Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature 1607-6192 2713-2226 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-215-253 Research Article Articles On the Textology of The History of the First Patriarch Job of Moscow and All Russia Yi Zhong old-rus@imli.ru 2026 25 215 253 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article presents a textual analysis of the History of the First Patriarch Job of Moscow and All Russia, which narrates the biography and deeds of Patriarch Job against the backdrop of the Time of Troubles. Twelve extant copies dating from the 17th–19th centuries are examined and classified into four principal textual types: A, B, C, and D. The study provides a chronological assessment of all known copies and an analysis of their structural and content features. Lexical variants and differences in the narration of individual episodes are analyzed to trace the relationships between the copies and types. It is shown that the main narrative remains stable across all copies. The earliest copy, Tikh. 227, which is incomplete and dates from 1673, is distinguished as a separate textual type A. By the late 17th century, type B (represented by the abbreviated manuscripts Rum. 156 and Rum. 364) was established, deriving from a now-lost copy from Staritsky Uspensky Monastery. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, six copies of type C were produced, containing a more expanded narrative. In the 19th century, type D developed from type C, characterized by greater compactness and textual coherence. On this basis, a stemma is constructed to illustrate the sequence of textual transmission and the relationships among the copies. The study also hypothesizes that the History was originated in Staritsa. 1. Barsukov, P. Istochniki russkoi agiografii [Sources of Russian Hagiography]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiia M.M. Stasiulevicha Publ., 1882. XII p., 616 cols. (In Russian) 2. Kliuchevskii, O. Drevnerusskie zhitiia sviatykh kak istoricheskii istochnik [Old Russian Saints’ Lives as a Historical Source]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988. 512 p. (In Russian) 3. Morozova, E. Smuta nachala XVII veka glazami sovremennikov [The Time of Troubles of the Early Seventeenth Century through the Eyes of Contemporaries]. Moscow, Institute of Russian History of RAS Publ., 2000. 463 p. (In Russian) 4. Platonov, F. Sobranie sochinenii: v 6 t. [Collected Works: in 6 Vols.], vol. 1: Drevnerusskie skazaniia i povesti o Smutnom vremeni XVII veka kak istoricheskii istochnik [Old Russian Tales and Stories about the Time of Troubles of the Seventeenth Century as a Historical Source]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2010. 597 p. (In Russian) 5. Feofilakt, hegumen “Sviatitel’ Iov — pervyi russkii Patriarkh (k 400-letiiu uchrezhdeniia Patriarshestva)” [“Saint Job — the First Russian Patriarch (on the 400th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Patriarchate)”]. Bogoslovskie trudy, no. 30, 1990, pp. 198–240. (In Russian)