Bibliography [Description of the “purple” codex]

Evangeliorum codex graecus purpureus Rossanensis litteris argenteis sexto, ut videtur, saeculo scriptus picturisqve ornatus. Osc. Gebhardt und Adol. Harnack. Last year, well-known scholars in German theological literature Osk. Gebhardt and Hell. Harnak, took a trip to southern Italy to search in the monastery libraries there. Guided by correct historical thought, they directed their scientific curiosity to an area that had long been occupied by Greek settlers and for a long time maintained ecclesiastical connections with the East, despite the religious gap and pressure from Latinism. In March they arrived in Calabria and here in Rossano (ancient Roscianum, Ρουσιάνον). not far from the Greek monastery of Hodegetria that was here, they picked up the trail and brought out of obscurity a very ancient (VI century, in their opinion) codex of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and even then not in full) with miniatures. We will not follow the circumstances of this happy discovery and convey the historical and topographical details on which the publishers dwell in the introduction to their work. Let us say in their words that the discovery was made in the library of the Rossan diocese and exceeded our wildest expectations. Regardless of its significance for the history of the Gospel text and ancient church painting, this monument receives special value for its location and provides new strong evidence of how important the study of Greek monuments preserved in southern Italy would be for the study of life, ritual, art and the structure of the Greek communities there. It is news to no one who belongs to the Church that Italian libraries have rendered a great service to the study of the Eastern Church and that, thanks to Western researchers, we have received from here a number of written documents that are very important in literary, pathological and archaeological terms. Therefore, before talking about the Rossan find itself, let’s take a look at the past fate of this region, make a few comments about its church-historical significance and about those of its figures who connected their name with the East and occupy a place in its history. It is known that the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea, together with Sicily, Calabria, Apulia and the Adriatic coast, has long been occupied by Greek colonies, which were in a flourishing state, conducted extensive trade and maintained constant relations with their metropolis. Therefore, the Greek element in this zone was very strong, and Christianity spread here with the strong participation of Greek missionaries. To clarify the question of the original fate of Christianity in Sicily, they promise to provide a significant service not so long ago (in the 70s) that research began in the catacombs discovered near Syracuse. The results of these works are introduced to us by the recently published work of the German archaeologist W. Schulze, “Archäologische Studien über altchristliche Monumente” (Wien 1880). The Syracuse catacombs are divided into several separate branches; they formed the ancient Christian cemetery of Syracuse, and the more ancient part of them, located near Vigna Cassia, is dated by our author to the end of the second or third century. Another network of these underground corridors, more spacious and better finished, judging by the inscriptions and the nature of the wall paintings, did not occur earlier than the fourth century. Niches or loculi were made along the walls of the corridors for placing corpses. There are also arcosolia, the corridors are intersected by rooms or cubeculae, the walls of which are also covered with niches with inscriptions and dipinti, and one of them also has the remarkable feature that it has benches carved into the rock around its circumference, which probably served as a seat during funeral meetings. Based on the existence and size of the ancient cemetery in Vigna Cassia, Schulze argues that in the second half of the third century Christianity was quite widespread in Syracuse and counted predominantly Greeks among its ranks. The composition of this community was then replenished more and more, and by the fourth century it had already reached such a large number that it required the construction of a new, more spacious cemetery, which was given in the Giovani catacombs. Subsequently, even new dungeons were laid out, closer to the seashore and, apparently, were assigned to people of limited means; here the inscriptions and wall decorations are of rougher workmanship, the furnishings are poorer and the galleries themselves are not decorated at all. The predominance of Greek inscriptions with the names of Adelphia, Antioch and the usual formula of Greek epitaphs, the nature of the painting, the decoration of the utensils and, finally, the very treatment of these dungeons not only indicate the main Greek core of the local population, but also lead our scientist to the idea that the Christianization of the island came not from Rome, but from the East. Therefore, Schulze, in contrast to most previous historians, does not recognize the testimony of Pope Innocent I (Ep. ad Decent.) about the origin of Christianity and the hierarchy in Sicily from Rome, but is inclined to think about Greek missionaries. The Greek legend about the first preachers of Christianity in Sicily: Pankratius of Tauromenia and Marcian, who were natives of Syria, also agrees with this conclusion. And it is remarkable that the personality of Pankratius was very popular in the east, and his life, however, of later origin and with legendary details, became known very early in the Slavic translation. The further connection of Sicily with the East was consolidated by a number of hymnographers, who formed a special Italo-Greek school, were of great importance in the history of the Eastern rite and are known for their constant relations with Studian figures. These are: George and Theodosius of Sicily, Joseph the hymnographer, etc. The works of Theodore the Studite became famous during his lifetime in the Italian provinces and meet with rivalry in previous examples of church lyricism. Southern Italy also had no less close relations with the east. Mark Idruntsky, with whose name the addition to the charter in the form of Mark's chapters is connected, first held the position of economist in the constant. Church of Mochia, and from here he was sent to Otranto to the episcopal see. So says Nilus Doxapater. The founder of the Cryptoferrat monastery, Nil Rossansky, also came from Calabrian Greeks, was closely familiar with the writings of the Eastern fathers, among other things. Anthony the Great, Savva the Sanctifier, Hilarion and friend. From his biography it is clear that at that time there were already quite a few Greek monasteries in Calabria, where services were carried out according to the Eastern rite, works of Greek church writers were read, and the monks were guided in their organization by the rules of Basil the Great. The rumor about the exploits of the Nile reached “ἒως ἀυτοῦ τοῦ ἀγίου ὄρους”, all the way to the holy mountain, and to the ears of “our Christ-loving kings,” as the biographer speaks of the then Byzantine emperors Basil and Constantine Nila. In view of the constant raids of the Saracens on southern Italy, he wanted to retire “πρὸς τὰ ὲωα μέρη”, but having got used to his homeland and the living conditions there, he did not carry out this thought, but preferred to remain in the “Latin land”. Despite the sharp symptoms of ecclesiastical disunity in the then official spheres, the mutual relations between the Greeks and Latins in Italy were so sincere and direct that Nilus, having arrived at the Monte Cassinian monastery, conducted the service there in Greek, but to speak the teaching to the monks “τῆ ρωμαίκῆ γλώσση” constitutes a canon Benedict of Nursia and in a conversation with the monks there speaks of fasting on Saturday as an indifferent phenomenon from the point of view of Christian morality. A century later, another remarkable Greek figure is found in Calabria - Bartholomew, whom the publishers of Acta SS distinguish from Bartholomew of Cryptoferrata, but rightly note that the personal traits of both are mixed in the biographies. The church life of Orthodox Greek monasteries, as can be seen from here, was at that time still widely developed on Italian soil, and their connection with Byzantium was in full force. When the monastery he founded found a need for utensils and books, Bartholomew took with him several brothers who were more resilient on the road and set off for the capital of the empire, new Rome. Ρώμην“ introduces himself to Tsar Alexei Komnenos and, received favorably and cordially by everyone, receives rich gifts for his church with icons, books and church vessels; and one of his admirers even gives him a whole monastery, which he owned on St. grief and asks to introduce a stricter order there. (Act. ss. Septem. VIII append, ad XIX Avg p. 821) Let us mention another Italo-Greek figure of that era, Savva, detailed information about whom was reported by Cardinal Pitra in his learned work “Analecta sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi parata”. A Sicilian native, he, together with his father and brother, had to leave their homeland and move to Italy from the raids of the Hagarians, was the abbot of the monastery of St. Lawrence and, according to Pitra's calculations, died in the middle of the 10th century. To characterize the then relations of the Italo-Greeks to the east and west, it is important for us that Savva undertook a trip to Rome to worship the shrines there (this is stated in a special article written in Greek “Sabae romana itinera et obitus”, published in the same place by Pitra r. 306-313) and a little earlier traveling for the same purpose to Jerusalem. His fame in the east is evident from the fact that the Patriarch of Jerusalem Jeremiah - Orestes was in close relations with Savva, wrote his life, composed a service both to him and to his father Christopher and younger brother Macarius. None of these persons are known from our calendar, but at one time they were celebrated locally and had a service. In the Carboniferous Codex (Codex carbonensis, after the name of the monastery in Italy), the service is scheduled for Sava on February 6th, and for Macarius on December 20th. Due to his authorship and close relations with Italy, the memory of Patriarch Orestes is recorded in some Western martyrologies under May 15 and 17, as Pitra claims. Based on these sources, extracted from Western libraries, Pitra first introduced the learned world to the activities of this patriarch as a hymnographer and published his kontakion of St. Panteleimon, with the like of Cosmas of Mayum, St. Savva the Younger, - on the model of the akathist of the Theotokos, Savva's brother Macarius of Salerno, - on the model of Theodore the Studite, and the Mother of God from the canons of Orestes. Since the Greek rite in southern Italy was supplanted in the 15th century, it is understandable what a rich store of manuscripts of ecclesiastical content must have been contained in the libraries of these monasteries and how important the searches would have been in those places where these manuscripts were transferred and, perhaps, not all have yet been lost. (For their pitiful fate, see the preface to the Rossan Codex). It is clear why from the west come such valuable monuments as the Italo-Greek charters brought to the knowledge of Tuscany, a whole series of Greek lists, Calabrian, Rossanian, Messinian and Cryptoferratian, which were included in the Euchologia and which the neo-Greeks used in their editions of the Venetian press. Therefore, in the descriptions of various Western libraries by Monfaucon, Bandini and others, a significant part of the Greek manuscripts falls to the share of southern Italy. The Rossan Codex supplements the list of monuments found here with a new document, valuable both for its remarkable antiquity - it dates back to the 6th century - and for its significance in the history of art, thanks to the miniatures accompanying it. From such a deep antiquity we generally have few manuscripts, even less so luxuriously decorated and written on purple parchment, and manuscripts with miniatures from this time are known by chance and are the greatest rarity. We will not talk about the significance of this codex as a paleographic monument and in relation to the history of the Gospel text: those wishing to become acquainted with this side of the matter, we refer to the curious remarks in Chapters II, III and IV of the introduction and to the excerpt from the Gospel of Mark recently published by Duchesne in the Patmos Library, of which only a few sheets were published by Tischendorf (Duchesne “Memoire sur une mission an mont” Athos" p. 190–223). We will also not go into an assessment of the artistic and technical significance of this monument, but let us pay attention to its significance in the history of Byzantine painting of the ancient period, especially since its publishers very rightly noted this side of the matter, but, unfortunately, left it without explanation. “The miniatures of this codex,” they say, standing on the threshold of the transition from ancient classical painting to the so-called Byzantine painting, clarify not only the origin of this latter, but also carry it back to the era of the revival of art in Italy under Giotto” (p. XXIII). According to many features, the Rossan manuscript originates from Alexandria. This is indicated by some paleographic features (see introduction) and a very interesting observation by Prof. A. S. Usov, who in the humpbacked oxen in the miniature depicting the expulsion of traders from the Jerusalem temple, indicated the local species of the then Egyptian fauna. This circumstance in connection with the Syriac Gospel of Rabbulah, marked with a positive date (586), makes it clear that the classical style in the east begins to be neutralized very early, and this is noticed simultaneously in different areas of the east: in Constantinople, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, that the artistic techniques established by the ancient school begin to change under the influence of local conditions and in painting traces of two movements are felt, of which the advantage still remains with the classic one. This exact quantitative relationship between the two elements is represented by the miniatures of the Rossan manuscript. Classical costume predominates here, household items and utensils are mostly similar to catacomb samples, some subjects also repeat the usual technique of catacomb painting, but next to these features we find many that were alien to classical art and belong to Byzantine iconography. Let us note the more prominent features of this trend, dealing, among other things, with the miniatures of the Gospel of Rabbi, which for some unknown reason was omitted by the publishers. In the Rossan manuscript, only 8 sheets with miniatures have been preserved, and three small groups are issued: images of Gospel scenes, images of prophets and decorations of title pages. The first four leaves and the seventh are divided into two halves, of which pictures from the gospel story are placed on the top, and prophets with charters are depicted on the bottom. There are four such figures on each half of the sheet, and they are grouped in the following order: the first and third places, with few exceptions, are occupied by David, and the second and fourth alternate between different prophets, some of whom are repeated several times. Their number in the entire manuscript is about 40. All of them are presented in the same way: half covered with broad charters, which would be very difficult to recognize as such if there were no inscriptions on them, and if we did not have similar images on other monuments. The publisher's guess that the draftsman imitated oratorical pulpits and pulpits in the setting of these figures and the form of the unfolded charters is very plausible and is confirmed in the very oratorical pose given to these persons. Images of David are important to Byzantine iconography. On two of them (Plate III), signs of the emerging official Byzantine costume with its peculiar decoration are noticeable. David has a cap on his head in the form of a Byzantine stemma, trimmed with pearls, a purple cloak with a wide quadrangular trim on the brim, in the form of a tablet or tavlion. What the publishers called the harp in the hands of David and Solomon is in fact this sewn-on decoration, only shown schematically in the picture and covered at the bottom with a charter. – The publishers were deceived by the external resemblance of this decoration to a harp, but it easily disappears when looking at the most ancient images of emperors with tables, at least in Weiss’s “Kostümkunde”, and with the image of a harp in David in the Gospel of Rabbi. In the depiction of the resurrection of Lazarus (Table IV), Lazarus is represented emerging from the cave, according to the Jewish burial rite. The local oriental detail is retained here, but in the catacombs, the Ravenna mosaics, the tomb of Lazarus is represented as a portal or building with a pediment, similar to Roman funerary monuments. The tomb of Christ is depicted in the form of a similar building, depicting the resurrection, or better said, at the moment of the myrrh-bearing women visiting it. The image of the entrance to Jerusalem is executed in accordance with the catacomb images and with the miniature of the Rabbinical Gospel. Only in the latter one main point is captured: in the Rossan Codex, the picture is continued on both sides and contains many more faces, but remarkably, it retains the cut of the clothes thrown before Christ. This clothing, in the form of long sleeves or towels, constitutes an interesting detail of the costume of that time, captured by the draftsman from life. What is remarkable for Byzantine iconography is the depiction of Jerusalem in the form of a closed model, on which the outlines of buildings with roofs and the dome of the church emerge from behind the walls in the style of later Greek and Slavic miniatures. The same is in the table. XIII. A similar image, in addition to the one indicated by Harnack in the Vienna Codex of the Book of Genesis, is also found in the Gospel of Ravbula, table. IX. Much more important for iconography are two miniatures representing the Last Supper. The first depicts this plot in its most ancient realistic type, the second - in the church-liturgical one. The model for the first was the paintings of family tables and feasts, where the participants are represented at the table in the form of a sigma, reclining along a semicircular cushion bordering the table. From these pictures of everyday content, an image of the Last Supper was developed with a change in the number and type of participants in relation to the Gospel story. There are no images of the Last Supper in the catacombs, and the earliest known plot of this kind was preserved in the Ravenna mosaic of Apollinaris. (Described by Jean Paul Richter in his monograph “Die Mosaken von Ravenna” p. 53). The Rossansky Codex adds to this rare iconographic subject a second copy, close to the Ravenna one in time and identical in the method of depiction. Unfortunately, the photograph in the Harnack and Gebhard edition is very unclear, and it is difficult to make out what objects are lying on the table. Another translation of this plot represents Christ at the moment of distributing bread to the Apostles in one picture, and cups in another, and is known in Byzantine iconography under the name of distribution (μετάδοσις). The publishers apparently did not realize that this miniature constituted a most interesting discovery in the field of iconography. Until now, we know about this image from later Byzantine miniatures, and sewing on the famous dalmatic of the 11th century was considered one of the most ancient examples of this subject. Several years ago, the German scholar Dobbert published a special monograph on the depiction of the Last Supper in Byzantine art. He begins the history of this plot with miniatures of the 9th century and considers the oldest of all to be the image of the Last Supper in the Nekrez Church in the Caucasus, and then moves on to the mosaics of the Kiev St. Sophia and St. Michael's Cathedrals and the murals in the Nereditsa Church. But the time of origin of the Nekrez fresco has not been determined, and that it is not earlier than the Rossan Codex is clear from the fact that there Christ is represented standing behind the throne, next to him is an Angel with a ripida and in a deacon's surplice, and in the Rossan miniature this later liturgical coloring is not present. But then, both in the most ancient and in the latest images, this scene is presented in a double form. Six, or a smaller number, of the apostles approach Christ to receive bread, while others receive communion from the cup. In earlier images there is neither a chalice nor a paten, but Christ is represented with a piece of bread, from which he breaks off a piece to give to a suitable apostle; instead of a chalice, He holds in his hand either a deep bowl, like the bowl of today, or a jug with a handle, and from it he communes with the apostles. This is how the sacrament was taught in the most ancient times of the church, and Byzantine images of the Last Supper reproduce before us the most ancient time of church practice. As an interesting detail that took place in the official and church life of Byzantium, one can point out that one of the apostles approaching the Eucharist is represented with outstretched hands tightly wrapped in an outer cloak. This expresses deep respect for the object being received, and in Byzantine ceremonial practice this technique was used when receiving objects from the hands of the king, or when transferring something to high-ranking persons. (Cf. ibid depiction of an Angel giving a vessel of wine, plate XIII. Judas pouring out pieces of silver before the high priest, plate XV). The miniature (Table XIV) - Pilate's trial of Christ - gives even more details from the Byzantine ceremonial. The picture depicts before us the atmosphere of a court hearing. Pilate is on a high seat (throne, pulpit) in a mantle with a wide tavlion (which, unfortunately, is difficult to make out in the picture); in front of him is a table covered with a white tablecloth with two royal busts on the front side of the table and the same two busts on the labarum (banner, standard) of two standard-bearers behind the throne. These insignia, not excluding the two royal images, are mentioned in Weiss (Kostümkunde) on the basis of the Notitia dignitatum, as distinguishing the official appearance of the Kriegsrichters when exercising their office. All this is shown much more clearly in the table. XVI. On the table XV, the shape of the chair or pulpit on which the high priest sits in view of Judas who appeared with the silver pieces is remarkable from an archaeological point of view. This is something like an armchair with blank side walls and a semicircular high back - one of the original forms of an altar place - often found in catacomb images (cf. Table XIX). The other originates from the throne on which the judge was placed in that part of the Roman basilica, which was called the tribunal and was located in the recess of the apse, like an altar ledge. Above the chair of the high priest in the Rossan miniature is a tent or ciborium on four pillars. All miniatures relating to the story of the judgment and suffering of the Savior, from the so-called “cycl. passion.” in the Rossan Code there are four. In addition to those just named, the table also belongs here. XVII, which shows Christ and Barabbas, accompanied by the executors of the sentence. Not to mention the idealistic motive of this drawing and the striking contrast between the figure of Christ calmly standing on a dais and the bent Barabbas, chained hand and foot, there is also a real setting in the form of a lictor with a bundle of rods and another official in long Byzantine robes and with tablions. Whether there was a crucifix between the miniatures of the Rossan Codex is difficult to say with certainty. That at the beginning there were more of them and only a small part has been preserved in the present manuscript, there can be no dispute about this, and there are also no solid reasons to deny the existence of a crucifixion between them. True, early Christian art did not depict this subject, just as it generally avoided representing Christ in a humiliating position, but in the 6th century, to which the manuscript belongs, this rule had already lost part of its binding force, and indeed we already encounter this image in the Rabbinical Gospel and, moreover, with a very widely developed setting; it is also mentioned in the description of the Gaza church by the sophist Choricius (VI century). Last year, Krause published an image of a crucifixion, with the figure of the hanging Judas, on a carved ivory tablet, which he dates to the 5th century. (The photograph is included in his “monograph” Über Begriff... der Christ. Archäol. s. 26.) Paintings depicting martyrdom already took place in churches of the 5th century, as can be seen from Prudentius’s references to depictions of the sufferings of Hippolytus and Cassian. The last miniature on the table. XIX is occupied by the image of the evangelist. He is represented sitting on an armchair and writing on a charter. Judging by the words written on it, one would have to recognize Mark as the evangelist. But this conclusion is contradicted by a female figure standing near the evangelist and pointing to the charter. A similar addition to the image of St. We have not met Mark as an evangelist anywhere and we think that this figure is nothing more than a symbol of the Evangelist Matthew. There is no reason to see here the personification of the church, or anything like the Byzantine “εὕρεσις” and “ρόνησις”. Adding this symbol to St. Mark, was there a mistake by the scribe who, having ready-made drawings of the evangelists, mixed them up and placed an inappropriate signature on the charter of St. Matthew, just as he was mistaken several times in inscribing the charter of the prophets. The reason for this misunderstanding could have been the similarity in the initial words of the first and second gospels. The words “υιου του Θυ”, read in the figure without beginning and continuation, can be confused with “υιου του Δαυίδ”. The section of the upper room in which the evangelist is presented, with a protruding top and side cone-shaped turrets, is reminiscent of later headpieces of this kind in Byzantine manuscripts and through them is associated with the drawing on the title page of Svyatoslav’s collection. This ornament is therefore of very ancient origin. The author of this small brochure devoted twenty years of his life in Macedonia to familiarizing himself with the folk life and customs of this region and was guided both by his own observations and the stories of old-timers. The work of the venerable collector could have been very useful for the ethnography and cultural history of this country if it had not been written with the preconceived idea of ​​proving that in Macedonia traces of ancient Hellenic life are still preserved intact, and despite all the upheavals, the original Hellenic culture not only did not freeze here, but took deep roots and makes itself felt at almost every step in people’s life. Such problems, which have not yet been touched upon enough, hamper the objectivity of the observer and have an unfavorable effect on the selection and evaluation of the observed material. Researchers of this kind choose what meets their goals, illuminate the fact from their favorite side, introduce not what is available, but what seems remarkable and interesting to them. It is possible to identify Macedonian and New Hellenic morals, as our author does, only after a long and comprehensive study of folk life, and without this framework, our author’s work would have come out much more meaningful, richer and more typical in material, although perhaps for this it would have been necessary to delve deeper into the features of folk life and dwell on small everyday details that do not lend themselves to easy explanation and ready-made parallels. Now, in the book of an inquisitive Macedonian, we have a cursory series of essays, from which the reader becomes acquainted with the following rituals and beliefs: betrothal, wedding, funeral, fortune telling and omens by birds, goddesses of fate (μοῖραι) Nereids, magic, vurkolaki and calicanzars. These essays deal mostly with aspects of life that are known from previous descriptions, especially from recent works on the ethnography of the neo-Greeks; but new data also comes across in places that throw light on questions of general mythology, and are partly related to our folk customs. So, for example, before the wedding, the groom gives the bride a dozen or more gold coins, checked on the edge, which she wears around her neck as a necklace. The gifts exchanged between the bride and groom include: honey cake and wine, which both parties give each other. Four days before the wedding, the groom goes to the bathhouse, where his friends call him prince “ἁρχοντόπουλος” and sing various songs in his honor. The bride rides to church on a horse, accompanied by two groomsmen. Returning from there, he tries to step into the groom’s house with his right foot, which is where the saying comes from: “ἐμβῆκε μέ δεξί πόδι.” In some areas, the dead still have a coin placed in their mouth to pay Charon. They generally bury them very quickly, sometimes on the very day of death, and if the deceased has to stand in the house the whole night, his body is carefully protected so that mice or other animals do not touch him, because in this case the dead person will turn into a werewolf or a vurkolak. When taken to church, a jug of water is broken on the ground - a custom probably similar to that observed among the southern Slavs. When meeting a dead person, they pour water from a bucket, and this saves his soul. (Karavelov. Memory. People's life of the Bulgarians 161). They are usually buried outside the city in family graves; the deceased is placed facing the east, and his best clothes, weapons and generally favorite items are buried with him. Imagining the afterlife as a continuation of the present, a vessel with water is placed in the room where the deceased lay, and the soul of the deceased flies to it at night to quench his thirst. In view of the same concern for the everyday needs of the deceased, sacrifices or commemorations are brought to his grave from flour, boiled grains and wine, which the priest pours three times on the grave on the days of the funeral. After three or five years have passed from the date of the funeral, the corpse is dug out from the family crypt, brought to the church and, after the priest’s prayer, buried in a common cemetery. Fortune telling by signs of birds is reminiscent of some of our folk beliefs. Our author speaks in more detail about the beliefs associated with the representations of the parks or goddesses of fate “μοῖραι”. They are known to the people among the three sisters who take newborns (mothers in labor) at their disposal and determine their fate, which is why one is καλόμοιρος (happy), the other κακόμοιρος (unlucky). On June 24, on Midsummer's Day (Kupala holiday, Kres), games and fortune telling (κλήδονες) are organized, in which young people of both sexes participate. Fortune tellers find out their fate through lots or forfeits, which each of the players throws into a vessel of water. (Balsamon speaks about the folk rituals of this holiday among the Byzantines in his interpretation of Rule 65 of the Council of Trula. For an explanation of the word “κλήδονας”, see Yennaraki “ἄσματα κρητικά” (s 340); Karavelov (174–175) In this regard, the well-known decree of the Stoglav on this matter should be put forward. In the notes about the Nereids, attention is drawn to the name by which they are popularly known as “καλάι νάβαι” and which has a close phonetic resemblance to the chronicle “Navier” - dead man. The author derives this word from novus νέος in the sense of beings gifted with eternal youth. Nereids are especially dangerous at midday and, when participating in children's games, they often cause various troubles for children and harm their health. Lakes, springs and rivers serve as their favorite hangout, and thanks to them, they are sometimes distinguished by their healing powers, as for example. Burinskaya cave near Kazan and friend. The paragraph on magic contains nothing new and characteristic: we learn from here that against the evil eye (βασκανία), which is especially dangerous for children, they tie plantain leaves around their necks, spit them out three times, drink the sick from the coals and feed them with salted cakes. The old question about vurkolaks also does not find much explanation. The author makes a concession in favor of the Slavic origin of this word over the Greek (μορμολύκη), but does not exhaust all its meanings and limits himself to reporting current opinions about the antics of these werewolves. The mysterious creatures of folk mythology, known as the Kalikantsars (καλικαντζάροι), also belong to their family. Given the inconsistency of philological explanations for this word, the author dwells on the popular rapprochement of the Kalikantsars with wolves and puts the very belief about them in connection with ancient stories about a special disease “λυκανθρωπια”, about which there were stories that those who suffered from it turned into wolves, and sometimes remained in this position for several years. In the minds of the Macedonians, they have the appearance of a satyr, live in caves and come out into the world within 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany. On these days, which the Bulgarians call filthy (the Byzantines have κυριακη παγανα, we have the exact opposite - Christmastide), according to Karavelov, Kara-konche, a werewolf in the genus of a brownie, appears and disappears on Epiphany Christmas Eve, after the priest sprinkles the house with Epiphany water. This Kara-konche is nothing more than a modified nickname of Kalikantsar, which is confirmed by the similarity of beliefs associated with both among the Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Albanians. In order to reproduce a living image of this mysterious creature of folk mythology, one would have to turn to all these sources and compare them with each other, and since these beliefs come from afar, it would not be superfluous to consult previous works on this part, such as, for example. A small treatise by Allacius “De quorundam graecorum opinationibus”. In general, the book is easy to read and conveys the matter in a simple, quick story.