Stages of the Formation of the Collection of Akathists for the Week at the Initial Phase of Their Existence in Rus’ (the Last Quarter of the 14th — the First Quarter of the 16th Century).

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 25
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Abstract:

It has been established that no later than the last quarter of the 14th century, a tradition of using akathists (referred to in sources as “ikoi”) as part of the cell prayer rule arose in Russian literature. The collection of ikoi developed gradually in connection with the weekly cycle of remembrances, traditional for Old Rus’ (used in the cycle of weekly prayers by St. Cyril of Turov, as well as the selection of canons of the Liturgical miscellany), which was compiled by combining two weekly cycles of the Octoechos. The main branch of the tradition, in which the complete ikoi cycle for a week was formed, apparently originated from the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, where in the first stage three Byzantine hymns were translated, and in the second and third stages imitative Russian ikoi were composed. The third stage is associated with the hymnographic work of the hieromonk Martyrius of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Here, no later than the mid-15th century, in the fourth stage, the complete cycle became part of the collection of “Rules of Prayer” for seven weeks, but this collection did not significantly influence the tradition as a whole. Moreover, even the complete cycle in the version of Martyrius Pechersky did not spread in Rus’, most likely due to the devastation of Kiev and the monastery by Edigei in 1416. In the peripheral branches of this tradition, until the beginning of the 16th century, there was an incomplete cycle, the copies of which were supplemented in various ways: either with missing ikoi authored by Martyrius, or with translated hymns (the Great Akathist, the Akathist to the Life-Giving Tomb of Patriarch Philotheus) and original hymns by Fr. Skaryna, as we see in his Small Travel Book (1522).
Keywords: Old Russian worship, cell rule, translated akathists, Old Russian akathists, Martyrius at the Kievan Caves Monastery, Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, Octoechos
Author: Dalmat (Yudin), hieromonk
Information about the author:

Dalmat (Yudin), hieromonk, PhD in Theology, Associate Professor, Research Fellow, Moscow Theological Academy, Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, 141312 Sergiev Posad, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1560-0071

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Dalmat (Yudin), hieromonk. “Stages of the Formation of the Collection of Akathists for the Week at the Initial Phase of Their Existence in Rus’ (the Last Quarter of the 14th — the First Quarter of the 16th Century).” Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 25. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova, sci. ed. M.V. Kaplun. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2026, pp. 44–98. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-44-98 (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/OTEREK
UDC: 821.163.1(47)
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-44-98

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