"Miterikon" as a translation of St. Theophan: research and prospects

Annotation. The article is devoted to the analysis of research into a unique literary monument of Christian writing of the 13th century - “Miterikon”, translated into Russian by Saint Theophan (Govorov). An overview of the contents of the manuscript is presented. The process of its translation and publication is described. The Mythericon researchers worked with translation material, not with the Greek manuscript. It should also be noted that the translations into German and Spanish were also made from the Russian text, and not from the Greek. It was the translation of St. Theophan that made this text accessible to a wide range of readers, and also introduced the literary monument into the research environment. Abstract. The article is devoted to the analysis of studies of the unique literary monument of Christian literature of the 13th century, “Miterikon”, translated into Russian by St. Theophan (Govorov). An overview of the content of the manuscript is presented. process of translation and publication is described. The researchers at “Mitherikon” worked from translation material, not from the Greek manuscript. It should also be noted that the translations into German and Spanish were also made from the Russian text and not from the Greek. It was the translation of St. Theophanes that made this text accessible to a wide range of readers, and also introduced a literary monument into the research environment. Saint Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky, is a unique example of the theological ministry of the Orthodox Church. He left behind theological treatises, interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, and letters to his spiritual children. It is especially worth highlighting his works on the translation of the patristic heritage into Russian. From his pen came the translation of a fundamental collection on asceticism, a monument of Christian writing - the Philokalia. He also translated the Invisible Warfare of Nicodemus the Svyatogorets, Ancient Monastic Rules, Ancient Patericon, etc. Moreover, Saint Theophan was not just a translator of ancient texts. On the one hand, he was guided by these texts in personal, ascetic practice. On the other hand, he tried, preserving the thought of the fathers, to present it in an accessible way, through the prism of prayer experience and translation experience. Researchers note the principle that guided the bishop when translating: “...St. Theophan, in his translation of liturgical texts, showed his translation intuition, perceiving the text not just as a literary monument, but as a living word that affects the feelings and heart, the spirit and soul, the mind” [9, p. 83]. The collection of instructions on monastic life, “Miterikon,” became such a living word for the Right Reverend. "Miterikon" is a unique literary monument of Christian writing from the beginning of the 13th century. According to some researchers, it belongs to the monk Isaiah, who lived in the end. XII – beginning XIII century [10, p. 128]. In Byzantium, according to others, the author of these messages may be Isaiah the Hermit (IV century) [13, p. 134] or the monk Isaiah (10th century) [15, p. 263]. "Miterikon" consists of instructions and sayings about monastic life, which are addressed to Blessed Theodora. Most researchers agree that Theodora lived at the end of the 12th – beginning of the 13th centuries. Thus, researcher Irenaeus Hausherr 1 suggests that she was the natural daughter of the Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angela [4, p. 286], Maria Heine adheres to the same point of view [5, p. 17]. In addition to the instructions of the monk Isaiah, the collection includes sayings of the holy wives of ascetics, which, according to St. Theophan (Govorov), “... are directed to the silent; but they can also go to nuns in general who are zealous for perfection in monastic life” [11]. “Miterikon” was translated into Russian in the middle. XIX century Saint Theophan the Recluse and published in parts: first in the magazine “Sunday Reading”, published at the Kyiv Theological Academy in 1853–1859. [7, p. 87], then in 1891 a collection was published, which was published by the Athos Russian Panteleimon Monastery [8]. After the death of the Vyshensky Recluse, the same publishing house published a second expanded edition in 1898 [11]. For unknown reasons, after the publication of the first collection, it turned out that the “Sunday Readings” did not fully publish the translations of the saint [11]. It is worth noting that “Miterikon” belongs to the collections of sayings that continue the tradition of the apothegmatism genre [5, p. 17]. This genre involves short sayings, aphorisms, stories, and edifying teachings of monks [6, p. 345]. Some researchers, in particular Martyriy Bagin, suggest that Isaiah compiled the collection as a monastic florilegium 2 in the literary tradition of the late 12th - early 13th centuries. [1, p. 27]. A distinctive feature of “Miterikon” is the focus of statements on women who have connected their lives with monasticism [5, p. 17]. The compiler of the collection, monk Isaiah, testifies to its uniqueness. He writes that it was with great difficulty that he managed to collect these sayings, since “no one has compiled women’s books since centuries,” and therefore fears condemnation [11, p. 104–105]. Professor A.I. Sidorov in his work “Patristic Heritage and Church Antiquities” comes to the conclusion that the emergence of late Byzantine hesychasm could have been influenced by female monasticism, in particular, the collection of sayings “Miterikon” [14, p. 58], which is known thanks to the work of St. Theophan. This assumption also indicates the uniqueness of Miterikon. One of the main researchers of the Miterikon as a literary phenomenon of late Byzantine writing is the French priest Irenaeus Hausherr, who in his work examines the second chapter of the Miterikon, “Memorable sayings of the holy women of the ascetics, collected by Abba Isaiah for the venerable nun Theodora.” The researcher notes that for his research he used a translation of the collection of St. Theophan (Govorov) [4, p. 285]. Analyzing the statements of the ascetics that are found in the Miterikon, Father Irenaeus finds parallel passages from the Alphabetical Patericon, the lives of saints, the works of the holy fathers and other sources. Hauscher emphasizes that the collection is unique, since in the period from Niketas Stiphatus (a student of St. Simeon the New Theologian) and until the birth of neo-hesychasm in the 14th century, no ascetic works were created in Byzantium [4, p. 285]. In addition, Isaiah adapts the collection for women and complements the teaching on hesychia [4, p. 301]. Within the framework of the literary theological tradition in the Byzantine Empire, the work of Hans-Georg Beck is of particular interest. The researcher, along with Iren Hausher, referring to him, singles out the work of the monk Isaiah as a special phenomenon of the hesychical teaching of the early 13th century. and the prerequisite for the appearance of the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas [2, p. 645]. Guyard Jord, in his article “A Spiritual Compilation of the 13th Century,” examines the identity of the manuscript and the dogmatic meaning of the second chapter of the Mitericon, using the research of Father Irenaeus, as well as the Russian translation of St. Theophan the Recluse. The author notes: “...there are several copies of the Miterikon, the oldest is manuscript No. 243, stored in the National Library of St. Petersburg” [3, p. 73], from which the saint made his translation. The researcher concludes that if St. If Gregory of Sinaite had known about the work of the monk Isaiah, this would have helped in the earlier development of the doctrine of heartfelt prayer [3, p. 74]. The author of the article calls “Miterikon” a certain echo of the monastic environment, which was not fully revealed, but at the same time foreshadows the spiritual renewal of the following centuries [3, p. 90]. The German researcher Martyriy Bagin translates the Miterikon into German; in the preface he indicates that the basis for the translation was the work of St. Theophan. Bagin notes that the translation of the saint was completed without significant omissions, since the manuscript from which the Vyshensky Recluse made the translation was damaged by time. Moreover, Martyrius calls the saint’s work “particularly thorough” [1, p. 23]. At the beginning of the 21st century, Maria Heine compiles the work of Father Irenaeus and Martyrius Bagin in her work, which is dedicated to female holiness of the 12th–14th centuries. in Byzantium. The collection “Miterikon” occupies a special place in the work, as it contains statements by the mothers Matrona, Melania, Pelageya, Sarah, Synklitikia and Theodora. The author studies in detail the statement of ascetic wives [5, p. 18]. Currently, one can find a number of works devoted to the role and significance of women in the Church in the era of interest to us. We highlighted the dissertation work of Tatyana Ivanovna Smiritskikh “The character and specificity of the private life of a woman in early Byzantium” [16], as well as the dissertation work of Irina Sergeevna Okhlupina “Images of holy women in Byzantium in the 8th–12th centuries: formation, evolution, typology” [12], which also noted “Miterikon” and “New Miterikon." It is worth noting the article by L.V. Lukhovitsky in the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” dedicated to Abba Isaiah, which quite briefly mentions the personality of the Abba, but mentions his creation - “Miterikon” [10, p. 128]. This article is a review work. It does not describe the “Miterikon” according to the Russian translation of St. Theophan. The article mentions the modern structure of the collection, but not the historical one (example Greek No. 245 consists of 2 books). A review of studies on the Miterikon showed that the analysis of the texts of the monk Isaiah was based on the translation of St. Theophan. Although the translation of the saint has not yet been studied from all sides, based on previous observations we can claim that the original text of the monk Isaiah underwent changes during translation. Firstly, the manuscript from which Theophan the Recluse translated has gaps, secondly, in the translation the texts of the original source are grouped according to a different principle, thirdly, the degree of equivalence of the translation and the original is an unexplored issue. We also see that, despite a fairly large number of works, they are difficult to access for the Russian-speaking reader, since this text has practically not been considered by domestic scientists, and foreign scientists deal with a small range of issues. Thus, we can outline several promising directions for research. Firstly, it is necessary to consider the work of the saint on the translation from the drafts of the “Miterikon”, to find a mention of the “Miterikon” in his letters and works. Secondly, conduct a comparative analysis of the original, translation and edition. The description of the Greek text "Myterekon" is very important. 1. Bagin M. Meterikon Die Weisheit der Wüstenmütter, 2004. – 160 s. 2. Beck H. G. Kirche und Theologische Literatur im Byzantinischen Reich. München, 1959. – 843 s. 3. Gouillard J. Une compilation spirituelle du XIIIe siècle. "Le livre II de l'abbé Isaïe". In: Échos d'Orient, tome 38. 1939. – 647 s. 4. Hausherr I. Le Métérikon de l'abbé Isaïe // Études de spiritualité orientale. (OCA; 183). R., 1969. – 422 s. 5. Heine M. Die Spiritualität von Asketinnen: Von den Wüstenmüttern zum städtischen Asketinnentum im östlichen Mittelmeerraum und in Rom. Vom. 3. Bis zum 5. Jh. B., 2008. – 198 s. 6. Voitenko A.A., Dvali M.R., Sidorov A.I. , Turilov A.A. Apophthegmata Patrum // Orthodox Encyclopedia. M., 2003. T. III. – 752s. 7. Index to articles contained in twenty-five years of Sunday Readings. From 1 (1837–38) to XXV (1861–62) Kiev, 1863. 8. Isaiah of Egypt. Miterikon: Collection. Abba Isaiah's instructions to the honorable nun Theodora / Trans. Ep. Feofan. Ed. Athos. rus. Panteleimon Monastery. M., 1891. – 199 p. 9 . Kretov, A.V. The value-semantic space of the translation of selected passages of Octoechos, made by St. Theophan the Recluse / A.V. Kretov, O.E. Pavlovskaya // Bulletin of the Adygea State University. Series 2: Philology and art history. 2019. No. 1 (232). – pp. 79–84. 10. Lukhovitsky L.V. Isaiah // Orthodox Encyclopedia. M., 2011. T. XXVII – 647 p. 11. Miterikon: Collection. Abba Isaiah's instructions to the honorable nun Theodora / Trans. Ep. Feofan. Ed. Athos. rus. Panteleimon Monastery. 2nd ed., add. M., 1898. – 269 p. 12. Okhlupina I.S. Images of holy women in Byzantium in the 8th–12th centuries: formation, evolution, typology: abstract of thesis. ...cand. history Sci. Ekaterinburg, 2011. 13. Porfiry (Uspensky), bishop. History of Athos. K., 1877. Part 3/1. 14. Sidorov A.I. Patristic heritage and church antiquities. T. 4. 2014. 582 p. 15. Skurat K.E. Great teachers of the Church. Klin, 1999. – 284 S. 16. Smirnitskikh T.V. The nature and specificity of a woman’s private life in early Byzantium: dissertation ... candidate of historical sciences. Belgorod, 2009. Irenaeus Hausherr (June 7, 1881 – December 5, 1978) was a Jesuit of Alsatian origin, a specialist in Greek patristic and monastic spirituality. Florilegium (florilegium) – “flower garden”; a dogmatic collection of quotations from the works of the holy fathers, excerpts from church writers.