Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature

1607-6192 2713-2226

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-132-198

Research Article

Articles

The Tale of Stephen of Perm: Sources and Manuscript Tradition

Dukhanina

Alexandra V.

old-rus@imli.ru

2026

25 132 198

2026

The Tale of Stephen of Perm unites the central hagiographic tradition, dating back to the Life of Stephen of Perm, written by Epiphanius the Wise, apparently at the beginning of the 15th century, and the Ust-Vym tradition, which preserved the local miracles of the saint (about the blinding of the pagan Permians, about the sorcery birch) and unique information about his activities, partly reflected also in the Vychegodsko-Vymsky Chronicle. The Tale is known in nine copies of the 18th–19th centuries, which fall into two redactions: a primary Short and a secondary Extensive one — with additions based on the printed Prologue of 1660, the Epiphanius’ Redaction of the Life and some, probably, chronicle local source. Taking into account the convoy of the Tale, including the dated miracles of Saints Gerasim, Pitirim and Jonah, it can be assumed that the Short Redaction of the Story could have appeared around 1607–1609 in connection with their canonization or due to the activation of the local book tradition in the second half of the 1710s. The Extensive Redaction appeared, most likely, in the interval of the 1750–1770s. It was the Extensive Redaction of the Tale that became the source of the article about Stephen of Perm under 1380 in the Vychegodsko-Vymsky Chronicle, which confirms A.N. Vlasov’s assumption about the compilation of the chronicle text that came down to us at the end of the 18th — the beginning of the 19th century based on earlier sources. The Appendix to the article provides an archaeographic overview of the copies of the Tale.

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