in “Christianized” forms, even to the extent that a bread-and-cheese (or just bread) procedure is sometimes described as a regular liturgical rite, performed in a church. In the meantime, there is evidence indicating that the Byzantine hierarchy had been struggling with this and other instances of using magical procedures under the cloak of the Christian liturgy, and, in particular, bishops had been expelling priests who used bread sortilege to determine guilt. However, in Western Europe, especially in Germany and England, where spells against thieves had also been known since antiquity, the bread ordeal (English: Corsnaed, German: Bissprobe) became an accepted judicial practice, and even found its way into the official law codes of 11th-century England. Quite surprisingly, a similar phenomenon is attested in Russia (Novgorod) in the early 15th century. Taking into account the Crimean bread stamp studied in this article, one can conclude that bread ordeals, prohibited in Constantinople, could have been tolerated in the Byzantine periphery, including Crimea, and that it is from these areas that this practice could have come to some Russian regions as well.Находка византийского хлебного штампа с текстом Пс 29:8 в развалинах Мангупской базилики стала поводом для пересмотра всей традиции византийского обряда изобличения вора при помощи специального хлеба, поскольку в составе именно этого обряда встречается данный стих. Прототипы этого обряда засвидетельствованы в позднеантичных синкретических (языческо-иудео-христианских) магических папирусах, где частным лицам предлагается несколько способов обнаружения вора, сопровождаемых специальными заклинаниями: при помощи хлеба и сыра, особого изображения глаза, птицы, чаши с водой, лавра. В последующие века эти способы фиксируются уже в “христианизированных” формах, а некоторые из них даже имеют облик квазилитургических действий. Впрочем, византийская иерархия вела борьбу с изучаемым в статье обрядом хлебного испытания для изобличения вора — точнее, с прецедентами его совершения священниками. Напротив, в Западной Европе, в Германии и Англии, где заклинания против воров также были известны с античности, хлебное испытание сделалось общепринятой судебной практикой, включенной даже в законодательные акты. Аналогичное явление отмечено и на Руси (в Новгороде) начала XV века, куда оно попало из Византии, возможно, как раз через Крым

“Завещание” митрополита Константина I Киевского и канон “на исход души”

The article puts forward the suggestion that the mysterious last will of Metropolitan Constantine I of Kiev, in which he ordered that after his death his body should be torn to pieces by dogs instead of receiving a proper burial, was inspired by a very specific literary text. This text is still used in the Orthodox Christian tradition; it is known as the hymnographical kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body.” While nowadays this kanon is used in the course of an ordinary liturgical rite, in the 12th century, when it first appeared, it was used among some Byzantine intellectual and ascetic circles as a particular element of personal piety. The 12th century is exactly the epoch of Constantine's activities, and the description of а funeral procedure given by this kanon is very close to the last will of Constantine. The kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body” has close ties to another hymn of roughly the same epoch—the “Penitential” kanon written after the 5th chapter of the “Ladder” of John Climacus. Both kanons conceal a didactic story under the structure of a hymnographic pattern. What is more important, both are from the very beginning intertwined with a distinct illustrative program: each monostrophe is accompanied by a specific picture, which discloses the contents of the text. These “comics-like” stories have no parallel among other Byzantine kanons. Finally, both kanons witness the growth of the influence of Palestinian and, more generally, Eastern ascetic traditions on the monastic practices of Constantinople and its surrounding regions. This influence was associated, most of all, with the Evergetian movement, with its strict disciplinary and fasting rules, etc. Metropolitan Constantine, who was an outstanding representative of the Byzantine intellectual elite of those times, should have been acquainted—at the very least!—with this movement. Moreover, the conflicts of the bishops in his circle with the Russian princes concerning the fasting discipline suggest that Constantine was trying to introduce the new Evergetian ascetic standards among the Russians. Thus, the literal adherence to the provisions of the kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body” at the funeral of Metropolitan Constantine Ι should be interpreted as a sign of his full confidence in his ideals.В статье выдвигается предположение о том, что в основе загадочного предсмертного “завещания” митрополита Киевского Констатина Ι, в котором он распорядился не погребать его тело в земле, а отдать на растерзание псам, лежит вполне конкретный текст — а именно, гимнографический канон “на исход души”, который тесно связан еще с одним произведением примерно того же времени — “покаянным” каноном по мотивам 5-й главы “Лествицы” Иоанна Лествичника. Оба канона представляют собой не столько гимн, сколько дидактическую поэму. Что еще более важно, оба они изначально сопровождаются специфическим иллюстративным рядом: каждому монострофу соответствует определенное изображение, раскрывающее содержание текста, что не имеет аналогов среди других византийских канонов. Кроме того, содержание обоих канонов свидетельствует об усилении роли “Лествицы” и, шире, аскетических традиций палестинского и вообще восточного происхождения в жизни константинопольских монахов. Это связано прежде всего со столичным Евергетидским монастырем, чей устав оказал влияние на уставы других византийских монастырей XII–XIII вв., в т. ч. на правила монастырской жизни, более строгую регламентацию постов и т. д. Митрополит Константин, будучи ярким представителем византийской интеллектуальной элиты, не мог не знать об этой тенденции, а конфликты приближенных к нему епископов с русскими князьями по вопросам дисциплины поста позволяют предполагать, что и его собственная деятельность на Руси протекала в рамках указанной тенденции. Таким образом, буквальное следование предписаниям канона “на исход души” при погребении митрополита Константина Ι следует рассматривать как знак его полной уверенности в истинности избранного им направления

“Чин курооглашения” древнерусских рукописей

The article deals with an office found in the Old Russian liturgical tradition under the curious title The Rite at Cockrow or The Cockrow Prayers. The article contains a survey of existing scholarly studies of this office, the first publication of its full text based on a 14th-century codex, State Historical Museum (Moscow), Synodal collection, 325, and an analysis of the structure of this office. The authors come to a conclusion that the basic structure of The Rite at Cockrow consists of some introductory prayer texts, a couple of triadika troparia, and a morning prayer (or two or three morning prayers). This basic structure was intended for a private devotion of a monk in his cell; a variation of this structure is still found in the printed editions of the Horologion under the title “When one wakes up...” The core text of The Rite at Cockrow could be expanded by additional prayers, elements of ecclesiastical offices (of matins, probably also of compline), and a specific combination of psalms and prayers intended for private reading while a monk proceeds from his cell to a church. The authors managed to find the direct prototypes of both the basic structure and the ordinances from The Rite at Cockrow in the Byzantine sources. One of such sources is the Hypotyposis of Nicetas Stethatos, which describes private ascetic daily practices of the Studite monks in Constantinople. The Rite at Cockrow was well accepted by the Old Russian practice, since some specific prayers and hymns from this rite are still used even today, being included into the ordo of “Morning Prayers” according to the late printed editions of Russian Molitvoslov (Prayer-Book) and Kanonnik (Book of [hymnographical] Canons).Статья посвящена существовавшему в древнерусской богослужебной традиции чину с необычным заглавием “Чин курооглашения”, или “Молитвы курогласные”. Приводится обзор всей научной литературы, посвященной этому чину. Анализируется структура этого чина в сохранившихся рукописях и впервые публикуется его полный текст по кодексу XIѴ в. (ГИМ, Син325). Авторы приходят к выводу, что в основе “Чина курооглашения” лежит краткое последование, включавшее несколько стандартных начальных молитвословий, тропари троичны и утреннюю молитву (или несколько молитв). Это последование имело частный аскетический (келейный) характер; его вариантом является небольшая статья “Востав от сна...”, которой обычно открываются позднейшие печатные издания Орология/Часослова. К указанному последованию могли прибавляться дополнительные молитвы, а также элементы из ближайших по времени церковных служб — утрени и, вероятно, повечерия. В некоторых рукописях в состав “Чина курооглашения” включено еще одно частное аскетическое последование — псалмы и молитвы монаха по пути в храм. Авторам статьи удалось обнаружить прямые прототипы этих последований в византийских памятниках — в том числе в уставе ежедневного монашеского делания, записанном Никитой Стифатом и отражающем аскетическую практику Студийского монастыря в Константинополе. Одним из свидетельств широкого признания “Чина курооглашения” на Руси является заимствование из него некоторых уникальных молитв и песнопений в состав “Молитв утренних” согласно позднейшим изданиям Молитвослова и Канонника

The Last Will of Metropolitan Constantine I of Kiev and the Kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body”

The article puts forward the suggestion that the mysterious last will of Metropolitan Constantine I of Kiev, in which he ordered that after his death his body should be torn to pieces by dogs instead of receiving a proper burial, was inspired by a very specific literary text. This text is still used in the Orthodox Christian tradition; it is known as the hymnographical kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body.” While nowadays this kanon is used in the course of an ordinary liturgical rite, in the 12th century, when it first appeared, it was used among some Byzantine intellectual and ascetic circles as a particular element of personal piety. The 12th century is exactly the epoch of Constantine's activities, and the description of а funeral procedure given by this kanon is very close to the last will of Constantine. The kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body” has close ties to another hymn of roughly the same epoch—the “Penitential” kanon written after the 5th chapter of the “Ladder” of John Climacus. Both kanons conceal a didactic story under the structure of a hymnographic pattern. What is more important, both are from the very beginning intertwined with a distinct illustrative program: each monostrophe is accompanied by a specific picture, which discloses the contents of the text. These “comics-like” stories have no parallel among other Byzantine kanons. Finally, both kanons witness the growth of the influence of Palestinian and, more generally, Eastern ascetic traditions on the monastic practices of Constantinople and its surrounding regions. This influence was associated, most of all, with the Evergetian movement, with its strict disciplinary and fasting rules, etc. Metropolitan Constantine, who was an outstanding representative of the Byzantine intellectual elite of those times, should have been acquainted—at the very least!—with this movement. Moreover, the conflicts of the bishops in his circle with the Russian princes concerning the fasting discipline suggest that Constantine was trying to introduce the new Evergetian ascetic standards among the Russians. Thus, the literal adherence to the provisions of the kanon “At the Parting of the Soul from the Body” at the funeral of Metropolitan Constantine Ι should be interpreted as a sign of his full confidence in his ideals

The “Apocryphal” Inscription from Mangup, Crimea, and Rituals of “Exposing the Thief”: Magic and Law from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

The discovery of a Byzantine bread stamp inscribed with the text of Ps 29:8 in the ruins of Mangup Basilica in Crimea allows the authors of this article to revise the entire tradition of the Byzantine magical and folk “recipes” for revealing a thief; it is this context in which this verse is used in combination with a special bread. Prototypes of these recipes and procedures are attested in the late antique syncretic (pagan-Judeo-Christian) magical papyri, in which private persons are advised to detect thieves by means of special spells, used either on their own or in combination with bread and cheese, an image of an eye, birds, bowls of water, and laurel leaves. In middle- and late-Byzantine manuscripts, these procedures are still present but in “Christianized” forms, even to the extent that a bread-and-cheese (or just bread) procedure is sometimes described as a regular liturgical rite, performed in a church. In the meantime, there is evidence indicating that the Byzantine hierarchy had been struggling with this and other instances of using magical procedures under the cloak of the Christian liturgy, and, in particular, bishops had been expelling priests who used bread sortilege to determine guilt. However, in Western Europe, especially in Germany and England, where spells against thieves had also been known since antiquity, the bread ordeal (English: Corsnaed, German: Bissprobe) became an accepted judicial practice, and even found its way into the official law codes of 11th-century England. Quite surprisingly, a similar phenomenon is attested in Russia (Novgorod) in the early 15th century. Taking into account the Crimean bread stamp studied in this article, one can conclude that bread ordeals, prohibited in Constantinople, could have been tolerated in the Byzantine periphery, including Crimea, and that it is from these areas that this practice could have come to some Russian regions as well