Regarding the publication of the complete collection of works of St. John Chrysostom

Made by the venerable editors of spiritual magazines in St. Petersburg. Theological Academy, a notice of its ongoing “Complete Collection of the Works of St. John Chrysostom "1 without a doubt should attract the general attention of all zealots and lovers of patristic literature, and especially of our Orthodox clergy. Creations of St. Fathers are precisely the inexhaustible source from which all Orthodox theology flows. This is the mine in which lies the entire sum of the theological worldview in its immediate purity and integrity. All subsequent work of theological thought consists only in developing this richest mine and, with the treasures mined from it, elevating and beautifying the spiritual life of the newest generations. The greatest representatives of patristic literature were truly spiritual geniuses, who, distinguished by unusually high talents, extensive and deep education, embracing both spiritual and secular sciences, as well as fiery responsiveness of feelings, moreover, lived and acted in such times and under such circumstances when extraordinary tension of thought and feeling was required, which found expression in works distinguished by amazing richness and variety of content. And especially in this regard, the works of St. John Chrysostom, which, as quite rightly noted in the notice, “make up a whole library of theological literature of its golden age.” It is not for nothing that his works constituted the favorite reading of our ancestors, who lovingly and carefully copied these creations, collected them into various “Zlatostrui” and drew from them the inexpressible “book sweetness”. This is truly a comprehensive genius, and in his multi-volume works anyone seeking spiritual truth and deep edification can find satisfaction in the mind. Creations of St. fathers already early, one might say, from the very adoption of Christianity in Rus', they became the main subject of reading and writing among our ancestors. But of all the patristic works, none have really been so beloved and so widespread in our ancient writing as the works of St. John Chrysostom. In his spirit, the Russian people recognized something akin to their own national spirit. In his works, our “book admirers” were captivated by the fact that in them, and especially in his teachings, the richness of thought is combined with extraordinary eloquence, consisting mainly in clarity, naturalness and simplicity, or especially in the psychological adaptation of the nature of conversations or teachings to the spiritual state of the listeners. Readers were no less captivated by the internal content of his instructions. John Chrysostom was primarily a preacher of love for his neighbors, and this love, penetrating all of his actions and words, acted on a healthy heart, unspoiled by artificial education, with irresistible power, and that spirit of generous alms, which especially distinguished our pious ancestors, and in which, in the most natural way, their Christian love for the smaller, disadvantaged - poor brethren was expressed, clearly reveals an affinity with a similar spirit Chrysostom. The beginning of Slavic translations from the works of John Chrysostom dates back to the most ancient era of Slavic writing. Already by the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon it was compiled from the words and conversations of this saint. father, a very extensive collection with the characteristic name “Zlatostruy” 2 given to it. The collection of words of I. Chrysostom, which has come down to us in the Suprasl manuscript of the 11th century, obviously belonged to the very first times of Slavic writing. Here is a translation of twenty of his words, others in comparison with those placed in Zlatostrui ts. Simeon. Of the oldest Russian monuments proper, seventeen words of Chrysostom are found in the Chetya-Minea of ​​the 12th century (for the month of May) and seven words in the collection of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra of the 12th century. The work of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon “Zlatostroy” was not slow to come to us, precisely in the copies of the 12th century, and the popularity of this collection can be judged because already in the oldest copies the hand of purely Russian “scribes” clearly makes itself felt, who, voluntarily or unwittingly, included the results of their thoughts and feelings, when reading the works of the beloved father of the church, into the copies of the collection they copied. Next to Chrysostom, other collections of Chrysostom’s works came to us, such as, for example, “Margarit”, “Teaching Gospel” (consisting of a collection of 75 words of Chrysostom on the Gospel readings) and others. But the love of our ancestors for the works of the great father can be even more evidenced by the fact that they not only used ready-made collections, but also compiled them themselves. So, already very early, independent collections began to appear in our country, which belonged to Russian “writers” themselves. The most famous of them were the so-called “Chrysostoms”, distributed in many lists, especially from the 14th–17th centuries, although their first editions undoubtedly appeared much earlier. This should also include the so-called “Ismaragds”, also a very common type of collections from the works of St. John Chrysostom, who finally acquired such wide popularity that his name became, so to speak, synonymous with any “book sweetness” and under his name collections of the works of other fathers, and even Russian spiritual writers themselves, were often published, among whom the native Russian Chrysostom was not slow to appear, which highly honorable title was attached, as is known, to Cyril, Bishop of Turov († at the end of the 12th century). But although the works of St. St. John Chrysostom has long been a favorite reading of our ancestors, however, they have never appeared in our more or less systematic or complete collection. Usually individual works, or even certain passages from them, were translated, published and republished. A more complete comparative collection of the works of St. father in Church Slavonic was made in the 17th century at the Kyiv Lavra, namely a collection of his conversations on the epistles of St. Paul (1623), which edition was reproduced in the Moscow printing house of St. Synod in 1892. As for the fate of the works of the great father in the Russian language itself in modern times, in this regard one cannot help but see two clearly defined stages. Already from the very foundation of the “Christian Reading”, the creation of St. Chrysostom was the main source for the content of the books of this magazine, which by its very name suggested mainly edifying subjects, which were borrowed piecemeal from the works of this great father, and only individual, especially edifying passages from them were translated, and only especially outstanding and important works, such as the “Letters on the Priesthood” appeared in their entirety. This continued until 1847, when, in view of the increased demand for spiritual food, this method of translating and publishing Chrysostom’s works turned out to be insufficient, as a result of which the idea arose in the academy to begin translating and publishing not only individual passages, but entire works of Chrysostom. This idea, which found the full approval of St. Synod, was energetically carried out by the St. Petersburg corporation. Theological Academy and over the next twenty years, the magazine's books were constantly decorated with the creations of St. Chrysostom, which were also published separately. This continued until 1866, when this translation and publishing activity of the Academy ended, partly because most of the works had already been translated, and even more because the new mental trends that had emerged in society diverted the attention of workers of spiritual science in another direction and they had to, leaving the development of the positive truths of Orthodox Christian teaching, act as defenders of these truths against the ardent unbelief that began to rise up against them. denial. Theological science was in such a militant position for almost thirty years, and only now the need for more positive spiritual food began to manifest itself again in society, the satisfaction of which again lies with the responsibility of higher theological schools. St. Petersburg is meeting precisely this need. Theological Academy, when it performs with “the complete collection of the works of St. John Chrysostom,” which publication obviously represents the third stage in the fate of these creations in Russian, and we cannot help but wish the venerable workers of science to successfully complete the important work they have undertaken. In view of the intention of the editors of spiritual and academic journals to present precisely the “complete collection” of the works of the great father and universal teacher of the church, it is very important to know which edition of the original will be accepted as the basis for this Russian edition. Creations of St. John Chrysostom had several editions, the merits of which can be judged from the following brief outline. Soon after the invention of printing, attempts were made in the West to publish the works of St. I. Chrysostom, but these publications mostly contained Latin translations of individual works and their parts. Actually, the Greek text, in more or less correct form, appeared in 1529, when it was published in Vienna - “Typis Stephani et fratrum” - Chrysostom’s conversations on the epistles of St. Paul with a foreword by Maxim Donat. Later, this publication, already at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, was followed by the publication of interpretations of the New Testament in general, made by Commelin, a printer in Heidelberg, in four volumes in folio, in 1591–1602. Interest in the works of the great father began to grow rapidly and ten years later, precisely in 1612, a magnificent edition of all his works appeared - in eight thick volumes in folio. This edition, prepared by Henry Saville, was printed at Eton. Saville, born in 1549, was a famous English scholar of his time, equally distinguished by his knowledge of mathematics and Greek, which he even taught Queen Elizabeth for some time. In 1585, he became guardian of Merton, and in 1596, head of Eton. King James I offered him promotions in church and state, but he declined the honor, although he accepted a knighthood in 1604. Around this time, his only son died, and from here on he devoted himself entirely to the advancement of science. At Oxford, he founded at his own expense two professorships - in geometry and astronomy, as well as a library equipped with mathematical books for the use of professors. The joy of his life at this time was especially reading and studying the works of St. John Chrysostom and he, having decided to make these works accessible to others, undertook a complete collection of his works, and did not spare either labor or money for this publication. For this purpose, he personally visited all the main libraries of Europe, examined the manuscripts in them, and thanks to the kindness and assistance of English envoys, as well as outstanding scientists abroad, the copyists he hired were given access to the libraries of Paris, Basel, Augsburg, Munich, Vienna and other cities. He based the publication on a printed copy of the Commeline edition, carefully comparing it with five manuscripts, the discrepancies of which he noted in the margins (although not entirely according to a clear plan). The chief importance of this edition lies in the prefaces and notes, many of which are made by Casaubon and other scholars of the time, although the best of them are by Saville himself. All expenses required for the execution of this magnificent publication amounted to 8,000 pounds sterling, which in our money would be more than 80,000 rubles. The wife of the selfless scientist was so dissatisfied with such enormous expenses for a publication she did not understand, as well as with his extraordinary attachment to this matter, that more than once she even threatened to burn the entire publication. In Saville's edition, the works of St. John Chrysostom appeared only in its Greek original. This provided a tremendous service to science and its scientific representatives, as well as to those few chosen ones who had access to the Greek language. For the vast majority, even of educated society, this publication was inaccessible. It needed translation, at least if not into the popular language, then at least into the Latin language commonly used in the West. That is why such a publication was not slow to appear. This work was undertaken by the learned French Jesuit Fronton-le-Duc, who, independently of Saville, but in friendly communication with him, decided not only to publish the complete collection of the works of St. father, but also to provide them with Latin translations, and in those cases when there was no good Latin translation of a known work already existing, he did one himself. His death interrupted this venerable work, which, however, after some time was taken over by the two brothers Frederic and Claude Morel, and was completed by the last of them in 1633. This collection was published in Paris in 1636, in twelve large folio volumes. The publication was again based on a printed copy of Commelin's edition, and although some changes were also made in it, but less than in Saville's edition. Thus, the publication of the works of St. his father already had quite a history and a lot of work was put on him. Fronton's edition, as intended for a wide range of readers specifically capable of understanding the Latin language (and it was accessible to all more or less educated people of that time, not only in the West, but also in Russia), actually sold out faster than Savilevo's; After several decades, the need for a new edition began to be felt, and it was completed by the Benedictine scientist Bernard Montfaucon. The author of this famous Benedictine publication was first in military service, but at the age of 20 he left this service and entered the Benedictine monastic order, where he found his true calling and became one of the most famous literary figures not only of his own, but also of subsequent times. In 1698, the Benedictines completed their publications of the works of St. Athanasius and Blessed Augustine, and then began to make preparations for the complete publication of Chrysostom’s works, to which they decided to devote thirty years. This is where Montfaucon, with his erudition in patristic literature, turned out to be an irreplaceable person. He was sent to Italy, where for three years he was engaged in analyzing manuscripts in libraries. Upon his return, he asked the leaders of the order for permission to take with him four or five members of the brethren to collate manuscripts in the royal library in Paris, as well as in the most famous libraries of private individuals. Their labors continued for more than thirteen years; More than 300 manuscripts were discovered in the named libraries, which contained various parts of Chrysostom’s works. Montfaucon, meanwhile, entered into relations with scientists from various European countries in order to, with their help, obtain even more material and further summarize and collate the manuscripts. The result of this was that, after more than twenty years of continuous work, Montfaucon produced an edition in which many of his creations saw the light of day for the first time, and others, which had remained incomplete in previous editions, were presented in their completed form. But the work was so enormous that, despite all the efforts, the text is the least satisfactory aspect of the publication. The English scientist Field, who was already working in recent comparative times, discovered that the eight main manuscripts that served as the basis of the publication were not subjected to a particularly thorough summary and that although it especially extols the Saville edition, however, in reality, the publisher more closely followed the edition of Morel (Fronton), which was almost nothing more than a reproduction of the original Commeline edition. The main significance of the publication lies in the prefaces written by Montfaucon to each series of conversations and to each individual creation, and the chronology, content and nature of the creation are fully and thoroughly discussed in them. In the chronological order of creations, the Montfaucon edition also takes a big step forward compared to the editions of Saville and Fronton, which did not even try to establish this order. The last XIII volume contains the biography of St. John Chrysostom, a very voluminous index, as well as a number of discussions regarding the teaching, discipline and heresies that existed in the time of Chrysostom, and these discussions are illustrated and confirmed by notes collected from his own works. In general, this publication cannot but be recognized as a wonderful monument to the ability and enterprise of the famous publisher, especially if we take into account that by the time the work was completed, Montfaucon was already 83 years old and had worked for more than fifty years on literary works of all kinds. He died in 1741, and his work was reprinted several times after him, with the last edition being made in 1835–40. Finally, the last complete edition of the works of St. John Chrysostom was made by Abbot Min, the famous publisher of the famous Patrology of the Latin and Greek Fathers of the Church. Jacques Paul Migne was born at the dawn of our century, in 1800, and became famous for his famous printing house, founded in Petit-Montrouge near Paris, which became the cradle of numerous theological and mainly patristic creations. His famous Patrology 3, which began to appear in 1844, consisted of two huge series of 379 volumes of extremely neat printing, with the Latin series containing 217 volumes and the Greek 162 volumes. The latter, published in double Greek and Latin text, also included the works of St. I. Chrysostom (from volume XLVII of the Greek series). This newest edition of Chrysostom's works consists of 13 volumes (Paris, 1863) and in general is a reproduction of the Benedictine edition, although it has a more convenient, easy-to-use form and contains some of the best corrections, notes and prefaces of the latest interpreters and publishers, especially, for example, from the learned works of Field in his critical edition of Conversations on The Gospel of Matthew, and not a little in this regard, was written by the learned abbot-publisher himself. Thus, Min’s edition, which forms the basis for the proposed Russian edition of the complete collection of works of St. John Chrysostom, is, so to speak, the result of all previous scientific works, and both because of this and because of its convenient, handy form, with the Greek and Latin texts following page after page, this edition is the most widespread and well-known, and there is no more or less theologically educated person who would not in one way or another come into contact with this edition and would not be familiar with its form and content. The “indication on the pages” (or rather, columns) of Minya’s edition promised in the Russian edition will provide a new convenience for Russian readers who would like to check well-known passages in the original, as young theological students will especially often have to resort to when compiling their course dissertations. Min's publication, unfortunately, suffered a disastrous fate in 1868 and its entire unsold stock burned down along with the entire printing house, so its copies are not particularly accessible now and range in price from 180 to 200 marks, i.e. about a hundred rubles in our money. But even this price, in essence, is not particularly high, if we take into account the enormous mass of material contained in it. The enormity of this material can be judged by the fact that if even one of its texts was translated into the form in which the Russian edition is now expected, it would require about 16 volumes - and since the text in it is double, then, consequently, this would amount to about 32 volumes of 600 or more pages each. It remains to be wished that the editors of spiritual and academic journals would handle this extremely valuable publication 4 as successfully and quickly as possible, which, one hopes, will attract everyone’s attention, as it well deserves. See "Church Bulletin", No. 24 present. year. For more information, see A. S. Arkhangelsky about these collections: To the study of ancient Russian literature, St. Petersburg, 1888, pp. 53 et seq. About “Zlatostruy”, in fact, see the special study: V. Malinina, Study of Zlatostruy based on a 12th-century manuscript by Emperor. public library. Cursus Patrologiae completus seu bibliotheca universalis, integra, uniformis commoda, oeconomica ss. patrum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum, accurante I. P. Migne. Petit. Montrouge. The speed of publication will depend entirely on the sympathy with which our readers treat it. If the case is favorable, the editors will take all measures and efforts to complete this major undertaking in the shortest possible time. Ed.