Nomocanon at the Great Trebnik

The first edition of the proposed work was published in 1872 in Odessa and soon sold out to the last copy, of which, however, there were very few - only 400. We called this edition not the second, but “new, revised from beginning to end.” This is not boasting, not advertising, but a real fact, which we declare with full confidence that it will be recognized by everyone who has the first edition at hand and who will take the trouble to even briefly compare it with the present one. For our part, we will only point out the larger differences between this new edition and the previous one. Firstly, the entire history of Nomocanon, as a monument of Greek, South Slavic and Russian church law, was written by us again with the introduction of quite a few facts that previously remained unknown to us. Secondly, the texts of the Nomocanon, Greek and Slavic, are now offered in a new form. First of all, they are supplemented by the first component of the Nomocanon, which originally belonged to it, that is, the order of confession and the accompanying instructions to the confessor about the imposition of penances on the penitent. This first or introductory part of the Nomocanon, first separated from it in Nikon’s edition of the Trebnik in 1658, is so closely connected with the second, i.e., with the rules of the Nomocanon itself, that without it the system of church penances adopted in these latter can and, as shown in its place, did give rise to important misunderstandings both in science and in practice. Then, as for the Greek text of Nomocanon in particular, we are now publishing it not in one list, as before, but in six, which, taken together, gave us the opportunity to find for each article of the Slavic text its Greek counterpart and make another important observation - namely, that under Patriarch Nikon Nomocanon was undoubtedly ruled according to the Greek original. Four of these lists represent the original edition of the Nomocanon - the same one in which it was translated into the Slavic language, and two - the newest, revised both formally and materially, as indicated by the very inscriptions of the Nomocanon in the lists of this edition: Κανόνες... νεωστὶ διορθωθέντες καὶ συντεθέντες. The lists of the first edition include: I. List of the British Museum in London, found in a Greek manuscript from the Harley collection (Cod. graec. Harleanus no. 5548). This is the oldest, most complete and most accurate list of all at our disposal, which is why it is the basis for this publication. The museum administration, based on paleographic characteristics, dates it to the middle of the 15th century. In the manuscript it occupies 55 sheets in 4° (11–65). The first 7½ leaves (11–18 α) contain a detailed table of contents of the Nomocanon with a cinnabar inscription: Πίναξ τοῦ παρόντος Κανοναρίου. Συνοδικοὶ καὶ ἀποστολικοὶ κανόνες καὶ ταῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου. This table of contents contains 230 articles or rules of the Nomocanon. The order of the articles, generally speaking, is the same as in the Slavic translation, but they are counted more correctly than in our modern official publications, so that, despite the absence of two articles in the list of the British Museum - 211 and 212 (not indicated in the table of contents), the total number of cash is shown correctly, that is, in accordance with what is in the Nomocanon itself. The table of contents is followed by the first, or introductory, part of the Nomocanon, i.e. the rite of confession and instructions to the confessor about the imposition of penances (l. RKP. 19–29 b) with the inscription printed on our page (p. 83). The Nomocanon itself occupies 36 leaves (29 b–65 b) in the London manuscript. It is followed by: Κεφάλαια διάφορα καὶ ἐκλογὴ ἐξ ἑτέρου νομοκανόνου, i.e. those “various chapters collected from another Nomocanon”, which in all pre-Nikon editions of our Nomocanon (and in manuscripts) constituted the usual addition to it. A happy accident brought us a correspondence acquaintance with the learned priest of the Church of England (in Oxford) Charles Francis Harding Johnston, from whom we received a copy of the British Museum list made in his own hand and carefully checked with the following inscription: “Charles Francis Harding Johnston, ἐν Βομβαίᾳ πоτ’ Alexis S. Pavlov, χάριν ἀμειβόμενος, χαίρειν.” We offer our sincere gratitude to His Reverence for this truly valuable academic service for us. II. List of the Tübingen University Library with the signature M.b.25, written by different hands of the 15th–17th centuries. We learned about the existence of this list from a note on our first edition of the Nomocanon, made by the famous German lawyer-Byzantine scholar Tzacharie von Lingenthal (now deceased) in his study of Greek guides to the knowledge of church law, which occurred in the last times of the Byzantine Empire and at the beginning of Turkish rule in Constantinople 1). Thanks to the attention of the Tübingen University Senate to the petition of the Moscow University Council, this manuscript was sent to Moscow and was in our use for a whole month. Bearing in mind that this manuscript contains the second oldest list of our Nomocanon (after the London one), we consider it necessary to present here a more detailed description of it than what Tsakhariye did in the mentioned note. The manuscript is small, on 138 sheets or, according to the official count, on 276 pages. On the first four pages, left blank by the original scribe, there is an article written by a 17th-century hand under the title: Λόγος περί μετάνοιας. Beginning: 'Αιαχωρήτης τις ἧν ἒν τινοι (sic) τόπῳ επὶ τὸ τῆς ερήμου μέρος... End (occupying half a line per turn of 4 sheets): τὴν συγχώρησιν διδοῦντος. On l. 5 note from the former owner of the manuscript: Donavit mihi Martino Crusio Tybingae 18 Jul. 1597 hunc librum Παρασχευῆς in Chimara regione Macedoniae. Ll. 6–14 are occupied by a detailed index of the rules of the Nomocanon with the inscription: εὒρῃς εύκόλως. It should be noted that this index was also added to the Tübingen list of the Nomocanon by another, later hand (around the end of the 16th century) and is a copy of the original, which served as an index to another list of the same Nomocanon, as a result of which in the Tübingen manuscript there is no agreement between the index and the Nomocanon itself either in the order or in the number of rules. For example, in the Nomocanon there are no rules, listed in our edition under numbers 70, 71, 72, 74, 88 and 212, but in the index they appear under numbers 77, 78, 79, 91 and 235 (the inscription of the latter: περί ἐτέρας πνευματικῆς συγγενείας is placed at the very end of the index). From sheet 15 the Nomocanon itself begins in its original composition, i.e. first there is the rite of confession with the accompanying instructions to the confessor (ll. 15–29 vol.), then - the Nomocanon in the narrow sense under the title: καὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου (fol. 29 vol.–74 a). Both parts were written by one hand, the oldest in the entire manuscript, no later than the end of the 15th century. But the original scribe omitted rules 59–64 from the Nomocanon, which were later added to ll. 70–76 vol. with the addition (on pp. 76 vol.–77) of an article that does not belong to the Nomocanon (about the presbyter whose wife conceived on Holy Saturday). L. 78 – empty. On ll. 79–86 contains, without any inscription, the famous treatise of Chartophylax Manuel the Xantian on various types of kinship that prevent marriage, published in our study on the 50th chapter of the Helmsman. The letter here appears to be from the same hand as the index to Nomocanon. The next four sheets (87–90) are left blank, probably for Manuel’s tables of kinship and properties, which, however, were not included in the manuscript. From page 91 to the end of the manuscript there is a selection of rules from another Nomocanon, already indicated by us in the description of the main list, with a slightly changed inscription, namely: χανόνων τοῦ νόμον. In the variants to the text of the main list, we denoted the Tübingen list with the letter T. 3) The list found in the canonical collection of the library of St. Stamp in Venice from the Nani collection No. 232, according to the current catalog No. 8 Class III. Written in 1629, as can be seen from the following entry on page 6: χειρὸς αύτοῦ γραφέν, ὂτε σπονδαῖος πρότερον ύπορχον εν ἒτει March - April μοι. This list is missing 12 rules, namely: 58, 60, 102, 103, 106, 150, 191 (192 in Berynda), 203–205, 211, 212. Its variants, carefully noted for us by the late prefect of the library, St. Mark by John Veluda, are designated in our edition by the letter V. In addition to our Nomocanon, the Venetian manuscript also contains all 85 apostolic canons and three other canonical collections: the Nomocanon of John the Faster (in two editions), the alphabetical collection of the Church. ruled by Hieromonk Simeon Scholarius and the famous nomocanon of Manuel Malax 2. 4) We own a list from which the Greek text of the Nomocanon was printed in our first edition. It was written by two different hands at the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century, on thick polished paper, in small size. In 1714, the owner of this manuscript was some confessor Theoclitus, as can be seen from the following illiterate entry on the back of the last (135) sheet: Ἑτοῦτο τὸ Νωμοχανονα εἶναι τοϋ πνευματικοῦ τοῦ παπᾶ Θεοκλήτου, καὶ ὄπειος τω παρι κλεψιμϊω τροπο να εὶναι αφορισμένος abi μελλοντι. Ε παίτραι τα ξηλα ο σιδερος ληθησονται αντος δε ονδαμαν καὶ προκοπειν θεου να μιν οιδι να εχει και τἁς αράς τὸν άγίον τριακοδιον δεκα καὶ οκτω θεοφορον πατερον τον εν [ν]οικαια και τον λιπον αγίον σονοδον και απο εμενα τον αμαρτολον Θεόκλητον. The Nomocanon begins in this list, as in the previous ones, with the rite of confession (but without the two articles about confessors preceding it). This part of the manuscript is written quite well. But one must marvel at how Fr. Theoclitus uses the very rules of the Nomocanon according to his book. It was obviously copied from a copy in which the sheets were broken during binding, which, however, the scribe did not notice and from which amazing nonsense came out from his pen, which caused us a lot of trouble during the first edition of the Nomocanon, since the text of the rules in this manuscript is mixed up almost to the point of impossibility of restoring it in its original form: the beginning of some rule is, for example, here, and the end is several sheets ahead or back. Confusion in the account and breaks in the text of the articles of the Nomocanon begins with article 64 (fol. 48 vol.–49) and continues until the very end (fol. 85 vol.). However, this list also brought us several important options, given in this edition with the letter P. The most remarkable feature of all the lists now described, and together the proof of the originality of the edition of the Nomocanon contained in them, is the order placed at the end of it for future copyists of the book not to throw out anything from it (see p. 11) - an order, obviously, belonging to the compilers of the collection themselves, but, as the same lists prove, never fully observed by later copyists. From the lists of the later, revised and expanded edition of the Nomocanon, we had at hand the following two: 5) List of the Oxford Bodleian Library from the collection called Codices graeci Canoniciani No. 24 (Cf. Cohe, Catalogi codd. mss. biblioth. Bodleanae, pars III, 1854, col. 32–33). A phototype photograph of this list, taken at the request of the council of Novorossiysk University by the Bodleana directorate, is now in the library of the named university. This list begins, like the others, with a detailed list of the rules of the Nomocanon, grouped here in 195 chapters with the general inscription: Πίναξ ακριβὴς τοῦ παρόντος νομίμου. The Nomocanon itself has two inscriptions: one is placed above its first part, that is, above the order of confession, and reads like this: Νομοκάννονον (sic) πάνυ πλούσιον. Νουθ εοία είς τὸν πνευματικὸν καὶ ἁσφάλεια; the other stands above the rules of the Nomocanon and reads like this: Βασιλείου καὶ ὲτέρων ἁγίων, νεωστὶ διορθωθέντες καὶ συντεθέντες κατἁ τάξιν διἁ τὸ άσύγχυτον πρζτον μὲν οὖν δεῖ περὶ τῶν πνευματικῶν εὶπεῖν, πῶς χρὴ αυτοὺς εὶναι εὲτα περι τῶν έξῆς. Then follow other sections of the system adopted in this edition of the Nomocanon, of which we will indicate only the most general ones, namely: and: έντεῦθ εν ἂρξον περι χοσμικῶν. Under these headings are given quite a number of rules from the above-mentioned Κεφάλαια διάφορα, which make up the usual appendix to the Nomocanon in the lists of its original edition. At the end there is the following entry: Τέλος τοῦ αύτοῦ βιβλίου καὶ τῷ Θεω χαρῆς (sic) αχιγ (1613 Γ.). Γενάριος σταὶ (?) ιγ᾽. In the variants, this list is denoted by the letter O. 6. List belonging to the professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy A. A. Dmitrievsky and kindly provided to us by the owner for indefinite use until required. On the back of the last (194) sheet he has the following entry about his scribe and the time of writing: ' (1722), μηνί μαρτίω, κ͞υ͞ (κ'-ω, i.e. on the 20th?) ήμέρᾳ τρίτῃ (on Tuesday?) έτελειόθηκαι. Τέλος καὶ τῶ θεῶ δώξα. Generally speaking, this list is similar to the previous one: the same table of contents, the same main headings, but it contains many more additions to the original composition of the Nomocanon, which therefore has 216 chapters. The additions are taken for the most part from the same Κεφάλαια διάφορα, but there are a lot of others among them, which the scribe placed after 216 chapters of his Nomocanon with a special inscription: ’Εκλογὴ έξ έτέρον νομοκανόνον περί πορνείας καὶ έγρότιτος ανθρώποῦ τοῦ άγιον Άναστασίου πατριάρχον Άντιόχείας (l. 145 et seq.). However, this inscription does not cover the rest of the contents of the manuscript, which constitutes a special section in it, divided, as shown in the general table of contents of the Nomocanon, into 22 chapters (see l. 14–15). We present variants of this list with the letter D. Such are the means at our disposal for the present edition of the Greek text of the Nomocanon. As for the Slavic translation, we are still publishing it on the basis of modern official publications at the Great Trebnik, which, as is known, constitute a simple reprint of the Nikon edition of 1658. But this text, firstly, we compared with all the pre-Nikon editions of Nomocanon, South Russian and Moscow; secondly, it was supplemented from these publications (and partly from manuscripts) in those places where the Greek original required it; thirdly, it has been cleared of various errors, mainly in quotations pointing to the canonical sources of the rules of the Nomocanon, and, however, all such amendments are directly stipulated by us. When comparing the current editions with the previous (pre-Nikonov) ones, we did not pay attention to the verbal (lexical) differences between them (we did not give, for example, such options as “monk” and “monk”, “people” and “worldly”, “child” and “adolescent”, etc.). etc.), but did not lose sight of anything that is essential for the history of the Slavic text of the Nomocanon here in Russia; they noted all the material, at least one word, features of each edition that are characteristic of the publishers themselves, as evidence of their canonical views and understanding of the meaning of the rules being published, or that coincide with the reading of any of the Greek copies (which is most often noticed in Berynda’s edition). Minor differences between the pre-Nikon editions and the current ones are indicated by us under the Slavic text of the articles of Nomocanon, in the form of variants; larger ones are in our notes to both texts; finally, we placed the long additions or “attachments” of the Kyiv publishers to the original text of the Nomocanon in a special appendix (No. III). At the same time, we designated each publication either by the full name and surname of its author, or, much more often, only by the initial letters of these names and surnames (B = Berynda, K = Kopystensky, M = Mogila, Zh = Zheliborsky, I = identical editions of Patriarchs Joacaph and Joseph). An important feature of the southern Russian publications is the floor notes found in them opposite most of the articles of the Nomocanon, in which this or that article is put in connection with either the places of St. Scriptures, or with liturgical and other church books, or, finally, with sources of local church law. On the advice of prof. M.I. Gorchakov, expressed in his learned review of our first edition of the Nomocanon, we intended to accept all the notes mentioned in this edition, but were forced to abandon this intention, since its implementation presented great difficulties for the printing house. Therefore, when describing the South Russian publications in the history of Nomocanon, we limited ourselves to only a general indication of their mentioned feature. However, in our notes to the Slavic text we gave space to some explanatory notes and those quotes from the Kyiv publishers that they included in the text of the Nomocanon itself. The third and most important difference between our present edition and the previous one consists in a significant number of new explanatory and critical notes on individual articles in this collection and in the revision, corrections and additions of the previous ones. Here, that is, in these notes, lies the center of scientific gravity of our entire book. It is for them that we are primarily responsible before the scientific world and, in general, before all our readers. Various omissions and oversights can be found in other parts of the book (we mean in particular the history of Nomocanon); but these are not as important shortcomings as a misunderstanding of the meaning of individual church canons or the nature of the whole canonical institution - these two subjects with which we have so often had to deal in the mentioned notes. True, in this matter we considered ourselves obliged to hold tightly to the sources and generally follow generally recognized church authorities, but... who is immune from errors of mind and from betrayals of memory, even with the most selfless love for the truth and with the most reliable leaders in its achievement? See history of Nomocanon page 3. note. 1. A more detailed description of the Venetian manuscript is found in a very rare edition: Codices greci manuscript apud Nanios patricios Venetos asservati. 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