APOCRYPHA[Greek - secret, hidden, secret], books devoted primarily to events and persons of sacred (Old and New Testament) and church history, not included in the canon by the Church (and the Old Testament also by the Jewish synagogue), usually with unreliable indication of authorship. In terms of genre, apocrypha in most cases correspond to canonical biblical monuments (see below). Conventionally, in accordance with the centuries-old, often unwritten church practice (quite individual for different eras, countries and Local Churches), all apocrypha can be divided into 3 main groups: 1) the so-called. pseudo-canonical, or quasi-canonical, which are included in collections of statutory readings (“The Protoevangelium of James”, “The Word of John the Theologian on the Assumption of the Mother of God”, etc.), are sometimes placed (in the medieval handwritten tradition) as a preface to the books of Holy Scripture (“The Tale, how did David the prophet compose the Psalter”); 2) non-canonical apocrypha, thematically, structurally and plot similar to canonical texts. This includes most of the apocrypha of the Old Testament and New Testament; 3) anticanonical apocrypha; such are considered mainly works that reflect elements of heretical (gnostic, dualistic) teachings. Apocryphal rules, prayers are distinguished into a separate group.
After the establishment of the biblical canon by the Council of Laodicea in 369, the apocrypha were rejected by the Church because of the many details of the biblical story, which are not always reliable from her point of view. The apocrypha were entered into special indices approved by church decrees, i.e., lists of texts that did not allow them to be read and distributed among Christians, and therefore the apocrypha were called "renounced writings" or "renounced, false books."
In parallel, indexes of "true" books were also compiled. The first such index was compiled by Eusebius (263-340) on behalf of the imp. Constantine the Great (274-337), where 3 categories of writings were identified - 1) canonical books, 3) allowed to read and 3) "renounced". 496 dates back to the list of "true and false" writings, approved by the decree of Pope Gelasius I "Decretum Gelasianum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis". It lists 27 canonical books of the NT and provides a list of "renounced" books (Torment of St. Thekla and Paul, Kirik and Julitta, St. George, Names of Angels, Names of Demons, book Physiologist, Visions of St. Stephen, Thomas, Paul, the gospel of Job , the writings of Tertullian, etc.).
M. V. Rozhdestvenskaya
Old Testament Apocrypha. In the Orthodox understanding, apocrypha refers to works of religious literature that follow the canonical books of the Old Testament in content, using the name of an author consecrated by religious tradition, but not included in the canon of Holy Scripture either by the Christian Church or the Jewish synagogue. Most of these works originated on Jewish soil in pre-Christian and early Christian times and were originally recorded in Hebrew and Aramaic.
In the Protestant tradition, this group of texts is called pseudepigrapha, that is, falsely inscribed, because the narration in them is conducted on behalf of one or another authoritative biblical character, and not the actual author. Apocrypha in the Protestant tradition are those books (and additions to them), which in Orthodox theology belong to the so-called. non-canonical books(recognized as useful for spiritual and edifying reading: 2 Ezd, Tov, Judith, Prem, Sir, Posl Jer, Var, 1–3 Makk, 3 Ezd, additions to the books of Dan and Esph), in Catholic - deuterocanonical or "deuterocanonical" . They originated in the pre-Christian era and became part of the canon of the Greek Septuagint, and then the Latin Vulgate.
Groups of works. From the point of view of the literary form of the Apocrypha, c. divided into prose and poetry. The first group includes the Old Testament apocrypha, designed as a legendary-historical narrative: “The Book of Jubilees” (II century BC; Ethiopian version, fragments of Greek, Sir., Lat., Hebrew versions); "The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah" (2nd century BC - 4th century AD; Ethiopian version, excerpts in Greek, Latin, Coptic, Slavic languages); “History of Joseph and Asenefi” (I century BC - II century AD; versions in Greek, Syrian, Latin, Armenian, Slavic, New Greek, Romanian languages); "The Life of Adam and Eve" (1st century A.D.; versions in Greek, Latin, Armenian, Slavic languages); "Lives of the Prophets" (1st century A.D.; versions in Greek, Syrian, Ethiopian, Armenian, Latin); "Jacob's Ladder" (1st century A.D.?; Slavic version only); “The 4th Book of Baruch” or “The Chronicles of Jeremiah” (I-II centuries A.D.; Greek, Ethiopian, Armenian, Slavic, Romanian versions); "History of the Rechavites" or "History of Zosima" (I-IV centuries A.D.; Greek, Syrian, Ethiopian, Georgian versions); "History of Joseph" (until the 4th century A.D.; extracts in Greek).
Among the prosaic apocrypha of the Old Testament, a group of works of a philosophical and moral nature stands out: “The Tale of Ahikar” (VII-VI centuries BC; Aram., Sir., Armenian., Arab., Georgian, Ethiopian., Slav., ancient Turkic, Romanian versions); “4th Book of Maccabees” (1st century A.D.; Greek, Sir., Lat. versions).
The Old Testament apocrypha also includes a large group of works written in the genre of the apocalypse: "The Books of Enoch" (II century BC - V century AD; Ethiopian, Slavic, Hebrew versions); "Sibylline oracles" (II century BC - VII century AC; in Greek); “Treatise of Shem” (I century A.D.; in Syrian language); "The Apocalypse of Zephaniah" (I century BC - II century AD; in Coptic); apocalyptic books inscribed with the name of Ezra: “The 4th book of Ezra” (1st century A.D.; in Latin, Syrian, Armenian, Arabic, Ethiopian, Georgian and Slavic languages), “Apocalypse Ezra" (II-IX centuries AD; in Greek), "The Vision of Ezra" (IV-VII centuries AD; in Latin), "Questions of Ezra" (date unknown; in Armenian), “The Revelation of Ezra” (until the 9th century A.D.; in Latin); "The Apocalypse of Baruch" (II century A.D.; in Syrian language); "The 3rd book of Baruch" (I-III centuries A.D.; in Greek, Slavic languages); "The Apocalypse of Abraham" (I-II centuries AD; in the Slavic language); "The Apocalypse of Elijah" (I-IV centuries AD; in Coptic); "Apocalypse of Shadrach" (5th century A.D.; Greek).
The apocalyptic apocrypha of the Old Testament are adjoined by works written in the genre wills and containing significant apocalyptic passages: “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs” (II century BC; Greek, Slavic, Armenian, Hebrew, Aramaic languages); "Job's Testament" (1st century BC - 1st century AD; in Greek Coptic, Slavic languages); "Wills of three patriarchs" (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) (I-III centuries A.D.; "Testament of Abraham" - in Greek, Slavic, Romanian languages; "Testament of Isaac" - in Arabic, Coptic ., Ethiopian languages, "Testament of Jacob" - in Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopian languages); “The Testament of Moses” (I century A.D.; in Latin); "The Testament of Solomon" (I-III century A.D.; in Greek); "Adam's Testament" (II-V centuries A.D.; in Syrian, Greek, Arabic, Ethiopian, Georgian, Armenian languages).
The poetic apocrypha of the Old Testament can be divided into apocryphal prayers:"The Prayer of Joseph" (1st century A.D.; passages in Greek); "The Prayer of Jacob" (I-IV centuries A.D.; in Greek), as well as hymns, written according to the rules of Hebrew versification: Apocryphal Psalms (No. 151–155; in Greek, Syrian, Hebrew languages), “Psalms of Solomon” (I BC; in Syrian, Greek languages), “Odes Solomon ”(I-beginning of the II centuries A.D.; in Syrian, Coptic, Greek languages).
Literary history. The Old Testament apocrypha was created in order to provide additional information about the fate of persons or the history of events that were only named and insufficiently described in the canonical books of the Bible. Very many apocryphal legends were written down in the post-captive period, when the Jews lost their active command of the Hebrew language, switching to Aramaic and Greek in everyday communication. The written fixation of such writings can be dated back to the last centuries BC. The literary design of the apocryphal plots of this time reflects many ideological and cultural strata that formed in Palestine as a result of the fact that this territory successively fell under the rule of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, the state of the Achaemenids, the empire of Alexander the Great, in the III-II centuries. BC, it became the object of the struggle between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids, and then was conquered by the Roman Empire. The Old Testament apocrypha absorbed many of the religious ideas of those peoples with whom the population of Palestine had to come into contact. It was this circumstance that made the Old Testament Apocrypha a universal narrative, which was then easily adapted by the Christian, Muslim worlds and various dualistic worldviews.
The Old Testament apocrypha played an important role in shaping many aspects of Jewish, Christian and Muslim theology. Apocryphal writings influenced the design of cosmological and anthropological ideas, the doctrine of the transcendence of God, angelology, the concept of sin and the devil, the Resurrection and Paradise, and the development of ethical standards. The impact of the Old Testament apocrypha on the emergence of eschatological concepts and the development of messianic doctrines of both 3 monotheistic religions and a number of dualistic beliefs was especially strong.
The appearance of the Old Testament Apocrypha was caused not only by the desire to better understand the texts of St. Scriptures in Hebrew. language, but also to give them a new interpretation corresponding to the changed situation. The written fixation of apocryphal stories is often associated with the work of various communities that ideologically opposed themselves to Orthodox Judaism. Fertile ground for the development of the themes of the apocrypha of the Old Testament was, for example, Jewish gnosis. The communities undoubtedly exchanged the fruits of their lit. creativity, so the connection of a particular text with the activities of a certain opposition group is difficult to grasp and prove.
With the advent of Christianity, a new stage begins in Lit. history of the apocrypha of the Old Testament. These texts were accepted by Christ. tradition, many of them have been reworked both in content and form. Through translations of the Old Testament Apocrypha became the property of all the literatures of the Christian world. In translations and local adaptations, they are known in Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, Latin, Slavic. languages in antiquity, and at a later time in translations into the modern languages of Europe and Asia.
In the 7th century With the advent of Islam, apocryphal stories and motifs through oral transmission, as well as under the influence of Jewish and Christian multilingual written sources, began to spread in the Muslim world. Being literary processed in this new environment, they again returned to Jewish and Christian literature in modified editions.
The centuries-old and multilingual tradition of the existence of the Old Testament apocrypha makes it necessary to use a whole complex of written sources in their study, which can be divided into sources of Jewish origin, sources of Christ. and Muslims. origin, as well as sources relating to various dualistic beliefs.
The works of Heb. philosopher and exegete Philo of Alexandria, Heb. historian Josephus Flavius. Particularly important for this time are the texts found in Qumran (150 BC - 68 AD). The originals of the apocryphal writings, previously known in the languages of Christ, were found there in full or in fragments. of the cultural world (“Book of Jubilees”, “Testament of 12 Patriarchs”, books of Enoch, etc.), as well as texts of previously unknown Old Testament apocrypha (“Apocrypha of the Book of Genesis”, “Sayings of Moses”, etc.). The publication of the Qumran texts made it possible to solve many problems in the study of the Old Testament apocrypha: questions of the original language, clarification of the dating of works, determination of the circle of ideas characteristic of the Old Testament apocrypha, and how certain views (for example, apocalyptic or messianic) changed during the transition from the Jewish environment to Christ. or Muslim. For the time after the fall of Jerusalem (70 A.D.), the Targums are significant - translations of the canonical books of the Hebrew Bible into Aram. language, accompanied by an explanation of the text and often supplementing it (Targum of Onkelos, Targum of Jonathan, Jerusalem and Palestinian Targums), Talmud (Jerusalem and Babylonian), rabbinical literature (midrashim historical, exegetical and Kabbalistic; works of medieval Hebrew writers: Abraham ben Ezra, Moses Maimonides, David Kimkha, Joseph Karo, Moses Isserles).
Christian literature is also replete with sources for studying the apocrypha of the Old Testament. Early Christian Authors: St. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, using and interpreting apocryphal motifs, developed the idea of the influence of the fate of the Jewish people on pagan peoples, that is, what was already expressed by Josephus Flavius and Philo of Alexandria. Christian exegetes, like their Jewish predecessors, often referred to apocryphal stories, borrowing their content from both oral tradition and various written sources. Many apocryphal details can be found in the biblical interpretations of Origen, bl. Jerome, St. Ephraim the Syrian and other Fathers of the Church. The historical books of Christians began with a presentation of the Old Testament events according to the biblical books and their interpretations; Christian historians supplemented this narrative with their apocryphal details and details. Historical literature of this kind is represented by Palea and world-historical chronicles, the tradition of compiling which dates back to Eusebius of Caesarea. Apocryphal stories are found in the Byzantine chronicles of Georgy Sinkell, Georgy Amartol, Georgy Kedrin and Mikhail Glyka. In Syrian, Armenian, Arab-Christian, Ethiopian. In historical writings one can also find various Old Testament apocryphal legends.
In Muslim literature, Old Testament themes and images were already reflected in the Koran, and its early commentators, realizing the connection between Koranic ideas and Jewish and Christian ones, drew on the Old Testament apocrypha. and the first and second traditions for explaining the text of the Qur'an. Such Qur'anic exegesis is represented by tafsirs (eg, tafsir al-Tabari). Other Muslim sources that developed the motifs of the Old Testament apocrypha were historiography (the chronicles of al-Masudi, al-Biruni, Ibn al-Asir) and works of a reference and encyclopedic nature: “al-Fihrist” by Ibn al-Nadim, “The Book of History about the Wise Men” by Ibn al-Kifti, "The Book of Stringed Pearls" by al-Abi and others.
An interesting but little-studied source for studying the Old Testament apocrypha are the texts of dualistic beliefs - Gnostic, Manichaean, Mandean, Paulician, Bogomil legends based on biblical stories.
Specific Features The Old Testament apocrypha acquired its ideological coloring by circulating in different religious environments. Their analysis allows us to determine the time, place and circumstances under which the apocryphal plot was recorded in writing, to trace how it changed, moving in time and space.
The apocrypha of the Old Testament, which received written form in the early Jewish tradition, is characterized by the desire to emphasize the importance of Jewish history for world development, the God-chosenness of the Jewish people (The Sibylline Book II 175; Testament of Moses 1. 12). Apocryphal stories abound in exaggerated details, filled with descriptions of miracles involving demons, spirits, and angels. The action in the stories is often transferred from earth to heaven, for example. Solomon builds a temple and performs other glorious deeds with the help of demons who obey him, since he has a ring engraved with the name of God (Testament of Solomon 2).
In the Christian environment, the Old Testament apocrypha were supplemented and acquired a new meaning. So, in one of the stories it is reported that Adam, while repenting, received a revelation about the Incarnation (Testament of Adam 3); Seth, having been caught up to heaven, learned there of the coming coming of Jesus Christ (ibid.). In the chronology of various historical events, the place of the Sabbath day, which was important for Judaism, was taken by Sunday. Christian authors dated many important Old Testament events to this day: Noah’s ark landed on the Ararat mountains in a “week”, on this day God appeared to Abraham under the oak of Mamre, and the Jews crossed the Red Sea (Porfiryev. Apocryphal legends. P. 97-98). Chronologically comparing the events of the Old Testament and New Testament history, the Byzantine historian Georgy Kedrin reports that the first day of the world was the first day of the Jewish month of Nisan, and it was on this day that the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ took place, and the Second Coming of the Savior will occur in the future.
Accepting Jewish. Holy Scripture as the 1st part of their Bible, Christian authors, starting from the canonical texts of the New Testament, began to constantly compare the Old Testament world with the Christian world, since the new dogma saw the figurative meaning of the Old Testament persons, events and deeds for the persons, events and deeds of Christian history. The Old Testament characters, the forefathers Adam and Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the priest of the Most High God, starting from the New Testament (Rom 5; Heb 5–7) are constantly compared with Jesus Christ, therefore many Christianized Old Testament apocrypha are dedicated to them: for example, in Christian apocryphal writing, the idea that Golgotha, where the Savior was crucified, is the very place where Adam is buried; The tree of the cross is the tree from which Adam fell while eating. One of the most famous apocrypha of the Old Testament, "Testament of the 12 Patriarchs", which took shape in the literature in the Maccabean period of Jewish history, in the beginning. 2nd century according to R. H. was interpolated by a Christian author in order to give additional indications of Jesus Christ and the Church.
In the Muslim world, the apocryphal tradition gained authority because the stories of the most famous Old Testament characters - Noah, Lot, Abraham, Moses, Joseph - are already set out in the Koran. The story of the Flood and Noah (Nuh) in the Koranic interpretation is a confirmation of the idea of world history as a series of catastrophes crowned by the mission of the Prophet Muhammad, whose arrival completes the history of mankind. The story of Lot (Lut) is overgrown in the Qur'an with many post-biblical apocryphal features. Turning in the Qur'an into the prophet-double of Muhammad and representing his life path (for example, the motive of being expelled from his native city for preaching), Lot became a more significant character for Muslims than he was in the Old Testament. One of the leading heroes of the Muslim tradition Abraham (Ibrahim) is mentioned in the Qur'an more often than other biblical characters. His image serves to strengthen the teachings of Muhammad, who, like Abraham, overthrows idolatrous pagan traditions and encroaches on the faith of his ancestors. An important place in the Koranic legend is occupied by the theme of Abraham and the Kaaba - “the house of Allah”, when Abraham not only foreshadowed the appearance of Muhammad, but also determined the rules of conduct in the temple of the One God, established the ritual of Muslim pilgrimage to the house of the Creator. All the stories about the heroes of the Hebrew Bible acquired a lot of additional details in the Koran, the sources of which were both the Jewish and Christian apocrypha of the Old Testament in oral and written form, and their processing in various dualistic beliefs.
In most dualistic creeds, the Jewish Tanakh, or not at all, was perceived as a Holy. Scriptures, or was recognized only partially (for example, the Bogomils recognized only the Psalter and the Books of the Prophets). Nevertheless, in forming their worldview concepts (cosmological, eschatological), many Gnostic sects used both canonical biblical and apocryphal material. The Gnostic writings from Nag Hammadi, as well as the presentation of the content of Gnostic myths by the Church Fathers (Saints Hippolytus of Rome, Epiphanius of Cyprus) show that the Gnostics, arguing both with the letter and with the spirit of canonical and apocryphal texts, opposed them with their own versions of well-known themes and plots. Their Gnostic interpretations are very diverse (for example, P. Nagel, analyzing a group of texts from Nag Hammadi, found in them 6 different types of paradise stories (Nagel P. Die Auslegung des Paradieserzählung in der Gnosis // Altes Testament - Frühjudentum - Gnosis: Neue Studien zu "Gnosis und Bibel", B., 1980, S. 49–70)). Among adherents of such dualistic beliefs as Manichaeism and Bogomilism, there are examples of the fact that apocryphal works not only became famous and popular, but were also canonized. One of the versions of the books of Enoch, "The Book of Giants" translated into Middle Persian. the language, revised in the Manichaean spirit, was attributed to the authorship of Mani and became one of the canonical texts of Manichaeism. The images of the books of Enoch became one of the main sources in the compilation of the Bogomil "Secret Book", outlining the main provisions of the cosmogony and eschatology of these heretics.
The Old Testament apocrypha made a significant contribution to the formation of various aspects of Christian culture. First of all, under their direct influence was Christian literature. The Old Testament apocrypha has become an important structure-forming part of the world-historical chronicles - a genre that has become widespread among all Christian peoples. Christian patristics, represented by Christian apologists and exegetes, actively used apocryphal plots and details to interpret certain passages of St. Scripture and the establishment of intertestamental connections between the Old and New Testaments. The plots of some apocryphal works became the themes of the homily of Ephraim the Syrian, Gregory of Nazianzus, the North of Antioch, Jacob of Serug, and others. Under the most direct influence of the Old Testament apocrypha, various types of hagiographic genre were formed. Thus, the heroes of the "4th Book of Maccabees" were considered as prototypes of Christian martyrs, and the book itself influenced the Christian genre of Martyri martyrdom. The motifs of the "History of Joseph and Asenefi" are used in the "Martyrdom of St. Barbarians", "Martyrdom of St. Irina", "Martyrdom of St. Christina." A. in. found reflection in various hymnographic genres. The troparia, performed on the 4th week of Great Lent, develop the idea that the Cross of the Savior was made of 3 trees; the troparion, performed on Cheesefare Week, describes the suffering of Adam after being expelled from paradise. Many apocryphal details of the biblical story are contained in the hymns of Ephraim the Syrian at Christmas, as well as his hymns about paradise. The plots of the Old Testament apocrypha became the themes of Christian iconography, were widely used in all types of painting, from book miniatures to monumental paintings. Literature and painting of the late Middle Ages, Modern and Modern times also did not escape the influence of the Old Testament apocrypha (Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton's Paradise Lost, Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, etc.).
East.:
Fabricius J. A. Codex pseudepigraphus veteris testamenti collectus, castigatus, testimoniisque, censuris et animadversionibus illustratus. Hamburg, 1722-17232. 2 T.;
Tikhonravov N.S. Monuments of the renounced Russian literature. St. Petersburg; M., 1863. 2 T.;
he is. Apocryphal tales // Collection. 1894. V. 58. No. 4;
Porfiryev I. Ya. Apocryphal legends about the Old Testament persons and events according to the manuscripts of the Solovetsky Library // Ibid. 1877. Vol. 17;
Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments / Hrsg. E. Kautzsch. Tüb., 1900. Darmstadt, 1994r. 2 Bde.;
Ginzberg L. The Legends of the Jews. Phil., 1909-1938, 1937-1966. 7vol.;
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English with Introductions and Critical and Explanatory Notes to the Several Books / Ed. R. H. Charles. Oxf., 1913. 2 vol.;
Riessler P. Altjudisches Schrifttum ausserhalb der Bibel. Hdlb., 1928. Freibutg i. Br. 1984;
Ménard J. E. Exégèse biblique et judaïsme. Strasbourg, 1973;
Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-römischer Zeit / Hrsg. W. G. Kümmel, H. Lichtenberger. Gutersloh, 1973ff. 5 Bde.;
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha / Ed. J. H. Charlesworth. Garden City (N. Y.), 1983-1985. 2vol.;
Denis A.-M. Concordance Grecque des Pseudépigraphes d "Ancien Testament. Louvain-la-Neuve, 1987;
La Bible: Écrits Intertestamentaires / Éd. M. Philonenko. P., 1987;
Lechner-Schmidt W. Wortindex der lateinisch erhaltenen Pseudepigraphen zum Alten Testament. Tub., 1990.
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Porfiriev I. Ya. Apocryphal legends about the Old Testament persons and events. Kaz., 1872;
Yatsimirsky A.I. Bibliographic review of Apocrypha in South Slavic and Russian writing. Pg., 1921. Issue. 1: Apocrypha of the Old Testament; Ivanov J. Bogomilsky books and legends. Sofia, 1925;
Riessler P. Altjudisches Schrifttum ausserhalb der Bibel. Augsburg, 1928, 1966;
Walker J. Bible Characters in the Koran. Paisley, 1931;
graph. Geschichte. bd. 1. S. 196–297;
Torrey C. C. The Apocryphal Literature: a Brief Introd. New Haven (Conn.), 1945 Hamden (Conn.), 1965;
Lods A. Histoire de la littérature hébraïque et juive. P., 1950;
Metzger B.M. An Introduction to the Apocrypha. N.Y., 1957;
Philonenko M. Pseudépigraphes de l'Ancien Testament et manuscrits de la Mer Morte. P., 1967;
Denis A. M. Introduction aux pseudépigraphes grecs d'Ancien Testament. Leiden, 1970;
Delling G. Bibliographie zur jüdisch-hellenistischen und intertestamentarischen Literatur. B., 19752;
Charlesworth J. H. The Pseudoepigrapha and Modern Research. Chico (CA), 1981;
Elizarova M. M. Old Testament apocryphal literature and Qumran finds // PPS. Issue. 28(91). 1986, pp. 62–68;
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New Testament Apocrypha The term "apocrypha" is used by early Christian authors in relation to writings that were in circulation both within Christianity and outside it, mainly in the Gnostic environment. This term was used to refer to writings intended for especially wise, select readers, and not for a wide range of believers. Already Irenaeus of Lyons (Adv. Haer. I, 20, 1) and Tertullian (De Pud. 10, 12) equated the meaning of the term with the words “fake” and “false”, defining with this word works that were not accepted by the official Christian Church. In the West, after adding up in general terms to con. 4th century according to R. Kh. of the canon of the Holy. Scriptures the word "apocrypha" could refer to works that are not included in the list of canonical. In the East, this term rather referred to books forbidden by the Church (cf. Canon of St. Athanasius, 39). In this regard, writings that were not included in the circle of canonical writings, but enjoyed high authority in antiquity and were recommended for reading, such as the “Teaching of the 12 Apostles” (Didache), “Shepherd Hermas”, 1st Epistle to the Corinthians by Clement of Rome.
In the scientific literature, there are various approaches to the definition of the concept of the New Testament apocrypha. If we sum up all the criteria applied to them, such writings must meet the following main features: first, they must be texts of a predominantly Christian orientation; secondly, they must contain additional information about the characters and events known from the canonical books of the New Testament; thirdly, in its own lit. form, genre and name, they must correspond to the works presented in the New Testament canon (gospels, deeds, epistles, apocalypse).
With this approach to the New Testament apocrypha, texts corresponding to the New Testament genres (and sometimes coinciding in name with Christian apocrypha), but clearly not differing in Christian ideas, cannot be attributed to the New Testament apocrypha. Such, for example, are works of a predominantly Gnostic nature from the codices found in Nag Hammadi (the Apocryphon of James, the Apocrypha of John, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, Acts of Peter, Acts of Peter and the 12 Apostles, Apocalypse of Paul, Apocalypses 1 and 2 of James, Apocalypse of Peter, Letter of Peter to Philip). In a similar way, works connected with Old Testament events written by Christian authors or originating originally in a Jewish environment, but later received Christian processing (The Tale of Melchizedek by Athanasius of Alexandria, The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, etc.) cannot be classified as New Testament apocrypha. . These works fall under the broader definition of Christian apocryphal literature. However, in practice, especially in relation to medieval national lit. traditions, this distinction is usually not made consistently, and the entire complex of their canonical texts or individual monuments included in it are considered as apocrypha.
The texts of “two-faithful” (F.I. Buslaev’s term) folk works (prayers, incantations, spells, spiritual verses), which uniquely process New Testament themes and images, cannot be classified as New Testament apocrypha. This type of Christian literature belongs more to folklore than to literature.
Apocrypha of the New Testament existed both in oral and written form. Their written fixation in time coincides with the appearance of the New Testament texts, and perhaps, as some scholars believe in relation to individual texts (for example, the Gospel of Peter), precedes them. Apocrypha of the New Testament, spreading through translations into the languages of the Christian world, changed, their plots received various ideological and lit. processing and have come down to us both in multi-temporal and multi-lingual versions.
From a scientific point of view, the New Testament Apocrypha are important sources on the history of both early and late Christianity. Since individual New Testament apocrypha existed for some time in church life along with canonical texts, they had a great influence on church rituals, hymnography, and iconography. In accordance with the genres represented in the New Testament canon, the New Testament apocrypha can be divided into the apocryphal gospels (a group of non-canonical utterances, the agraf, stands out among them), deeds, epistles, and apocalypses.
Apocryphal gospel - one of the most numerous and diverse types of New Testament apocrypha. Among them there is a special group that goes back to the Christians of Palestine, but was distributed both on its territory and in Syria, and in Egypt among Christians of Jewish origin. These are the Judeo-Christian gospels. None of them has been completely preserved, and they are restored from fragments from patristic literature (“The Gospel According to the Jews”, “The Gospel According to the Egyptians”, “The Gospel of the Ebionites”). Difficulties in source studies (a small number of passages, the difference in time between the authors who quote them) make it difficult to date them; they probably arose almost simultaneously with the canonical texts or even earlier. According to the characteristics of Lit. the form, style and language of the Judeo-Christian gospels are close to canonical, but the tradition of narration comes from the aramas. basics.
By the 2nd century according to R. Kh., when there were no survivors of the oral tradition about Christ who personally knew and heard Him, a new direction arose in the creation of apocryphal gospels, designed to fill in the gaps in the events of the canonical Gospels, as well as to describe the life of people associated with Jesus Christ. Such, in particular, is the story of the childhood and marriage of Mary, the Mother of God, in Greek. the text of which, after its discovery in the 16th century. became known as the Protevangelium of James. In present time this work is known from many Greek. lists (the oldest, Bodmer's papyrus of the 3rd century, retained the original title "The Birth of Mary. Revelation of James") and translations into various languages. The absence of a tradition of narration about Mary forced the author of the "Protoevangelium of James" to build a story based on several sources, including those not directly related to Her; There are various editions of the essay. The purpose of the author was to approve the dogma of the unmarried conception of Jesus Christ and the ever-virginity of Mary. But in the "Protoevangelium of James" the narrative and everyday life background clearly prevails over the theological, although the author is not familiar with the customs and religious life of Palestine. The work was intended for non-Jewish Greek-speaking Christians and dates back to c. 200 A.D. It played a big role in shaping the image and veneration of the Virgin. In the East, the text of the Protoevangelium of James served as the basis for the formation of the tradition of holidays dedicated to the Mother of God, became the source of the Christmas and Mother of God canons. Many iconographic details of the images of the Theotokos, Joachim and Anna, and Joseph are drawn from it.
There is a group of apocryphal gospels dedicated to describing the childhood of Jesus Christ. The most famous of them is the Gospel of Pseudo-Thomas. The text has come down to us in Greek in 2 editions, as well as in Latin, Sir. and glory. translations. It tells about the miracles performed by Jesus Christ at the age of 5-12 years. Many scholars previously believed that the work was written under the influence of Gnostic ideas, but this opinion is now disputed. The difficulty of studying the essay is that the text was shortened and distorted, so that over time the symbolic meaning of individual episodes was lost and difficult to interpret. In Eastern Christian literature, other gospels of childhood have been preserved - very entertaining and detailed Arabic. and arm. works presented in several editions and still little studied.
A special group of apocryphal gospels are the gospels of the Passion and the Resurrection. Among them is the "Gospel of Peter", preserved fragmentarily in Greek. language and is also known from references in the writings of the Church Fathers. The fragment of this gospel that has come down to us, close in structure to the canonical one, is devoted to the description of the trial of Christ, the execution on the cross, and the Resurrection. The court does not take place before the people, but indoors, Herod Antipas and the top of the Jews actively participate in the condemnation, while the people, after the execution, repent of their deeds. The Resurrection of Christ is described in great detail, which takes place in front of many witnesses and is replete with fantastic details. These episodes have no parallel in the canonical gospels and are associated with apocalyptic literature. The fragment ends with a story about the appearance of the Risen Jesus Christ to the disciples. Scientists assess the ideological orientation of the essay in different ways. Some believe that it arose in the Docet sect, others believe that it is distinguished by a Jewish-Christian orientation, and others emphasize its anti-Jewish sharpness. Most likely, we have before us a work that reflected the contradictory trends in the development of Christianity of that period, when the gospel material had not yet finally taken shape within the framework of the canon. The essay can be dated to the 1st half. 2nd century according to R.H.
The "Gospel of Nicodemus", which came down in multilingual versions, aimed to set forth all the most ancient testimonies about Jesus Christ. The text is a compilation of several sources and is divided into 2 parts. 1st - processing of the legends about Pontius Pilate, which describes the trial of Christ, the execution and the signs accompanying it, burial and Resurrection. In the 2nd part, according to the words of the resurrected sons of Simeon the God-Receiver, it is told about the descent of the Savior into hell, His victory over the devil and the introduction of arch. Michael of the righteous to paradise. The teaching about the victory of Christ over death, which is reflected in liturgical practice, is based on the tradition set forth in the 2nd part. The original "Gospel of Nicodemus" was apparently written in Greek and dates from the 1st half. 5th century
In terms of content, the “Gospel of Bartholomew” adjoins it. Under this title, 2 works are combined: “Questions of Bartholomew”, not completely preserved in Greek, lat. and glory. versions, and "The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by the Apostle Bartholomew" (in Coptic), which is a homiletic treatment of the plot, intended for liturgical purposes. After the Resurrection of Christ, St. Bartholomew asks Him questions about redemption and incarnation. Then the apostle talks with the devil, called out of hell, and he tells about the angels, about how he was cast out of heaven and how God created the first man. Bartholomew orders the devil to return to hell and begs the Lord to have mercy on sinners and reward the righteous according to their deeds. The original was written in Greek and dates from the 3rd century BC. according to R.H.
A large place among the apocrypha of the New Testament is occupied by apocryphal deeds. Works of this genre are usually divided into "large" and "small". The 1st group includes texts that are significant in their volume and created in the 2nd-3rd centuries. according to R. Kh. 2nd group - works, in form and content dependent on the texts of the 1st group and written in the 4th-7th centuries. The apocryphal deeds of the 1st group are poorly preserved, their content is restored from fragments that have come down in different languages of the Christian world. Scholars who have studied these texts have tried, first of all, to find out what type of Christian theology they reflected. In the 19th century there was a widespread opinion about the Gnostic origin of apocryphal acts, but in the twentieth century. this view was refuted, and it was suggested that they be regarded as originally orthodox texts, which were later reworked by the Gnostics for their own purposes. The most productive seems to be the scientific direction, which provides for an individual approach to each composition and the identification of stylistic and ideological layers in it at different times. Apocryphal deeds are an entirely new lit. genre, the formation of which was influenced by both Hellenistic literature in Greek. language (hypomnematic biographies, aretalogy, Eastern Hellenistic novel), and Middle East. lit-ra in Hebrew. and aram. languages.
The most complete text (in Syrian and Greek versions) is the Acts of Judas Thomas. It has been established that the work was written in Syr. language in the 1st floor. 3rd century according to R. Kh. and its creation is connected with the approval in Edessa, the capital of Sir. Osroena, veneration of ap. Thomas. In the 1st part of the lengthy narrative, it is told how the apostle, having been sold into slavery to an Indian merchant, goes with him to India, where he preaches Christianity. First, he leads the king's daughter and her fiancé to the new faith, then King Gundofar and his courtiers and servants. What follows are stories of healings, resurrections, and exorcisms performed by Judas Thomas as he traveled through the country. The second part of the story takes place at the court of King Mazdai. Thomas converts the courtiers to Christianity, and then the whole family of the king, for which he is imprisoned and martyred. The story ends with a message about the transfer of the relics of the apostle from India to the West. The text of the work includes several poetic passages, including the famous "Song of the Pearl", which is probably a translation of an unpreserved Middle Persian. hymn.
Of the apocryphal acts that have come down in fragments, the most ancient are the "Acts of John" (1st half of the 2nd century). The place of creation of this work was probably Asia Minor, although modern researchers believe that the text could have appeared in Egypt. The content of the work has now been restored from various sources quite completely and with a high degree of probability. The action mainly takes place in Ephesus, where the apostle always returns after traveling to Miletus, Smyrna, Laodicea. John converts the noble woman Cleopatra and her husband Lycomedes to Christianity. The latter wished to have a portrait of the apostle and, having received it from the artist, began to pay honors to the image of John, which brought the censure of the apostle, who delivered a sermon on the portrait of the soul. This story is preserved in the Acts of the 7th Ecumenical Council, which condemned the iconoclasts. Various episodes of the "Acts of John" describe the resurrection and healing of old and sick women performed by the apostle in the theater of Ephesus, the priest of the temple of Artemis, the son of Antipater. A great place is occupied by the story of Callimachus' love for the chaste Drusiana. They both die, but are resurrected by the apostle and converted into new life. The Acts of John ends with the story of the death of the apostle on Sunday in Ephesus after a sermon, prayer and the Eucharist. Separate episodes of the Acts of John have been preserved in translations into many languages of the Christian world.
Equally ancient (written before the end of the 2nd century) were the Acts of Paul. The content of the work is restored from various texts (in Greek and Coptic). The story began with a description of the vision of St. Paul on his way to Damascus, followed by a story about his stay in Ephesus and Antioch, the story of a noble girl Thecla from the city of Iconium, who endured a variety of persecutions and torments, but enlightened many and converted to Christianity. From Ephesus, where Paul preaches in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, he travels to Philippi, from where he writes 3 Corinthians. After visiting Corinth, he left for Rome, where he suffered martyrdom under the imp. Nerone. "Acts of Paul" in many Eastern Churches were among the canonical texts. Their authority is referred to, for example, by Origen in expounding the doctrine of the Logos (De princ. I 2.3). To the original Greek versions go back translations into lat., Sir., slav. and Arab. languages.
It is difficult to determine the type of the most ancient text of the Acts of Peter. It is assumed that these were the joint "Acts of Paul and Peter", written as if in continuation of the canonical Acts. In the surviving fragments (the oldest Latin text of the 3rd-4th centuries - “Acts of Vercelli”), the story begins with the departure of ap. Paul from Rome to Spain. He is replaced in Rome by the Apostle. Peter, who enters into a long struggle with Simon Magus. Peter performs many miracles: he makes a dog speak, he revives a fish, he resurrects the dead, he exposes the frauds of Simon, and finally defeats him in the Sabbath debate about the divinity of Christ in the Roman forum. This was followed by a story about the flight of Peter from Rome because of the persecutions that had begun. On the way, the Lord appears to him, and, encouraged by Him, Peter returns to Rome to be martyred. Before the execution, he delivers a sermon revealing the symbolic meaning of the cross. A papyrus text in Coptic has been preserved. the language in which the story of the healing by Peter of his own daughter, stricken with paralysis, is read in a single word.
The original text of the "Acts of Andrew" (2nd century) has also not been completely preserved, and their content is restored from multilingual (Latin, Greek, Coptic, Armenian) fragments. Some scholars believe that they may have been composed in Achaia. The 1st part of "Acts" is a description of the journey of the apostle, when, bypassing the sowing. and south. coast of the Black Sea, he performs miracles and successfully preaches in Asia Minor, and then arrives in Greece. The 2nd part tells about Andrey's activities in Achaia. In Patras, he is sentenced to martyrdom by crucifixion, and the apostle completes the exploits of the gospel by uttering a poetic appeal to the cross before his death.
"Great" apocryphal deeds in antiquity underwent several treatments. Already from the IV century. a special collection was known, compiled by a certain Levkius Kharin, who systematized the scattered texts of apocryphal acts and processed them in the Gnostic or Manichaean spirit. Patriarch of Constantinople St. Photius (IX century), brief excerpts from it have been preserved in the Acts of the VII Universe. Cathedral, which condemned this collection as heretical. In the VI century. was written in Latin. language "History of the Apostles", attributed to Obadiah, ep. Babylonian, where the collection of Leukia taken as a basis is cleared of heretical elements.
The "big" apocryphal deeds served as a model and provided factual material for writing "small" ones compiled in various languages at a later time. Among them with the name ap. John are connected with the "Acts of John" by Prochorus (VI century), widespread in the Byzantine world, Sir. essay "History of John", lat. The Virtues and Martyrdom of John. The Apostles Peter and Paul are dedicated to lat. The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul by Pseudo-Linus, The Acts of Peter and Paul by Pseudo-Marcellus, The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul by Pseudo-Hegesippus, Sir. "Teachings of Peter" and "History of Peter", Slav. "Life of Peter". With the name app. Petra are connected, etc. Pseudo-Clementines attributed to Clement of Rome. In this work, which has come down to Lat. translation of Rufinus, partly in Sir. version and partly in Greek, an adaptation of the cycle of stories about Peter, written in the form of an autobiography of the author of the work, is presented. From app. Andrei connected a group of well-known texts existing in Greek, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Armenian, Georgian. and glory. languages: "Andrew and Matthias Acts", "Andrew and Bartholomew Acts", "Peter and Andrew Acts", "Paul and Andrew Acts", "Andrew and Philemon Acts". With the name app. Bartholomew bound Copt. Acts of Bartholomew, lat. and arm. "Martyrdom of Bartholomew", Greek. "The Acts of Bartholomew and Barnabas". With the name app. Philip - "The Acts of Philip" (Greek, Armenian, Georgian, Slavic texts), Sir. "History of Philip", Cop. "The Acts of Philip and Peter". With the name of Thaddeus - "The Acts of Thaddeus" (Greek and Coptic versions). The apocryphal deeds formed the basis of the traditions accepted by the Church about the life and work of all the apostles. Christ. iconography borrowed from these deeds descriptions of the image and characteristic features of the apostles.
Apocryphal messages , like the canonical ones, set out in an epistolary form instructions in faith and the Christian way of life, explain various Christian dogmas. The most important among them is “3rd Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, included in the Acts of Paul. It is preserved in the Heidelberg papyrus in Coptic. language, in several lat. fragments and in a papyrus passage from the Bodmer collection. This message is the answer to ap. Paul to the appeal to him of the inhabitants of Corinth, who needed his support in the fight against the Gnostic teachings. The apostle explains the dogmas about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and preaches about the coming resurrection of the flesh.
In lat. language and in glory. translation (copies from the 16th century) came the "Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans." Some scholars believe that it arose in the circle of supporters of the Gnostic Marcion, although the text, written in the style of the canonical Epistles of Paul and lexically similar to it, does not give grounds to identify a pronounced theological orientation in it.
In lat. language known correspondence of 14 letters between ap. Paul and Rome. Stoic philosopher Seneca (3rd century). This is an apology for the views of St. Paul, written with the aim of attracting attention from the educated circles of Roman society. Very conditionally, the legend of the correspondence of the King of Edessa Abgar with Jesus Christ, which received its lit. registration on sir. language in the beginning 3rd century with approval in Sir. Osroene of Christianity and became the ideological justification for this process. It marked the beginning of a series of similar tales that exist in various Christian literatures and dedicated to the theme of the conversion of the monarch and the people subject to him to Christianity.
Among the numerous works of Christian apocalyptic literature, created both in the period of early Christianity and in later times, only a few works can be classified as apocryphal apocalypses . 1st floor. 2nd century according to R. Kh., the “Apocalypse of Peter”, known in part from Greek, is dated. original and completely in Ethiopian. translation, which quite adequately reflects the original version of the work. It contains descriptions of visions and revelations that are revealed to Jesus Christ and His accompanying disciples. Pictures of paradise represent the place where the righteous are in white clothes. This is one of the first descriptions of paradise in Christian literature, imagined as a bright and colorful earthly world. There are sinners in hell, their offenses are determined in accordance with the norms of early Christian ethics. Among the sins, the sin of apostasy is especially emphasized. Unlike the canonical Apocalypse, interest is focused on the description of the afterlife, the classification of various sins, the inevitability of the punishment of sinners and the inevitability of the salvation of the righteous. The Apocalypse of Paul was also known to early Christian authors, but in Greek. language, it has not been preserved, but has come down to us in later translations and alterations into Latin, Sir., Arm. and glory. languages. The difference between these multilingual texts is so significant that it is not yet possible to restore the original text. This work also describes the sojourn of the righteous and sinners in paradise and hell, where St. Paul and where he communicates with the forefathers and prophets. In Greek, Armenian, Ethiopian. and glory. languages, the “Apocalypse of Mary” is known, in which the torments of sinners are described in detail, the Mother of God stands up for them and asks forgiveness from the Lord for them. This text dates from the ninth century. and stylistically depends on the apocalypses of Peter and Paul.
E. N. Meshcherskaya
Apocrypha dedicated to the events of post-apostolic times, right up to the beginning of the Ecumenical Councils, are mostly personified in the plot. These are mainly the lives of the martyrs (for example, George, Barbara, Nikita, Hypatius, Bishop Tvangra (the so-called "Seven Deaths"), "The Miracle of Theodore Stratilates (or Tyrone) about the serpent", etc.), coexisting for a long time in the literary tradition with canonical writings about the same saints. These hagiographic apocrypha are characterized by a tendency to inflame passions, expressed in a detailed description of physical torment, as well as caricatured (sometimes caricatured) characteristics of the tormentors. This is combined with fairy-tale elements and a fair amount of anachronism (for example, in the life of Great Martyr Nikita, according to the Apocrypha, "the king's son", "young lad Julian the Criminal" informs his father about the Christianity of the hero and becomes the heir to the throne as a reward for betrayal). A number of apocryphal prayers are inscribed with the names of the martyrs, many of which were also used in con. XX century, prayers of martyr. Tryphon from crop pests (especially common among the South Slavs) or the prayer of St. Cyprian, ep. Carthaginian, which is part of the rite of admission of new members to the Sicilian (“old”) mafia.
In early Byzantine times, the subject of apocrypha, usually inscribed with the names of the Church Fathers, are, as a rule, interpretations on matters of liturgy, church rites, Priest. Scripture and Sacred History (“Conversation of the Three Hierarchs”, “The Talk of St. Gregory on the Divine Liturgy”, interpolated answers of St. Athanasius of Alexandria to the questions of Antiochus, etc.). With the emergence and spread of monasticism, apocryphal journeys to the earthly paradise are associated (“Walking of Agapius to Paradise”, “The Life of St. Macarius of Rome”). The genre of revelations and knowledge remains relevant and periodically in demand throughout the entire period of the Middle Ages, the most common and popular among which is the “Revelation of Methodius of Patara” (according to various researchers, IV or VII century); at the same time, a number of revelations are an integral part of large hagiographic works (“The Life of Basil the New”, “The Life of Andrei the Holy Fool”, etc.).
A. A. Turilov
Lit.:
Fabricius J. A. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. Hamburg, 1703-1719. 2 tons;
Thilo J. C. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. Lpz., 1832;
Lipsius R. A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. Braunschweig, 1883-1887;
James M. R. Apocrypha Anecdota. Camb., 1893;
idem. The Apocryphal New Testament, Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Apocalypses with other Narratives and Fragments. Oxf., 1924;
Schmidt K. L. Kanonische und apokryphe Evangelien und Apostelgeschichten. Basel, 1944;
Erbetta M. Gli Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. Torino, 1966–1975. 4vol.;
Moraldi L. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. Torino, 1971. 2 vol. [Bibliography];
Hennecke E., Schneemelcher W. Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutcher Übersetzung. Tüb., 1991–19926. 2 bde;
E. a.: Tischendorf C. Evangelia apocrypha. Lpz., 1876. Hildesheim, 1966;
Zhebelev S.A. Canonical and Apocryphal Gospels. Pg., 1919;
Santos Otero A. de. Los Evangelios Apocrifos. Madrid, 19651, 19753;
Starowieyski M. Apokryfy Nowego Testamentu: Ewangelie apokryficzne. Lublin, 1986. 2 vol.;
Sventsitskaya I. S. Apocryphal Gospels. M., 1996;
papyrus fragments: Bickell G. Ein Papyrusfragment eines nichtkanonischen Evangeliums // ZKT. 1885. Bd. 9. S. 489–504; 1886. Bd. 10. S. 208–210;
Grenfell B. P., Hunt A. S. New Sayings of Jesus and Fragment of a Lost Gospel from Oxyrhynchus // The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. L., 1898. Pt. 1 (n. 1–4);
1904. Pt. 4 (n. 654–655);
1908. Pt. 5 (n. 840);
1911. Pt 8. (n. 1081);
Lietzmann H. Ein apokryphes Evangelien-fragment // ZNW. 1923. Bd. 22. S. 153–154;
Bell H. I., Skeat T. C. Fragments of an Unknown Gospel and other Early Christian Papyri. L., 1935;
D. a.: Wright W. The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. L., 1871. Amst., 1968. 2vol.;
Lemm O. von. Koptische apocryphe Apostelacten // Mélanges asiatiques tirés du Bull. Imperiale des Sciences de S.-Petersbourg. S.-Pb., 1890. T. 10. P. 99–171;
Lipsius R. A., Bonnet M. Acta apostolorum apocrypha. Lpz., 1891-1903. Hildesheim, 1959;
James M. R. Apocrypha Anecdota. Camb., 1897. Milwood (N. Y.), 1968r;
Budge E. A. W. The Contendings of the Apostles. L.;
N.Y., 1899-1901. L., 1976r. 2vol.;
Vetter P. Die armenischen apokryphen Apostelakten // Oriens Chr. 1901. Bd. 1. S. 168–170, 217–239;
1903. Bd. 3. S. 16–55, 324–383;
Lewis A. S. Acta Mythologica Apostolorum. L., 1904;
Söder R. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und romanhafte Literatur der Antike. Stuttg., 1932;
Frankenberg W. Die syrischen Clementinen mit griechischem Paralleltext. Lpz., 1937. (TU; 48/3);
Kurtsikidze Ts. Georgian versions of the apocryphal deeds of the apostles based on manuscripts of the 9th–11th centuries. Tbilisi, 1959 (in Georgian);
Hildesheim, 1959r. bd. 1–2; Junod E., Kaestli J.-D. Acta Iohannis. Turnhout, 1983. (CCSA; 1–2); Darmstadt, 1969;
Meshcherskaya EN Apocryphal deeds of the apostles. M., 1997;
P. a.: Aubertin C. Étude critique sur les rapports supposés entre Sénèque et St. Paul. P., 1875;
Harnack A. Apocrypha IV: Die apokryphen Briefe des Paulus an die Laodicener und Korinther. B., 19312. S. 6–23;
Barlow C. N. Epistolae Senecae ad Paulem et Pauli ad Senecam quae vocantur. R., 1938;
Meshcherskaya E.N. The legend of Avgar is an early Syrian literary monument. M., 1984;
A. a.: Gebhardt O. L. Das Evangelium und die Apocalypse des Petrus. Lpz., 1893;
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In Slavic and Russian writing Old Testament apocrypha and New Testament apocrypha preserved in glory. lists of the 11th-19th centuries, form part of the general Christian apocryphal tradition. The number of texts peculiar exclusively to Slavs. writing or created in glory. countries, is relatively small, the vast majority of them are translations, mostly from Greek, less often from Latin, Hebrew. and sir. languages. In Slavic-Russian. In the manuscript tradition, the same apocrypha often has different names.
In the Cyrillic and Methodian period of the development of Church Slavonic literature, the Apocrypha as independent texts were probably not translated; IX - beg. 10th century Slav. the text of the “Protoevangelium of Jacob”, widely used in the laudatory words of Clement of Ohrid and in a number of anonymous and pseudo-epigraphic homily of the Great Moravian period (“Sermon about the praise of the Virgin of Cyril the Philosopher”, “Sermon for the Nativity of Christ” with the prologue: “Your hierarchy is honestly multiplied”), does not coincide with any of the known translations - it is more about the author's retelling from Greek.
The first glories translations of the Apocrypha appeared, apparently, no earlier than the end. IX and no later than the beginning. 11th century In Bulgaria. This dating is supported by the presence of a significant number of apocrypha (“The Testament of Abraham”, “The Revelation of Baruch”, “The Life of Adam and Eve”, “The Tale of Joseph the Beautiful”, “Acts of the Apostles Paul and Thekla, the Apostle Peter”, “The Walk of the Apostles Peter and Andrew and Andrew and Matthew", "The Circus of John", "The Torment of St. Clement of Rome", "The Epistle of Abgar to Jesus Christ", "The Epistle of the Week", "The Revelations of the Apostles Paul and John the Theologian", "The Passage of the Virgin through the Torments ”, “Protoevangelium of James”, “Gospel of the Apostle Thomas”, “Conversation of the Three Hierarchs”, etc.) in Croatian. Glagolitic lists, despite the fact that later translations (XII-XIII centuries) are not presented in them. The earliest glories lists of apocrypha date back to the 11th-12th centuries; “The Word of Epiphanius of Cyprus on Holy and Great Saturday” in the Suprasl collection of the 11th century, apocryphal prayers in the Glagolitic Sinai Euchology of the 11th century, “The Word of St. Apostle Peter and Andrew, Matthew, Rufus and Alexander" in Old Russian. Ceremonial minaine under Zlatostroy XII century. (RNB. F. p. 1. 46), Old Russian. excerpt from the "Conversations of the Three Hierarchs" con. 12th century from the Library of the Greek Patriarchate in Jerusalem, "The Virgin's Passage through the Torments" in Russian. collection of con. XII - beginning. 13th century (RGB. Trinity. No. 12) and others. From the XIII century. already preserved collections, entirely or in large part consisting of apocrypha: Sinai (RNB. Greek. 70. Q. p. 1. 63 and 64; "(Belgrade. NBS. Pc. 651).
Glorious appearance. On the basis of translations and new editions of some apocrypha, they are associated with the origin in Bulgaria in the 10th century. the teachings of the Bogomils. Undoubtedly, the Apocrypha “The Secret Book” is considered Bogomilian (it has not been preserved in the Slavic tradition), the influence of the teachings of the Bogomils is seen in the translated apocrypha about the Sea of Tiberias, about the struggle of the arch. Michael with Satanail, in the compilation works of the priest Jeremiah, partly in the "Manuscript of Adam". The period of Byzantine rule in Bulgaria (1st quarter of the 11th - last quarter of the 12th century) is marked by the creation of a number of apocryphal prophecies and revelations, in which the events of Bolg are considered through the prism of eschatology. history of the 7th-11th centuries and Bulgarian-Byzantine. relations: “The interpretation of Daniel”, “The legend of Isaiah the prophet about future years”, “The Bulgarian apocryphal chronicle” (“The legend of Isaiah the prophet, how he was exalted by an angel to the seventh heaven”), as well as writing the legendary story of the conversion of the Bulgarians to Christianity (“Thessalonica legend "). Events con. XII - ser. 13th century (restoration of the Bulgarian kingdom, the capture of Thessaloniki by the Sicilian Normans in 1185, the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204 and the creation of the Latin Empire, Tatar raids on the Balkan Peninsula) gave rise to a new wave of translations from the Greek. and compilations of apocrypha of apocalyptic content: "The Enlightenment of the Prophet Daniel", "The Legend of the Sibyl", "The Apocalypse of Anastasia", "Pandekhov's Prophetic Legend", etc.
In ancient Russian Apocrypha bookishness penetrated soon after the Baptism of Rus' through Yuzhoslav. medium and were perceived as detailed comments on biblical texts along with their theological and dogmatic interpretations. With a number of Apocrypha c. (in particular, about Adam, Solomon and Moses) Old Russian. the scribes got acquainted through the Explanatory and Historical Palea and Chronographs, the “Chronicle of Georgy Amartol”. Apocryphal stories about the prophet. Moses and a large fragment of the apocryphal "Revelation of Methodius of Patara" were included in the PVL (beginning of the 12th century). At the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. dates back to the creation of the most significant Old Russian proper. apocryphal text - "Words of Lazarus Sunday", stylistically and figuratively associated with the "Word of Igor's Campaign" and known in dozens of copies of the XV-XVII centuries. In the 1st floor. 13th century in Rus' were translated from Hebrew. talmudic midrashim dedicated to a number of Old Testament stories (primarily to Tsar Solomon), which, obviously, were then included in the Explanatory Palea (the older list of Novgorod origin - GIM. Bars. No. 619, 10s of the XV century.). In addition to the book, there was an oral distribution of apocrypha: they were told by pilgrims returning from travels to holy places. Traces of such stories, for example. about Melchizedek, are found in the Journey to the Holy Land of Daniel, the Russian land of the hegumen (beginning of the 12th century), and especially in the Journey of Arsenius of Thessalonica (XIV-XV centuries).
In the 2nd floor. XV - 1st quarter. 16th century row A. is translated to Western Russian. scribes from Latin, Polish. and Czech. languages: “On the martyrdom of our Pan Yesus Christ”, “A word about the life and journey of the three Persian kings” (that is, the Magi), Western Russian. "The Tale of the Sibyl", Ukrainian. translation of the "Gospel of Thomas" ("Gospel of childhood"), etc. In the XVII century. source of new apocryphal stories in Russian. bookishness (and new variants already known) are increasingly becoming translations from Latin and Polish (largely through the works of Ukrainian-Belarusian preachers - Cyril (Tranquillion Stavrovetsky), Ioanniky (Galyatovsky), Anthony (Radivilovsky), etc. who used the plots of the medieval Latin Exempla in their work).
A feature of the apocryphal tradition of Ser. XVII–XVIII centuries is the spread of translated prophecies about the coming victory of Christians over Muslims (Turks), which have received wide circulation in Western Europe. "flying sheets" and generated by the real political events of that time (the Kandyan war, the wars of the Holy League with the Ottoman Empire). For Russia, the relevance of this topic was intensified by the prophecy about the “Russian (nation) race” (identified with the Russians), who would dominate Constantinople (one of the earliest examples of such a prophecy in the 17th century is the one made by Gabriel, Metropolitan of Nazareth (before 1658), translation and interpretation of the inscription on the tombstone of Emperor Constantine the Great).
The Composition of the Apocrypha Corpus in the Medieval Literature of Individual Glories. countries has its own characteristics. If the oldest translations, with rare exceptions, are inherent in all fame. traditions in general, then the Apocrypha, created and translated by Bolg. scribes in the 11th-13th centuries, were not reflected either in Croatian-Glagolic or in Eastern Slavic. lists. Rus. domong translations. time as part of Palea Tolkova became famously famous. south not earlier than the 16th century, Ukrainian-Belarusian. translations of the 15th–16th centuries. did not receive distribution there at all. 17th century prophecy about the imminent victory of Christians over Muslims were popular among the Slavs. subjects of the Ottoman Empire, but the sources of their translations sometimes did not coincide with the sources of texts read in Russia and the Commonwealth. A number of typological features are also observed in South and East Slavs. the manuscript tradition of the Apocrypha. In the first, non-canonical prayers as part of Trebniki became more widespread, for the second in the 15th-17th centuries. characteristic is the inclusion of a large number of apocryphal texts in the collections of statutory readings - triode ("The Dream of King Joash", "The Word of Lazarus' Resurrection", "The Gospel of Nicodemus", "The Epistle of the Week", etc.) and menaine ("The Life of Nikita the Martyr", " The Tale of Aphrodite”, “The Miracle of Theodore Stratilates (Tyron) about the Serpent”, etc.) Ceremonials.
In the distribution of Slavic-Russian. Apocrypha played a significant role in their saturation with folklore motifs and archaic ideas about the world, combined with theological and dogmatic interpretations. The concretization and partly dramatization of the biblical narrative, which is sparing in details, made the apocrypha one of the favorite readings even among the monastic environment (see, for example, the composition of the encyclopedic collections of the end of the 15th century by Elder Euphrosynus from the Kirillo-Belozersky collection of manuscripts of the National Library of Russia - Kagan M.D. , Ponyrko N. V., Rozhdestvenskaya M. V. Description of the collections of the 15th century by the book writer Euphrosyn // TODRL. L., 1980. T. 35. P. 3–100). Euphrosynus included in his collections "Adam's Lament for Paradise", many apocryphal texts that were part of Palea: excerpts from the writings of Epiphanius of Cyprus, from the "Conversations of the Three Hierarchs", about Noah, about the Lord's robes, "The Tale of the Twelve Fridays", etc. Apocryphal plots were included in spiritual verses (“The Poem about the Pigeon Book”, “The Dream of the Virgin”), conspiracies (“The Legend of Twelve Fridays”), prayers (from the undead, from thunder, from 12 “shakers”, St. Sisinius, etc.) . Some apocrypha existed in book form, in the form of a fixed text, and at the same time in oral form - in the form of a spiritual verse or conspiracy.
On the material of glory. tradition, it is difficult to talk about any definite and stable attitude of scribes (including representatives of the highest church hierarchy) to apocryphal texts, with the possible exception of anti-canonical apocrypha, the denunciation of which can be traced as early as the 10th century. (Athanasius of Jerusalem, in his letter to Pank, condemns the "Legend of the Cross Tree of Priest Jeremiah") and later (for example, the work of St. Maximus the Greek against the "Tale of Aphrodite"). The manuscripts contain enough examples of a kind of censorship of scribes (started and unfinished apocryphal texts) and readers (cutting out sheets on which apocrypha were located, crossing out texts, warning marks about the non-canonicity of a particular monument). On the other hand, the use of apocrypha in works of various genres written by representatives of the church hierarchy is quite common. St. Kirill, en. Turovsky, used in his teachings the plots of the Gospel of Nicodemus and the apocryphal homilies of Eusebius of Alexandria and Epiphanius of Cyprus. A wide range of apocryphal sources of the "Epistle of Paradise" by the Novgorod archbishop. Vasily Kaliki. Bishop of Tver Neil the Greek (XVI century) in a message to the Dmitrov-Kashinsky prince. Yuri Ivanovich sets out a special version of the legend about the origin of the cross tree, associated with the "Repentance of the forefather Lot." A significant number of A. (including the "Tale of Aphrodite") is included in the Great Menaion-Cheti.
The free circulation of apocryphal texts (even of an anti-canonical nature) into the Middle Ages is sufficient. glory. Bookishness was facilitated to a large extent by the undeveloped system of prohibitions against non-canonical writings in Orthodoxy. the world as a whole. The lists of "false" books here were more introductory than strictly prohibitive. Translations of such lists into Slav. language appeared already at the turn of the 9th-10th centuries. (the oldest - in Izbornik 1073), but initially they did not reflect the glory. realities: it has been established that out of the 29 texts listed in this index, Slav. tradition, no more than 9 are known. Over the next centuries, the composition of the lists (known only in the Eastern Slavic tradition) was repeatedly edited, replenished (especially from the end of the 14th century) with real monuments, its completion at the end of Russian. Middle Ages became an index as part of the Cyril Book (M., 1646), which in turn became widespread in the Old Believer lists of the 18th–19th centuries. However, these lists were rarely included in canonical collections (the oldest example is RNB. Pogod. No. 31, early 15th century) and only from the 16th century. sometimes accompanied lists of the Jerusalem Rule, which undoubtedly limited the possibility of their use.
Publisher:
Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary / Ed. N. I. Tolstoy. M., 1995. T. 1. S. 113–115;
Meshcherskaya E. H. Apocryphal deeds of the apostles. M., 1997.
M. V. Rozhdestvenskaya, A. A. Turilov
Apocrypha of the Old Believers . Great interest in apocrypha existed among the Old Believers, among whom all the most famous apocrypha in Rus' were widely used. Most often in the Old Believer manuscripts there are eschatological apocrypha: “The vision of St. Paul", "Walking of the Virgin through the Torments", "Dream of the Virgin", "Walking of the Elder Agapius to Paradise", as well as "The Tale of the Twelve Fridays", "The Epistle of the Week", "The Conversation of the Three Hierarchs" and "Jerusalem List", etc. .
New historical realities, the controversy between the emerging Old Believer agreements led to the emergence in the XVIII-XIX centuries. (mainly among the non-priests) a number of original apocryphal writings. Some of them are named in the “District Message” of 1862: the Apocalypse of the Seventh (see Antichrist), “The Book of Eustathius the Theologian about the Antichrist”, “Amphilochian’s Interpretation of the Second Song of Moses”, “A Word from the Elderhood, in which Monk Zechariah Conversed with His Disciple Stefan about the Antichrist”, a false interpretation of Dan 2. 41–42, 7. 7, “The Tale of the Hawk Moth, from the gospel conversations”, the notebook “On the Creation of Wine”, as if from the documents of the Stoglavy Council, “On the Bulba” from the book of Pandok, “On the Spiritual Antichrist”, as well as a “notebook” in which the date of the death of the world is named (District Message, pp. 16–23). In addition to those listed in the Epistle, there were Old Believer apocryphal writings directed against the use of potatoes (“King named Mamer”, with reference to the book of Pandok); essays containing a ban on the use of tea (“In which house a samovar and dishes, do not enter that house until five years old”, with reference to 68 rights of the Carthaginian Council, “Who drinks tea, he despairs of the future century”), coffee (“ Whoever drinks coffee, an evil cove starts up in him") and tobacco, attributed to Theodore Balsamon and John Zonara (in some lists - "Zonareus" and even "Nazarene"); essays against wearing ties (“The legend of the boards, the nets wear, written out from Kronikos, that is, the Latin Chronicler”).
The search for the bishop by the Old Believers, which lasted almost 2 centuries, gave rise to an apocryphal journey (more precisely, a description of the route) to the promised country of the “old faith” Belovodie - the “Traveler” of Mark Topozersky (lists are known from the middle of the 19th century). Among the largest (and at the same time little-studied) Old Believer apocrypha are the Acts of the Kurzhensky Cathedral, allegedly held in 1667 with the participation of the Ecumenical Patriarchs in the Karelian Kurzhensky Mon-re and condemning the church reform of Patriarch Nikon (list of the 2nd half of the 19th century).
The most common of these apocrypha were compiled no earlier than con. XVIII century, many "notebooks" had a local existence or corresponded under other names. The ban on reading the writings named in the “District Message” was valid only among the Old Believers of the Belokrinitsky hierarchy, among the Bespopovites many of these “notebooks” are still popular, as evidenced by the observations of archeographic expeditions of recent years.
Source:
District Epistle: Statute and Thinking. M., 1893;
Ageeva E. A., Kobyak N. A., Kruglova T. A., Smilyanskaya E. B. Manuscripts of the Verkhokamye of the 15th–20th centuries. / From the collection of the Scientific Library of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov: Catalogue. M., 1994.
E. A. Ageeva, A. A. Turilov
Slavic cosmogonic apocrypha
In classical antiquity, every citizen was free to write about the gods whatever he considered necessary, even to expound myths that contradicted other myths or represented gods, to put it mildly, far from perfect. The Christian Church, on the other hand, tends to define every letter (“iota”) in its teaching, rigidly divided religious books into divinely inspired (canonical), soul-beneficial, and renounced (apocryphal). The former could neither be disputed nor altered in their text. It was possible, in principle, to disagree with the latter somewhere, although few dared to encroach on the authority of the Fathers of the Church. For reading, storing, rewriting, especially for writing books “renounced and false”, at least excommunication from the Church threatened, in the worst case, torture and a fire. Indexes of forbidden books appeared in Rus' along with Christianity. (It is noteworthy that even many of the Old Testament books written or come down to us in Greek are considered canonical by Catholics, soul-beneficial by Orthodox Christians, and Apocrypha by Protestants.) Nevertheless, the Apocrypha aroused constant interest among Bulgarian, Serbian, and ancient Russian intellectuals.
Apocrypha were composed most often in Byzantium, translated in Bulgaria and Serbia, and from there went to Rus'. However, there were also Slavs among the authors or editors of the retracted books. In particular, the followers of the heresy of the Bogomils, founded in the X century. in Bulgaria by priest Bogumil. His son gained fame as "the priest Jeremiah" and was considered the author of several apocrypha. Very often the apocrypha was written on behalf of biblical characters or the fathers of the Church. Literary forgery was known in ancient times and then was not condemned. On the contrary, it was believed that the author, who attributed his work, for example, to Hippocrates or Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), nobly sacrificed personal glory. The line between "true" and "false" books was often arbitrary. Even many of the canonical books are, in fact, the same apocrypha-forgeries, only recognized by the Church. So, under the name of the prophet Isaiah (VIII century BC), three authors wrote - he himself and his two successors of the VI-V centuries. BC e. The collection of writings written in the 5th century was considered patristic. on behalf of the philosopher Dionysius the Areopagite, a contemporary of the apostles. Apocryphal material was often used in the Paleys approved by the Church - retellings of the Bible.
The story of the very popular in the Middle Ages "Conversations of the Three Hierarchs", attributed to Basil the Great (329-379), John Chrysostom (347-407) and Gregory the Theologian (330-390), is indicative. These Fathers of the Church, although they were contemporaries, neither together nor separately wrote anything of the kind. However, "Conversation", created around the X century. in Greek and soon translated into Slavic, was considered spiritually beneficial. No later than the thirteenth century. a Slavic edition appeared, so abundant in apocryphal motifs that the Church began to condemn the "Conversation" and attribute it to the priest Jeremiah. The third edition did indeed contain openly heretical, Bogomil motifs.
Bogomilstvo arose under the influence of the Armenian Paulicians resettled in Bulgaria. Their heresy, in turn, was the fruit of the “recoding” of Manichaeism, a kind of world religion created in the 3rd century BC, into the Christian way. Mesopotamian prophet Mani. The “Secret Book” of the Bogomils has survived to this day in a Latin translation made by their Western European successors, the Albigensians (Cathars). Common to all these teachings was the denial of the unjust and vicious earthly world as created by Satan and the archon demons. The creation of the true God, ruling in the heavenly realm of Light, was considered only the human soul, which had to be freed and purified in order to return to the Light with a righteous ascetic life.
Slavic apocrypha were devoted to questions of cosmogony: the already mentioned "Secret Book" and "The Conversation of the Three Hierarchs", as well as "The Word on the Conception of Heaven and Earth" ("The Tale of Hardworking Men", "The Scroll of Divine Books", "On the Sea of Tiberias"), “The question of how many parts Adam was created”, “Panagiot’s debate with Azimit”, “Jerusalem Conversation” (“The Tale of the City of Jerusalem”), “The Tale of the Cross Tree”. The "Word on Conception", which V. Mochulsky calls "the renounced Book of Genesis", was formed, in his opinion, simultaneously with the second edition of the "Conversation" as its integral part. It was reflected in the "Word of Conception" and "The Tale of the Cross Tree", the author of which was considered to be the same priest Jeremiah. The same wording was used in the Debate, an anti-Catholic pamphlet of the second half of the 13th century. The “Question” arose later on the basis of the “Conversation”. She, according to Mochulsky, served as the source of the Poem about the Pigeon Book. Finally, the "Conversation of Jerusalem" is a late written paraphrase of the verse. Other researchers saw the basis of the verse in the Questions of John the Theologian on Mount Tabor, although this apocalyptic work has absolutely nothing in common with the Pigeon Book, except for the motif of a huge sacred book. Only this book, like the entire apocrypha, hides in itself the secret of not the creation of the world, but its death. The Word on Conception and the third edition of the Conversations, as well as numerous Slavic oral legends, tell how God and Satan created the world together. This myth, according to the one who studied it at the beginning of the 20th century. K. F. Radchenko, goes back to the teachings of the Bogomils and their "Secret Book".
In a word, in the view of the "borrowing school", the history of Slavic folk cosmology looks like this. The recently baptized Bulgarians borrowed the Armenian heresy and composed "renounced" books. And the "ignorant" kaliks and illiterate peasants, out of the simplicity of their souls, believed the insidious heretics and turned their fabrications into poems and legends. The Orthodox people, of course, forgot their native pagan gods and myths about them the next day after baptism, but they didn’t really understand the Bible. “Ignorance” and “Orthodoxy” come out strange: to know the Apocrypha is better than the Bible itself. Or trust them more than her. This is despite the fact that in Rus' there were not only no Bogomil communities, but the sources are silent about individual adherents or preachers of Bogomilism in Eastern Europe. Even Abraham of Smolensky was not accused by his haters of bogomilism.
The Slavs in this concept appear as stupid imitators of the Byzantine Greeks and Armenians. In reality, however, the effect could also be the opposite. After all, Bogomilism already in the 11th century. spread from Bulgaria to Constantinople and Asia Minor. Later, the Italians and French were by no means ashamed to learn "heresy" from the "wild" Bulgarians. And pagan ideas among the Slavs, as we see, were preserved in those days, much better than it seemed to scientists of the late XIX - early XX centuries. So the Slavic contribution to the development of the Apocrypha could be just their own pagan myths, of course, Christianized. Indeed, for a pagan or a two-believer, there is nothing wrong with supplementing someone else's myth with one's own, or vice versa. Compiling and storing unchanging canonical writings is the property of priests and churchmen. And free-thinking scribes, among whom the Apocrypha were circulated, treated their texts freely and creatively.
What did the Slavic renounced writings say about the beginning and structure of the world? Let's start with the most heretical of them - the "Secret Book" of the Bogomils. It has been preserved in Latin translation, in two manuscripts. One was found in Carcassonne, in the archives of the Inquisition, the other - in Vienna. And in it we are faced with a myth that is very different from both the Biblical Christian and the classical Manichaean. (Note that the Paulicians, Bogomils, and Albigenses formally considered themselves not Manicheans, but Christians, moreover, "true", and usually referred to the Bible, interpreted allegorically, and not to the Manichaean books, for the mere possession of which a bonfire threatened.)
The Bible knows one Creator of the world - God, and to assume the complicity of Satan in the creation of the world or his relationship with God for a Christian is the greatest blasphemy. In the teachings of Mani, the kingdoms of Light (spirit) and Darkness (matter) exist from the very beginning completely independently of each other. The first is ruled by the Father of Majesty (Zervan), the second - by Matter (a gloomy and evil goddess like Hekate or Baba Yaga). The earthly world is not a creation of the Father of Majesty, but the result of an invasion into the realm of the Light of Matter, the evil demons-archons and their king (Ahriman) generated by it. The gods, generated by the Father of Majesty, only streamlined this world in order to gradually rescue from it particles of Light captured by matter, primarily human souls. There is no question of any relationship of these gods with the archons.
In The Secret Book, Satan is the main angel, the first after God. For organizing a conspiracy against God, Satan and his accomplices were cast out of heaven, after which he created the earthly world, including the bodies of people. Only their souls were created by God, Satan here actually combines the roles of the biblical Yahweh and the Edenic serpent, but at the same time acts with the consent of God. According to the testimony of the Byzantine bishop Euthymius Zigaben (XII century), the Bogomils considered Satanael (Samael) ... the eldest son of God and the brother of Christ (identified, in turn, with the archangel Michael). Having defeated the older brother, the younger one took away his angelic dignity.
As already mentioned, the biblical Satan is the Iranian Ahriman, borrowed rather late. It appears only in the Books of Zechariah (1: 2) and Chronicles (I; 21: 1), created in the Achaemenid era (end of the 6th-4th centuries BC). The rebellion of Lucifer (Satan) and his expulsion from heaven are described by DeuteroIsaiah (5th century BC): “How you fell from heaven, Dennitsa, son of the dawn! Crashed on the ground, trampling the peoples. And he said in his heart: “I will ascend to heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on a mountain in the assembly of the gods, on the edge of the north; I will ascend into the heights of the clouds; I will become like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:12-15). The origins of this myth are not difficult to find in the Zoroastrian sacred books (including the same Bundahishn), which speak of the unsuccessful invasion of Ahriman with his devas into heaven, and of their kingdom in the northern mountains. But even there, as in Mani, Ohrmazd and Ahriman exist from the very beginning and are not related at all and are not subordinate to each other. There was, however, a special teaching of the Zervanites, which was considered heresy by the Mobeds. According to him, Ormazd and Ahriman are brothers, sons of the god of time Zervan, and it was the lord of Darkness who was born first. This teaching was preserved only in the retellings of Greek and Armenian authors. But Zarathushtra himself was apparently familiar with him. In his gathas, the Holy Spirit (Spenta Mainyu) and the Evil Spirit (Angra Mainyu) are twins, the children of Ahuramazda. The Mobeds, however, attributed these words of their prophet to a certain liar daeva. Zervan and his two sons with their armies are depicted on a gold plate of the 8th century. BC e. from Luristan. There, in the remote mountains in southwestern Iran, lived a warlike tribe of Kassites, who preserved many of the Aryan beliefs.
Were the Bogomils familiar with the secret writings of the Zervanites, which were not preserved even in Iran? Not excluded. But it is more likely that they were influenced by the Slavic pagan myth about the struggle of the demiurge twins - Belbog and Chernobog. This is confirmed by the apocryphal "Word about the conception of heaven and earth." Here God creates the world together with his son Christ. At the same time, God creates wind from his breath, frost from his face, thunder from his voice, lightning from a word, the sun from a robe (face towels), the moon from his face. It is not difficult to recognize here the cosmogony of the Pigeon Book with its pagan Indo-European roots. After that, God suddenly discovers Satan in the guise of a gogol in the middle of the original “Tiberias” Sea. He brazenly declares himself a god, and recognizes God as the “god of gods” (i.e., elder over himself). And God not only actually agrees with him, but also later promotes to archangels. At the command of God, Satan dives into the sea and brings stones and sand. Of these, God creates the earth and establishes it on 33 whales (again the motif of the Pigeon Book). From the two halves of one stone, God creates angels, and Satan creates demons ("dense [carnal] gods").
God creates the body of Adam and goes for a soul for him to heaven to his father. (Until now, the good Demiurge, called the Lord, actually merged with God the Father. Only in this episode is the Creator identified with Christ). Meanwhile, Satan corrupts the body of the first man, making him sick. This, however, gets away with the evil demiurge. Only when he, having become an archangel, decided to erect a throne for himself over the stars, God sent Michael against him, and with great difficulty he cast down Satan and demons from heaven to earth. The overthrown, however, declared himself the ruler of the earth, and the Lord of Heaven again agreed with him in fact. Having penetrated into paradise in the form of a worm-serpent, Satan seduced Adam and Eve. The first man, banished to earth, resignedly signed an obligation: the souls of Adam and all his descendants after death belong to Satan as the owner of the earth and go to hell. This agreement was fulfilled for many centuries, until Jesus sent by God brought the souls of Adam and other people out of hell.
This whole myth is well known from folklore legends recorded among many Slavic peoples. More about them will be discussed below. Here we note that oral versions are often more detailed and more logical than written ones. What is especially important, in the legends, God and Satan turn out to be twin brothers, older and younger, respectively. This, as well as the motif of the "diving demiurge" immediately introduces this legend into the circle of myths spread throughout North and Central Asia and North America. In them, the world is created jointly by two gods, good and evil, and the second, by order of the first, dives into the sea. The “School of Borrowings” at first tried to explain this by the fact that Siberian foreigners borrowed the myth from Russian settlers. But this clearly did not fit the Indian tribes living far from Russian Alaska. Myths about brothers-demiurges are generally spread all over the world. Thus, it was not dark men who retold the book apocrypha, but the scribes retold and “recoded” the pagan Slavic myth into a Christian way. This applies both to the "Word on Conception" and to the "Secret Book". And it is not so important which of these two-believer scribes considered himself Orthodox, and which - Bogomil.
The pagan myth comes through in the legend about the war of God and Michael (Christ) with Satan. The archangel, striking demons with a rod and overthrowing them from heaven, is very reminiscent of the Slavic Perun, beating devils with a thunderous club. As well as his Indo-European relatives - Indra, Thor, Zeus, Hercules, etc. Among the people, Michael was considered a thunderer, along with Ilya. The very same war for the sky makes us remember not only the aforementioned Iranian myth, but also the legends of the Hellenes about the titans who stormed Mount Olympus, but were struck by Zeus' lightning. As well as myths about the struggle of gods and asuras, aces and giants-jotuns. One detail in folklore legends is noteworthy: the demons cast down from the sky turned into earthly evil spirits. The one who fell into the forest became a goblin, into the water - into a water devil, into a swamp - into a swamp devil, etc.
Another clearly pagan motive is the defilement by the evil demiurge of the newly created first people. It is not found in the Bible, nor in the Zoroastrian or Manichaean sacred books. But it is common in oral traditions - not only the Slavs, but also the peoples of Siberia. Again the scribes merely Christianized the pagan myth.
Closely connected with the "Sermon on the Conception of Heaven and Earth" is the "Conversation of the Three Hierarchs" in its Slavonic redactions. We give here both apocrypha according to the same list of the 18th century, where they follow each other. The “Word” constitutes, as it were, the first part of the “Conversation” and is attributed to the same persons (only John Chrysostom is replaced by John of Damascus, a theologian and poet of the 7th century). The “Conversation” itself is, in fact, a dialogue: only two nameless faces speak. So the names of the three fathers of the Church at its beginning are nothing more than a "signboard". Questions and answers are cunning, witty, sometimes frivolous. Either David is called the "fornicator singer", then the deceased Abel is likened to a guy harassing a girl. (This is not a vulgar blasphemy, but a mythologeme: the grave is the womb of mother earth, the first dead is her beloved.) In a word, what we have before us is not a Christian catechism, but a pagan competition in wisdom-cunning. In the course of it, cosmogonic questions are also resolved. And it is in them that "Conversation" approaches the "Pigeon Book". But they have few common motives. The creation of the sun and moon from the robes of God, and Adam - from different elements, the earth on whales, the hare-Truth, carried away to heaven ... The mysterious book, oral or written, apparently influenced the apocrypha, and did not grow out of it. Although "Conversation" was sometimes called "Depth".
Note that in the "Conversation" Satan (Satanail) is not a relative of God, but also not an angel created by him. The lord of evil is born here by himself in the ninth wave of the stormy primordial sea. This is quite consistent with the “Word of Conception”, where the God of heaven unexpectedly meets Satan in the sea, but, in fact, easily recognizes his rights as an earthly god.
The Atlantean whales in the "Conversation" feed on one heavenly fragrance. This is exactly like the Bundahishn, where ten giant Kar fish guard the Tree of Life, feeding only on spiritual food.
The myth about the creation of the first man Adam from the elements is reflected both in the "Poem about the Pigeon Book" and in the apocrypha: in the "Word on Conception", "Conversation", "Question". The differences between them are small.
Adam's body is from the earth;
bones - from stones;
blood - from the sea (dew and sun);
breath - from the wind;
eyes - from the sun (sea);
thoughts - from the clouds ("angelic speed");
the mind is from the clouds (Christ);
warmth - from the spirit:
the soul is from the eyes;
grace is from the Holy Spirit.
Recall that in the verse the luminaries are created from the eyes of God, the wind - from his breath. As already mentioned, the basis here is the same myth about the cosmic first man-giant, only “inverted”: it is not the world that is created from the body of the first man, but it itself - from the constituent parts of the world. More precisely, first the world is created from the body of the first god or giant, and then the first man, similar to this cosmic giant. Man, therefore, is a microcosm, a part and likeness of the macrocosm, and not just a toy of the almighty Creator, not a clay doll. The theologian Lactantius (4th century), Severian, Bishop of Gevalsky (5th century), encyclopedist of the 7th century wrote about the creation of man from the four elements (earth, water, air and fire). Isidore of Seville, John of Damascus, Honorius Otensky (X century). The same was said in Paley and Svyatoslav's "Izbornik" of 1073. The Slavic scribes and Kaliki, however, did not simply repeat what the Greek and Latin scribes had written, but supplemented it in accordance with their own myth.
Some lists of "Conversations" contain unique information about the Slavic gods - Perun and Chorea. The cunning bi-religious scribe even found a place for them in the Christianized picture of the world - as "angels" of thunder and lightning. At the same time, he called the first "Hellenic elder", and the second - "Jew". Perun really seemed like an old man, while "Hellenic" in Ancient Rus' was synonymous with pagan. "Hore" is the second name of Dazhdbog-Sun. He, obviously, was also a thunderer: in the annalistic miniature, the sun is shown spewing lightning, and the symbols of the sun and lightning are combined on ancient Russian hatchets-amulets. Khore is named "Zhidovin", perhaps because of his eastern roots: his name is Iranian (Sarmatian). It is also possible that the Russian scribe simply confused Khors with the Old Testament Nahor, Abraham's brother (in another list, instead of "Hore" is "Nahor").
In the "Conversation" God creates Adam in the spring, in March, and all nature welcomes the first man. In ancient Rus', the New Year began with a new moon close to the spring equinox, usually in March. The September New Year brought from Byzantium competed with the March New Year. But in the Iranian world, the New Year (Nauruz) was and is celebrated in the spring, around the vernal equinox. In particular, the Scythian holiday described by Herodotus was celebrated in the spring. We recall that it was also celebrated by the Proto-Slavs (Scythians-plowmen). The beginning of the year in mythological thinking was identified with the beginning of the world.
In the Debate, the cosmogonic dialogue is conducted by the Orthodox philosopher Panagiot (“all-sanctified”) with Cardinal Azimit. (“Azimites” were scolded in Byzantium by Catholics.) Convinced of the deep knowledge of Panagiot, the Catholic recognizes the superiority of the Orthodox faith. It is not difficult, however, to recognize the ancient Veles and Volot behind these characters, although the content of their conversation is connected with the Pigeon Book, perhaps only with a general theme of the origin and structure of the world.
The world, according to Panagiot, is multi-layered. The order of the cosmic layers-tiers is as follows: light not setting - a deity on the throne - fire - darkness - water - sky - ether (air) - earth - water - darkness - fire - abyss (tartar). Note that here, as in the Pigeon Book, the earth floats on the waters. Only Atlantean whales are not mentioned. But in the “Word on Conception” and “Conversation”, 33 whales carry the earth on themselves. However, there is another multi-tiered scheme in the "Word": crystal sky - iron pillars - earth - stone - iron pillars - hell - air (tartar). However, it is not difficult to harmonize these schemes, if we recall the myth about the diving demiurge set forth in the same apocrypha. The bottom of the original ("Tiberias") sea, on which Satan dived for material for the earth - this is the "stone" with the "hell" enclosed in it ("darkness" and "fire"), and below - only the abyss - "tartar" .
In one of the lists of the "Question" there is another scheme: earth - water - stone - golden whales - fiery river - fire - iron oak - the power of God. This scheme is clearly borrowed from Western medieval sources ("Dialogue of Hadrian and Epictetus"). There it looks like this: earth - water - stone - 4 animals - fire - abyss - the original tree - Christ. The Slavic scribe, however, did not mindlessly rewrite someone else's scheme, but supplemented it with proper Slavic ideas. He replaced four animals (in the Bible bearing the throne of God) with whales swimming in a fiery river (“duplicating”, thus, the underground sea). And the original tree is an iron oak (among the Slavs, the oak is considered the World Tree).
The origins of all this cosmology are in the most ancient Indo-European myths, traced by B. A. Rybakov in the paintings of vessels of the Trypillian culture. According to these myths, above the earth and air is the firmament, above it are water supplies, and gods live even higher. To what the researcher has said, we add that the ancient Indo-Europeans also had a concept of the underworld (Vedic Naraka, Greek Hades, German Hel, Slavic inferno).
It can be assumed that in the pagan "Pigeon Book" there was a section devoted to the vertical structure of the world. It seemed like this: the abode of the gods (light) - heavenly waters - firmament (crystal sky) - air - earth - sea with whales - underworld (hell, hell) - airy abyss. This section was not reflected in the verse, but was preserved in the apocrypha, the authors of which also used book materials.
The Debate also reflects another Indo-European myth - about the World Mountain. Here it is across the sea, and on it is an earthly paradise. In the middle of it is the Tree of Life, covered with leaves and fruits from all trees. Springs of honey and milk flow from its roots. (This is reminiscent, in particular, of the Tree of All Seeds described in the Bundahishna, which grows on an island in the middle of the ocean). It is also the World Tree: golden, fiery (i.e. solar), grows to the very sky. And the underground iron oak, described in the "Question", is, obviously, the lower, "underworld" part of the same tree.
Thunder and lightning are explained in the "Debate", with reference to ancient science ("philosophical art") as the collision of clouds. In the “Question”, angels strike demons with lightning, which corresponds to the myth of the struggle of Perun (later Ilya the Thunderer) with devils. The Sun is described by the Debate as a man in a shining crown. During the day he walks through the sky, and at night he sails through the sea (obviously underground). In the morning griffins, phoenixes and dragons ("helandria") sprinkle it with sea water. Griffins and dragons were depicted on ancient Russian khoros (church chandeliers symbolizing the sun). As symbols of the sun, these creatures were known to the Scythians. Finally, the year is represented in the Debate by a cauldron forged by 12 blacksmith-months. This is reminiscent of East Slavic legends about the holy blacksmith Kozma-Demyan (pagan Svarog) and his 12 assistants.
The Apocrypha "Jerusalem Conversation" is described above. This is just a prosaic retelling of the Poem of the Pigeon Book. It does, however, have original mythological details. A wonderful tree with golden and silver branches and silver roots is described, on which a gyrfalcon sits with a golden bell (future King Solomon and his bride, the daughter of Volot). In the Alexandropol burial mound of the 3rd century. BC e., the last of the Scythian royal burial mounds, a pommel in the form of a trident was found, on which three birds of prey with bells in their beaks sit. Scythian tops (parts of funeral chariots) symbolized the World Tree, and its three branches - three worlds. Hence, in particular, the Sarmatian and Old Russian tamgas-tridents, from which the current coat of arms of Ukraine originates (which became such at the suggestion of M.S. Grushevsky, who identified Kievan Rus with Ukraine). Also interesting is the myth of the Unicorn (Indrik), who defeated the snake, which blocked access to water during a drought. This corresponds exactly to the Vedic myth of Indra and the dragon Vritra.
The cosmogonic theme of the World Tree is also reflected in the Tale of the Cross Tree. The head of the Bogomils, priest Jeremiah, is considered its author. A variant of this story is included in the apocrypha "On the Sea of Tiberias". According to the story, the Tree of Life in Eden consisted of three parts dedicated to Adam, Eve and God. Satan planted him. After the fall of the first people, their parts of the tree fell into the Tigris and Euphrates. Before Adam's death, his son Seth, with the permission of God, took a branch from the tree remaining in Paradise, and with the help of Satan found both fallen parts. From all three parts, he wove a crown in which Adam died and was buried. The burial place - Golgotha - turned into a robber's den. From the crown sprouted a tree, again tripartite. Three crosses were subsequently made from it - for Christ and the thieves crucified with him, evil and good. According to another version, the sinner Lot grew a wonderful tree from Adam's part, and Moses from Evin's. God's part was stolen from paradise with the help of the demons subject to him, the magician king Solomon. Having collected all three parts, he used them to build the Temple in Jerusalem. The history of the life-giving cross, therefore, takes on a very unsightly appearance. This is not surprising, since the Bogomils rejected the veneration of the cross. Nevertheless, the Tree of the Cross here is also a likeness of the World Tree - the Tree of Life. That is why it (as on the Alexandropol pommel) is three-part. This tripartiteness, obviously, symbolizes the three worlds connected by the World Tree. Adam, on the other hand, appears in the apocrypha as a giant, in whose skull a hunter is hiding. Behind the biblical character stands the Indo-European cosmic first man-giant.
This is how the Slavic apocrypha described the history of the emergence of the world and its structure. As you can see, the apocryphal "Book of Genesis" does not at all boil down to a retelling of the corresponding biblical book, moreover, distorted out of ignorance. After all, the apocrypha was created not by ignoramuses, but by the most educated and free-thinking people of their time. Not afraid of church punishments, they supplemented biblical legends, including elements of Slavic pagan myths.
We present here the apocryphal texts (as well as the text of Sygaben, expounding the teachings of the Bogomils) in a somewhat abbreviated form, omitting what is not directly related to cosmogony and cosmology.
The Secret Book (Questions of John at the Secret Supper of the King of Heaven)
1. I, John, your brother, having a share in misfortune and a share in the Kingdom of Heaven, teasing, said, when I reclined on the chest of our Lord Jesus Christ: “Lord, who will betray you?”
And answering, He said: “The one who, together with Me, dipped his hand in the cup. Then Satan entered into him and demanded that he betray Me.”
2. And I said, “Lord, before Satan fell, what glory did he have with your Father?”
And He said to me: “He was in such glory that he controlled the powers of heaven; I was sitting near my Father. He [Satan] ruled over all who followed the Father, and descended from heaven to hell, and ascended from the lowest to the very throne of the invisible Father. He guarded the glory that sets the heavens in motion, and planned to place his throne above the clouds of heaven, and wished to become like the Most High.
And when he descended into the air, he said to the angel of the air: “Open the air gates for me,” he opened the air gates for him. Striving down, he saw an angel who was holding water, and said to him: “Open the water gates for me,” and opened it to him. And, passing through the limits, he saw the whole appearance of the earth, covered with waters. Passing under the ground, he saw two fish lying under the waters; like bulls harnessed to a plow, they held the whole earth, by the command of the invisible Father, from sunset until sunrise. And when he descended even lower, he saw the underworld, which is a kind of fire, and could not descend further because of the flame of the blazing fire.
And Satan returned back, filled with malice, went up to the angel of the air and to the one who was above the waters, and said to them: “All this is mine; if you listen to me, I will set my throne above the clouds and be like the one above; removing water from the height of this firmament, I will fill the rest of the places with seas, and then there will be no water on the face of the earth [ BP: I will place waters over this firmament, and I will gather other waters into wide seas], and I will reign with you forever and ever.”
And having said this to the angels, he ascended to the other angels, up to the fifth heaven, and thus spoke to each of them: “How much do you owe your Lord?” He said to him: "One hundred measures of wheat." And Satan said to him: "Take a pen and ink and write sixty." And he said to another: “And how much do you owe your Lord?” He replied, "One hundred jugs of oil." And Satan said, "Sit down and write fifty." And ascending all the heavens, up to the fifth [ IN.: the fourth] heaven, thus spake, deceiving the angels of the invisible Father.
3. And a voice was heard from the throne of the Father: “What are you doing, denier of the Father, turning away the angels? Doer of sin, quickly do what you have in mind. Then the Father commanded his angels: "Take off their clothes." And they took off their garments and their crowns, all the angels who listened to him [Satan].
And I asked the Lord: “When Satan fell, in what place did he dwell?”
And He answered me: “My Father transformed him for his pride, and the light was taken away from him, and his appearance became like red-hot iron, and his whole appearance became like a man; and he carried away with his tail BP: and had seven tails with which he carried away (Seven tails mean seven sins or vices with which he tempted people: lies, adultery, robbery, theft, blasphemy, envy, discord). - D. D.] a third of the angels of God, and was expelled from the throne of God and from the dispensation of heaven. And descending into this firmament, Satan could not create any peace either for himself or for those who were with him. And he asked the Father: "Have mercy on me, and I will return everything to You." And the Father took pity on him, and gave rest to him and those who were with him, as far as he wished, up to seven days.
4. Then Satan sat down in the firmament and commanded the angel who was above the air and the one who was above the waters, and they lifted up into the air two parts of the waters, and from the third part they created fifty seas, and the separation of the waters was accomplished according to the design of the invisible Father. And again Satan commanded the angel who was above the waters: “Rise on two fish,” and he stood up and raised his third head, and it appeared dry.
When Satan received a crown from an angel who was above the air, from half of it he created his throne, and from half - the light of the sun. And having received the crown from the angel who was above the waters, from half he made the light of the moon, and from the half the light of the day. From stones he created fire, and from fire - all the host and stars [ KR: all Star Wars]. From them he created the angels of the wind, his servants, in the image of the Highest Organizer, and he created thunder, rain, hail and snow, and sent his angels to them - his servants. He commanded the earth to produce all living things: animals, trees and herbs. And he commanded the sea to produce fish and birds of heaven (Feathers and fish do not have a soul, like animals, they do not have a human soul, but birds and fish from water and air, and animals from earth and air receive everything they have. - D. D.)
5. Then Satan came up with and created man in his own image, and commanded the angel of the third [ IN: second] heaven to enter the body of clay. And he took part of it, and made another body, in the form of a woman, and commanded the angel of the second [ BP: first] heaven to enter the body of a woman. The angels wept bitterly, seeing in themselves a mortal image and being not an image similar to it. And Satan commanded to do carnal work in clay bodies, and they did not understand how to do sin. Then the instigator of evil thought with his mind to create paradise, to bring people in and forbid them to leave it.
And the devil planted a reed in the middle of paradise, and so the worthless devil hid his invention, so that they would not understand his deceit [ BP: the devil entered paradise and planted a reed in the middle of it, and out of his spit he created a serpent, and commanded him to remain hidden in the reed]. And he entered, and spoke to them thus: “Eat from every fruit that is in paradise, but from the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil do not eat.” his brother [Adam] desires sin, and fulfilled his desire with Eve in glorification of the serpent [ BP: And then the devil, after emerging from the reed in the form of a serpent, satisfied his lust with Eve through the serpent's tail. (The serpent was not like a serpent, but like a man, because he turned into a beautiful young man and, at the behest of the devil, entered paradise ... and seduced a woman, and got along with her through the tail, because the devil, when he slept, crawled out of his skin, and from her was that serpent was created). Therefore, they are called the sons of the devil and the sons of the serpent who fulfill the desire of the devil, their father, until the end of this age. And again the devil poured out his poison and desire into the angel who was in Adam, giving birth to the sons of the serpent and the sons of the devil, until the end of this age.
6. And then I, John, asked the Lord: “Why do people say that Adam and Eve were created by God and placed in paradise to keep the Father’s purposes, and at the same time claim that they are mortal?”
And the Lord said to me: “Listen, dear John: foolish people say that My Father hypocritically created earthen bodies; but He created all the powers of heaven from the Holy Spirit, these two angels, through their fault, were manifested with clay bodies, and they are called mortals.
And again, I, John, asked the Lord: “How does a person begin his being from the spirit, while remaining in a body of flesh?”
And the Lord said to me: “From the fallen angels of heaven they are conceived in female bodies and receive flesh from the desire of the flesh, and the spirit is born from the spirit, and the flesh from the flesh; this is how Satan's power is exercised in this world and in all generations.
7. [BP: And I asked the Lord: “How long will Satan rule in this world over human essence?”]. And the Lord said to me: "My Father gave him seven days to rule, which are seven centuries."
And I asked the Lord, and said: "What time will it be?"
And He said to me: “When the devil fell away from the glory of the Father and refused the glory of the Father [ BP: desired his glory], he sat down above the clouds and sent his ministers of angels - scorching fire - to the people below, from Adam to Enoch, his servant. He lifted Enoch up into the firmament of heaven and showed his greatness, and ordered to give him a pen and ink, and sitting down, Enoch wrote sixty-seven [ BP: seventy-six] books. And Satan commanded that Enoch should carry them to the ground and give them to his sons. And Enoch placed the books on the ground, and gave them to his sons, and began to teach them how to perform sacrifices and sacraments against the law, and thus the Kingdom of Heaven hid itself before people.
And the Lord also said: “See that I am your God, and there is no other God besides Me. That is why My Father sent Me into this world so that I would explain to people so that they would understand the evil nature of the devil. And at the time when the devil knew that I had descended from heaven into the world, he sent an angel, took wood from three trees for My crucifixion and gave it to Moses, and to this day it is preserved. He [Moses] foretold the Deity.”<…>
(The Secret Book of the Albigenses // Science and Religion. 1992. No. 3, 4.
D. Angelov and others. Bogomilstvoto in Bulgaria, Byzantium and Western Europe in Izvori. Sofia, 1967. S. 99-107. Per. E. Lazareva, D. Angelova.)
Evfimy Zigaben. dogmatic armor
They [the Bogomils] say that the good God and Father, after having created thousands of angels, had Samael second after himself and the main ruler, who had the same appearance and attire as God, and sat on the throne at His right hand. He was awarded the second place after Him in honor, and from this, intoxicated and insanely proud, he planned to separate himself from God. When the opportunity arose, he tried to rebel against some of God's servants, inciting them to try to throw off the burden of their service, to follow him and rebel against the Father.
In support of this stupidity, they refer to the parable in the Gospel of Luke about the dishonesty of the steward, who reduced the debts to his debtors. It was Samael, and that parable is written about him. After that, the said angels, tempted by the fact that they would be relieved from a difficult service, and deceived by other promises, since he said to them: “I will raise my throne to the clouds and be like the Most High,” went over to his side and took part in the conspiracy. But God opened it and cast them all down to earth at once.
Samael was in a difficult position and could not sit above the waters (because, they say, the earth was invisible and unorganized). Since he possessed the image of God, the garment and the power to create, he called together the forces that fell with him and breathed courage into them, saying that since God created heaven and earth (“In the beginning God created heaven and earth”), then he, as the second god will create a second heaven and everything else. And he said: "Let there be firmament!" And it became so. “Let there be such and such,” and that was all. And when he arranged a second heaven and separated the waters from the surface of the earth, he collected them in the places that he chose, as described in the book about the creation of the world, he adorned the earth, decorated it and determined it with his dwelling and fallen forces.
After that he created the body of Adam from dust mixed with water, and stood upright. Water ran down his right leg through his big toe and writhed along the ground. Thus the image of the serpent was created. Samael collected his spirit and breathed life into the body he created, but his spirit leaked out through empty space and, in the same way, down his thumb, and turned into a sinuous drop. She came to life and, when separated from the finger, crawled. Therefore, the snake is quick-witted and endowed with reason, since the spirit of Samael was breathed into it as a soul. After the new creator saw that and realized that he had labored in vain, he went to the good Father and asked him to send him a soul, promising that a person would be common when he received life, and that his offspring would fill the places in the heavenly villages, of which there were the angels are cast out. And God, since he is kind, agreed and breathed a soul into the statues of Samael - and then the person found a living soul, which illuminated the body and adorned it with many charms.
After Eve was similarly sculpted by him - and shone with the same radiance, Samael, filled with envy, repented and planned to destroy his own creation. Therefore, he took possession of the serpent and seduced Eve, consorted with her and made her pregnant, so that his seed, which he cast out, would possess Adam's seed and, as far as possible, destroy it and prevent it from increasing and multiplying. Feeling soon the pains of childbirth, she gave birth to Cain from the connection with Samael and his [Cain's] twin sister, like him, named Kalmena. Adam, who felt jealous, also got along with Eve and gave birth to Abel, whom Cain killed and thereby initiated the murders. That is why the apostle John said that Cain was from the serpent.
But after Samael shamelessly created a temptation through a serpent over Eve, he was deprived of the divine appearance and clothing, the gift of creation and the divine name (since before that he was also called god). Deprived of all this, he became gloomy and disgusting. But the good God subdued his anger and allowed him to be the ruler and master of what he himself created after he fell from heaven.
He possessed everything and ruled over everything. People were mercilessly oppressed and destroyed cruelly, only a small part of them reached the Kingdom of God and fell into the number of angels. Finally, God was able to understand that he was deceived and tolerates untruth, because after he gave the most valuable part of man and completed the most useful of creatures, he lost most of the human being. As soon as He took pity on the soul, which He Himself breathed in, that He suffers so miserably and is oppressed, He canceled the punishment and, after 5500 years, extracted the word from His heart, that is, “Son and God”, therefore He said: “A good word has poured out of My heart” . And he showed his own deeds. "I will show," He said, "the deeds of the king." Therefore, in the Gospel he said: "If I do not the works of My Father, do not believe Me."
Heretics assure that that "Word and Son" is the Archangel Michael. “And his name will be called,” it is said, “the messenger of the great council.” He was called an archangel, because he was more godlike than all angels, and Jesus, since he healed every disease and every sorrow, and Christ, since his body was anointed. He descended from heaven and entered through the right ear into the Virgin, and acquired flesh, which looked ghostly, as if it were made of matter and similar to the human body. In reality, it was immaterial and divine, and again went out from where it entered, without the Virgin sensing his entrance or exit, but simply found him in the morning in a cave, wrapped in swaddling clothes.
And He fully completed the works done in the fleshly form: he expounded what is contained in the Gospels, pretended to be subject to human suffering when he was crucified on the cross and died, and rose again, completed the scene, revealed the drama and threw off the mask; seized the apostate, chained him in thick and heavy chains, imprisoned him in Tartarus, when he took away the particle “silt” from his name, since he was called not only Samael, but also Satanail, and called him Satan. Finally, after having fulfilled the mission entrusted to Him, he returned to his Father and sat down at His right hand on the throne, from where Satanael was cast out, then he entered where he came from, and returned to his Father, in whose womb he was originally. When he taught his disciples in the world, he gave them the Holy Spirit and the gospel teaching that the Word is the Son of the Father, and the Spirit is the Word of the Son.<…>And God the Father stood with three faces and was different, for in the middle was a human face, in the image and likeness of which man was created. Light shone on both sides of the Father's head, on the right of the Son, on the left of the Spirit. After that, God the Father was transformed into a trinity. Before that, he was alone. A similar image, as already mentioned, had Satanael. Therefore, when he created man, he said: "Let us create man in Our image and after Our likeness." It is in the likeness of his Father.
Thus spoke the aged in his evil days, their great teacher and spear-bearer of those apostles.<…>
1. It is said that the heavenly Father has three types, as mentioned above, and is many-sided. They also say about Him that He gave birth to the Son, and the Son gave birth to the Holy Spirit, and he gave birth to Judas and the apostles. And they cite the gospel word: "Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judah and his brothers." They assure that it is written about the Holy Trinity.
2. It is said that the Son and the Holy Spirit returned again to the Father from whom they originated, and that He, who before that, for 5533 years, was in three forms, now became in a single image, since He is incorporeal and endowed with a human image.<…>
3. They say that the Son is the Word of the Father, and the Word of the Son is the Holy Spirit.<…>
4. They say that Samael is the Son of the Father, and he is older than the Son and the Word, and was the strongest as the firstborn, and that they were brothers from one Father.<…>
5. It is said that the Son and the Word opposed themselves to the former position of Samael and deprived him of his birthright and throne.
6. They say that a person is common to God and the devil, and his soul is breathed in by God, therefore some of the people live from God, while others from the devil.
7. It is said that the serpent, the only one of the dumb animals, has intelligence and intelligence, although imperfect, and is called cunning in Holy Scripture, for the soul was breathed in by Samael, which passed from Adam to him (the serpent), so that he would protect and contain it.
8. They say that Cain is the son of Samael, who seduced Eve through the serpent, while Abel is the son of Adam.<…>Therefore, the child is often called a student, and his father is a teacher.
9. It is said that there was neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit for 3500 years. Since then they have acquired a beginning and a name.
(D. Angelov and others. Bogomilstvoto in Bulgaria, Byzantium and Western Europe in Izvori. Sofia, 1967, pp. 74–85. Per. E. Lazareva, D. Angelova.)
A word about the conception of heaven and earth
“Before the earth was the Lord of Hosts in three mosquitoes (chambers) in the air in great beauty, a beginningless king, unknown, secret, perpetual, uncreated, ineffable, unborn, unbegotten, appropriate, and invisible, and impalpable, immortal and incorporeal, and then was the light from the presence of the Lord is seven times brighter than this light. His robes were white, like radiant light from the face of the Lord. And the Lord of hosts sat in three chambers in the air, on the throne of supreme glory. And the Lord of Hosts, the beginningless Father, thought to himself, thus. He torn away from the heart and gave birth to the beloved Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. From his mouth, his Holy Spirit sent out on him in the form of a dove. By these three chambers the Lord is triune and without beginning, the Son, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit. On those three chambers there is a beginningless cross, and with that cross the Lord God foreshadowed the crucifixion of His Son Jesus Christ the Nazarene of Judea. The Holy Spirit rests in the heart, proceeds from the Father to all who believe in His name. For the Father is neither conceived nor begotten, but the Son is begotten and not created, the Holy Spirit is neither created nor begotten, but proceeds from the Father.
Kozinkin Oleg Yurievich
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author Sventsitskaya Irina SergeevnaNew Testament and Apocrypha
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author Team of authorsSlavic cosmogonic legends The Slavic apocrypha, in which the world is jointly created by good and evil gods, has baffled the "borrowing school". The Apocrypha, figuratively speaking, turned out to be only the marginal bays of a vast sea of similar myths and legends recorded
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From the book Encyclopedia of Slavic Culture, Writing and Mythology author Kononenko Alexey AnatolievichApocrypha Ancient beliefs, stories and traditions combined with Christian legends became Apocrypha. In the apocrypha of Christian times, the pre-Christian pagan faith continued to live. Some Apocrypha were written down, but most are oral and
Apocrypha
Apocrypha - legends about biblical characters that were not included in canonical (recognized by the church) biblical books, discussions on topics that worried medieval readers: about the struggle in the world of good and evil, about the ultimate fate of mankind, descriptions of heaven and hell or unknown lands "at the end of the world."
Most of the apocrypha are entertaining plot stories that struck the imagination of readers either with everyday details about the life of Christ, the apostles, prophets unknown to them, or with miracles and fantastic visions. The church tried to fight apocryphal literature. Special lists of banned books were compiled - indexes. However, in judgments about which works are unconditionally "renounced books", that is, unacceptable for reading by orthodox Christians, and which are only apocryphal (literally apocryphal - secret, intimate, that is, designed for a reader experienced in theological matters), medieval censors did not there was unity.
The indices varied in composition; in collections, sometimes very authoritative, we also find apocryphal texts next to canonical biblical books and lives. Sometimes, however, even here they were overtaken by the hand of zealots of piety: in some collections, the pages with the text of the Apocrypha are torn out or their text is crossed out. Nevertheless, there were a lot of apocryphal works, and they continued to be copied throughout the centuries-old history of ancient Russian literature.
Patristics
Patristics, that is, the writings of those Roman and Byzantine theologians of the 3rd-7th centuries who enjoyed special authority in the Christian world and were revered as "fathers of the church": John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Athanasius of Alexandria and others.
In their works, the dogmas of the Christian religion were explained, the Holy Scriptures were interpreted, Christian virtues were affirmed and vices were denounced, various worldview questions were raised. At the same time, works of both instructive and solemn eloquence had considerable aesthetic value.
The authors of the solemn words intended to be pronounced in the church during the divine service were perfectly able to create an atmosphere of festive ecstasy or reverence, which was supposed to embrace the faithful when remembering the glorified event of church history, they perfectly mastered the art of rhetoric, which Byzantine writers inherited from antiquity: not by chance, many of the Byzantine theologians studied with pagan rhetors.
In Rus', John Chrysostom (d. 407) was especially famous; from the words belonging to him or attributed to him, entire collections were compiled, bearing the names "Chrysostom" or "Chrystostruy".
The language of liturgical books is especially colorful and rich in paths. Let's give some examples. In service menaias (a collection of services in honor of the saints, arranged according to the days when they are venerated) of the 11th century. we read: “A bunch of thought vines has ripened, but it has been cast into the winepress of torment, you have poured out tenderness for us wine.” A literal translation of this phrase will destroy the artistic image, so we will only explain the essence of the metaphor.
The saint is compared to a mature bunch of vines, but it is emphasized that this is not a real, but a spiritual (“mental”) vine; the tormented saint is likened to grapes that are crushed in a “winepress” (pit, vat) in order to “exude” juice for making wine;
A few more metaphorical images from the same service menaias of the 11th century: “From the depths of malice, the last tip of the height of virtue, like an eagle, flying high, gloriously ascended, praised Matthew!”; “Strained prayer bows and arrows and a fierce snake, a creeping snake, you killed thou, blessed, from that harm the holy herd was delivered”; “The towering sea, charming polytheism, gloriously passed through the storm of divine rule, a quiet haven for all being drowned.” “Prayer bows and arrows”, “a storm of polytheism”, which raises waves on the “charming [insidious, deceitful] sea” of vain life - all these are metaphors designed for a reader who has a developed sense of the word and sophisticated figurative thinking, who is excellently versed in traditional Christian symbolism.
And as can be judged from the original works of Russian authors - chroniclers, hagiographers, creators of teachings and solemn words, this high art was fully accepted by them and implemented in their work.
Speaking about the system of genres of ancient Russian literature, one more important circumstance should be noted: for a long time, until the 17th century, this literature did not allow literary fiction. Old Russian authors wrote and read only about what was in reality: about the history of the world, countries, peoples, about generals and kings of antiquity, about holy ascetics. Even transmitting outright miracles, they believed that it could be that there were fantastic creatures inhabiting unknown lands through which Alexander the Great passed with his troops, that in the darkness of caves and cells demons appeared to holy hermits, then tempting them in the form of harlots , then frightening in the guise of beasts and monsters.
Talking about historical events, ancient Russian authors could tell different, sometimes mutually exclusive versions: some say so, the chronicler or chronicler will say, and others say otherwise. But in their eyes, this was just the ignorance of informants, so to speak, a delusion from ignorance, however, the idea that this or that version could simply be invented, composed, and even more so composed for purely literary purposes - such an idea to older writers, apparently, seemed unbelievable. This non-recognition of literary fiction also, in turn, determined the system of genres, the range of subjects and topics to which a work of literature could be devoted. The fictional hero will come to Russian literature relatively late - not earlier than the 15th century, although even at that time he will still disguise himself as a hero of a distant country or of ancient times for a long time. Frank fiction was allowed only in one genre - the genre of the apologist, or parable. It was a miniature story, each of whose characters and the whole plot existed only to illustrate an idea visually. It was an allegory story, and that was its meaning.
Conclusion:
In ancient Russian literature, which did not know fiction, historical in big or small, the world itself appeared as something eternal, universal, where the events and actions of people are determined by the very system of the universe, where the forces of good and evil are always fighting, a world whose history is well known ( after all, for each event mentioned in the annals, the exact date was indicated - the time elapsed from the “creation of the world”!) And even the future was predestined: prophecies about the end of the world, the “second coming” of Christ and the Last Judgment awaiting all the people of the earth were widespread.
This general ideological attitude could not but affect the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules, to determine once and for all what should be depicted and how.
Old Russian literature, like other medieval Christian literature, is subject to a special literary and aesthetic regulation - the so-called literary etiquette.
One of the genres of ancient Russian literature is the apocrypha (from the Greek "apocryphos" - hidden secret), writings that treat the subjects contained in the Holy Scriptures, but are not recognized as inspired and prohibited by the Church. The first apocrypha arose in the Jewish sects of the Samaritans, Qumranites (Essenes). In early Christian times, Judeo-Christian and Christian-pagan apocrypha appeared, revered in heretical groups on a par with the canonical books of Holy Scripture, and sometimes even higher than them. The distributors of the Apocrypha were the Gnostics, Paulicians, Manichaeans and others. Already from the first centuries of Christianity, apocryphal literature in various languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic) was very widespread.
With the advent of Cyrillic writing in Rus' and the baptism of Rus', along with other translated works, apocrypha also came, immediately occupying a strong position in ancient Russian literature, despite the existence of a number of factors clearly designed to delay their distribution - books, as a rule, were copied by monks under the supervision of abbots or in the princely scriptoria, where the scribes were again Chernorizians. Nevertheless, the apocrypha was distributed, if not in writing, then orally, in epic or song forms, which turned out to be even more accessible and easy to remember for the people.
The reason for the great interest that the apocrypha aroused is that, absorbing fairy-tale mythological elements in different countries, they represented a kind of Christian mythology that corresponded to the level of thinking of newly converted Christians, as well as of the long-converted, but little cultured masses. Christian teaching, destroying pagan mythology, created a certain gap in the thinking of the people, accustomed to myths rich in various images, incidents, and fantastic elements. Apocrypha met the unsatisfied habitual requests for the mysterious: they supplemented in detail the history of the creation of the world with purely fabulous features, connected and continued the fate of Biblical characters.
The distributors of the apocrypha were, as a rule, Russian pilgrims, called kaliks (cf. Greek "calicon" - sandal or Latin "caliga" - boot) or pilgrims (cf. Lat. "peregrinor" - wander), in the 12-13 centuries whole retinues who went to the Holy Land through the Balkan Peninsula and became infected there with various apocryphal traditions that existed there in the Bogomil sects.
According to some researchers, the institution of "transient kaliks" is not as simple as it seems at first glance. This is a universal, special, semi-mystical phenomenon in the history of the Middle Ages. The very use of words of non-Slavic origin in Russian writing associated with kaliks indicates that the appearance of kaliks was caused by foreign practice, which also found a response in Rus'. Pilgrims from different countries were not isolated from each other, but were constantly in close active contact. Professor I. I. Sreznevsky in his article on the “circle of kaliks” (Proceedings of the Archaeological Society, Vol. 4) proves the identity of the appearance of Western pilgrims and ancient Russian kaliks.
The Church of Ireland played a special role in the development of the Kalik-Pilgrims, whose traditions spread very widely throughout Europe.
In the Irish Church, the institution of pilgrims stems from the religious worldview of the ancient Celts; some researchers note that the passion for travel distinguished the Celts from all other peoples of Western Europe. Druidism, the ancient religion of the Celts, had a special semi-priestly class of bards who roamed the world and sang the gods-heroes in verse. With the penetration of Christianity to the Celts, these traditions prompted their descendants to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land.
The fact that in narrow literary sources the kaliks are described not at all as beggars, crippled wanderers, but as “strong men, handsome men, dressed in sable fur coats and maggots”, suggests that kaliks were rich people (not all, of course, because the word “crippled” came to us with a completely different connotation, there were also really poor kaliks), capable of subsidizing translation and scripting activities.
“Kaliki passers-by” undoubtedly brought with them the manuscripts of the Apocrypha, which they could easily get in Constantinople and other places on the Balkan Peninsula, including the holy Mount Athos. Bulgaria, lying on the way to Constantinople and Jerusalem, not only possessed a large stock of translated apocrypha, but was also the birthplace of a significant number of apocrypha of its own origin.
The number of apocrypha in the West and in Rus' is not completely identical, this is explained not only by the fact that some of them, especially those of Greek and Hebrew origin, could accidentally not get to the West and vice versa, but also by the fact that new ones arose on Slavic and further Russian soil. original apocrypha.
Due to the connection of their origin with semi-pagan and heretical communities (and even with the “initiated” Kaliks who professed no one knows what faith), the apocrypha carried a lot of things that were directly contrary to the teachings of the Church, although one can see a positive element in this - by their heresy, the apocrypha, as it were stimulated the activities of the ancient Russian theologians of that time, forcing them to write accusatory treatises against the apocrypha and to compile entire indexes of the apocrypha as "forsaken books", thereby giving rise to the beginning of ancient Russian theology.
But the apocrypha was not unconditionally forbidden, they were read by believers (it can be compared with how believers now read near-Orthodox books with dates of the imminent end of the world, about a bar code on goods, as supposedly a sign of the Antichrist, and so on) for the reason that in some of them really contained pious traditions or morally valuable instructions.
The history of indexes of books forbidden, "renounced", begins in our country from the 11th century and extends almost to the end of the 18th century. The oldest of the Russian lists refers to 1073 (in Svyatoslav's Izbornik), and one of the last is in the Cyril Book of 1644. Since the 17th century, with the development of literature, secular superstitious books have appeared in the lists. In the Middle Ages, the "books of renunciation" were also classified as "magic books", which differed from the apocrypha in that they contained incantations, omens and divination.
But let's move on to a critical commentary on some of the ancient Russian apocrypha.
A special place in ancient Russian literature is occupied by a cycle of legends about Adam. Here are some of them: "Adam" (otherwise, "Adaml Covenant"); "A word about the confession of Evin and about Adam's illness"; "The Tale of How God Created Adam"; "The Word about Adam and Christ's Incarnation".
The first man Adam for the ancient Russian scribe is, first of all, a generalized image of a person in general, and it is no coincidence that he is endowed with cosmic features: Adam is compared with nature, with parts of the world, with all elements of the visible world; its features and properties are projected onto the entire Universe.
The “Tale of how God created Adam” tells about the creation of Adam from eight parts: from the earth-body, from stone-bones, from the sea-blood, etc.
When God went to take Adam's eyes from the sun, Satan soiled all of Adam with filth. God created a dog out of this mud and ordered it to guard Adam, and Himself left. At this time, Satan pierced all of Adam with sticks, because of this, diseases appeared among people. The dualism of this episode shows the Bogomil influence, although the Bogomils, like the Gnostics, did not believe that God created matter at all.
In the apocrypha "On the Confession of Evin," Eve tells the descendants gathered near the dying Adam about life in paradise and exile. The story differs from the biblical one by the addition of a number of details: the archangel Michael teaches people physical labor, but when Adam begins to cultivate the earth, Satan comes and declares: “Heaven and paradise are God's, and the earth is mine; if you want to cultivate the land, then give me the manuscript.” Adam gives the manuscript, which he then redeems with Eve for a long time with fasting and prayer.
A special place among the apocrypha is occupied by the "Word of Adam in Hell to Lazarus", depicting what happened in hell before the death of Christ on the Cross. The patriarchs and Adam are awaiting redemption by Christ, Adam tells David to play the harp, then, when Lazarus should already return to earth, Adam asks him to convey to Christ his groaning about the endless torment with which he pays for life on earth.
The next group includes apocrypha borrowed from Judaism. This is, first of all, the "Book of Enoch". Quite a few lists of the 14th-16th centuries of this book have been preserved. Like most other Old Testament apocrypha, The Book of Enoch was created in the late Jewish environment, around the first century BC. The book consists of descriptions of the seven heavens, to which two angels lift the righteous. It is noteworthy that there are angels in the second heaven, guarded until the “immeasurable judgment” for the sin of apostasy from God. In the fourth heaven, the secret of the movement of the sun and moon is revealed to Enoch. The calendar described in this case, according to the studies of N. A. Meshchersky, is identical with the chronology of the Qumran communities. The author of this apocrypha assimilates to Enoch the role of the inventor of Hebrew writing, sciences, and especially astrology. The Slavic text of the Book of Enoch was apparently translated from the Hebrew original.
The ancient Russian intellectual in literature like the Book of Enoch was attracted, first of all, by the description of heaven, heaven and hell, information about the origin and structure of the world - everything about which there are no such detailed, vivid descriptions in the Bible and known at that time on Rus' translations of the works of Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. The angelology, well developed among the Qumranites and reflected in the Book of Enoch, could not but be of interest. So, it tells about angels whose names are not found in the books of Holy Scripture: Vereveel is known only from the Book of Enoch; Semeil (Shammael), Raguel (Razziel) - were considered in the Jewish tradition as the angels of magic and Kabbalistics.
The Apocrypha “The Revelation (Apocalypse) of Baruch” belongs to the same genre of “ascents to heaven” as the “Book of Enoch”, but unlike it, “The Revelation of Baruch” is translated from Greek. It is assumed that the work has inserts that were once independent plots, for example, the legend about the origin of wine, which is clearly Bogomil in nature. Thus, the angels plant trees in Paradise: Gabriel the apple tree, Uriel the walnut, Raphael the kodul (?), and Satanail the vine. “... And I asked Baruch: “Tell me, what is this tree from which Adam and Eve ate?” And (the angel) said: “The vine that Satanael planted. Therefore God cursed it and its fruit." It is interesting to note that in this part the “Revelation of Baruch” approaches some teachings against drunkenness (for example, with the “Teachings of the Philosopher, Bishop of Belgorod): “There is still in it (the vine) from that malice. And if someone drinks without measure, then it will only fall into sin: brother will not have mercy on brother, father of son, son of father. Because of a lot of drunkenness, there is robbery, fornication, everything evil that the Lord hates.
The apocrypha, bearing a Jewish connotation, also includes the Tale of Solomon and Kitovras. This apocrypha is very close to one of the legends included in the Talmud, in which the place of Kitovras is taken by the spirit of Ashmedai. In the name "Kitovras" they usually see an alteration of the Greek ketauro-centaur, but appearing in apocrypha under the name of Kitovras does not at all resemble Polkan (from half a horse) - a fabulous animal of Russian myths, corresponding to the Greek centaur; Apocrypha Kitovras is a demon who drinks entire wells. Those sent by Solomon fill the wells with wine and honey and put on the intoxicated Kitovras a chain with the inscription of the Name of God. Kitovras knows the future: he hears how a man buys himself boots for seven years, and laughs, because this man will soon die. God commanded man to hew stone to build the Temple without iron. Kitovras taught him how to get a wonderful stone "shamir", with which this is possible. Solomon, wanting to test the strength of Kitovras, removed the magic chain from him, and Kitovras, feeling free, hit Solomon with a wing and threw him to the ends of the world, where the wise men could barely find him.
This apocrypha shows the display of Kabbalistic ideas about the magical power of the Name of God, written and pronounced in the correct and complete transcription (shem-gamephorosh).
"The Conversation of the Three Hierarchs" is a question-answer apocrypha containing short, often very tricky questions on a variety of topics. Some of the themes of this conversation are indeed borrowed from the writings of Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.
As already noted, the apocrypha is characterized by an abundance of miracles and fantastic images. So, for example, in the apocryphal Chronicles of Jeremiah, it is told how the young man Abimelech, returning to the city with a basket of figs, sat down in the shade of a tree and fell asleep for 66 years, but the figs he collected miraculously remained so fresh that of them still dripping juice. The apocrypha "Agapy's Journey to Paradise" tells how the pious abbot Agapius set off in search of paradise. Paradise is described as a wonderful garden filled with radiance, "seven times brighter than sunlight." The bread received by Agapius in paradise nourishes him for forty years.
The apocrypha we have considered are far from all of the vast heritage that has come down to our times.
In conclusion, it should be said about the influence of the Apocrypha on church life, other literary genres and art.
In the middle of the 16th century, some apocrypha, not marked with the forbidden index, were included in such a strictly ecclesiastical-official collection as Metropolitan Makarii's "Father Menaion" and in "Palea". Apocrypha influenced many poems, as well as the semi-folk story of the 17th century "On the mountain of misfortune."
"The Virgin's journey through torment" was reflected in "The Brothers Karomazov" by F. M. Dostoevsky, where, in a conversation with Alyosha, Ivan Karomazov speaks of this apocrypha: "... pictures and courage are not lower than Dantov's."
The Apocrypha provided rich material for iconography, handwritten miniatures, and especially for fresco painting.
Sources and literature
- 1. Bible. M. 1976.
The meeting was attended by the rector of the Minsk Theological Seminary, Archbishop Gury of Novogrudok and Slonim, the secretary of the Academic Council, Protodeacon Georgy Pshenko, the head of the Department of Church History, Archpriest Alexander Romanchuk, and Vice-Rector for Research, Associate Professor A.V. Slesarev.
