On the History of One Borrowing

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 25
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The study was completed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation No. 22-18-00174-П, https://rscf.ru/project/22-18-00174/, IRL RAS.
Abstract:

The article is devoted to the analysis of borrowings from The Ladder of Ioann Sinaisky made in the lives of the Saints Dionysii Glushitsky, Alexander Oshevensky and Ioasaph Kamensky. These borrowings occupy a similar position in the lives mentioned: they form the basis of the teaching that the abbot of the monastery give to young men who are about to take monastic vows or who have just taken them. The lives of Alexander Oshevensky and Ioasaph Kamensky are not connected in any way, but their authors knew the Life of Dionysii Glushitsky. Borrowings from The Ladder into each of the lives were made independently of each other directly from The Ladder. The source for the Life of Dionysii Glushitsky was The Ladder of the Preslav translation, for the Life of Ioasaph Kamensky — the Athonite translation, and for the Life of Alexander of Oshevensk — a certain version combining features of the Preslav and Athonite translations and some individual characteristics. The similar position of borrowed fragments in the composition of different lives can be explained in three ways: 1) The Life of Dionysii Glushitsky served not as a source but as a literary model for the lives of Alexander Oshevensky and Ioasaph Kamensky; 2) hagiographic writings reflect actual monastic practice; 3) the reflection of real practice in these lives does not prevent the very widespread and authoritative Life of Dionysius Glushitsky from serving as a literary model.
Keywords: borrowing, The Ladder of Ioann Sinaisky, the Life of Dionysii Glushitsky, the Life Alexander Oshevensky, the Life of Ioasaph Kamensky, the Life of Cornelii Komelsky, tonsure, teachings for novice monks
Author: Svetlana A. Semiachko
Information about the author:

Svetlana A. Semiachko, DSc in Philology, Chief Research Fellow, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Makarov Emb., 4, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0697-4418

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

Semiachko,  S.A.  “On  the  History  of  One Borrowing.”  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. 199–214. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-199-214  (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/PBYSOA
UDC: 821.161.1.0
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-199-214

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