Unknown Prayers from the Old Russian Parchment Psalter of the Studite Era

Abstract

This article examines the specifics of the set of prayers in the Old Russian psalters of the Studite era (before the early fifteenth century). The psalters of this period were distinguished by a wide variety of prayers after cathismata (in contrast to the modern psalters with a fixed set of prayers). Pre-revolutionary researchers, such as archimandrite Amphilochius (Sergievsky-Kazantsev) and V. Pogorelov and modern scholars G. R. Parpulov and priest Ilia Shugaev, examined the issue. However, most of these researchers considered not all but only part of the Old Russian psalters. Since many Old Russian prayers remain unexplored and unpublished, this issue is still relevant for scholarship. This article is devoted to the parchment manuscript of the Typographic Collection No. 28 (mid-fourteenth century) kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. The set of prayers of this psalter is considered against the background of a wide range of Old Russian psalters, horologia, and liturgical collections. The manuscript contains 17 prayers. Only three prayers are now in liturgical use; three prayers are typical of Old Russian psalters and horologia; four prayers are less common and can only be found in some cases. The rest are either rare or (partially or completely) unique. Five of these 17 prayers make part of the early printed editions of the Psalter (1632 and 1636). The Greek original of some prayers is known (in particular, two prayers originate from Pandektos by monk Antiochus), while some of the rest may be the creation of a Slavic author. The published text of four prayers from this manuscript (after cathismata 9, 11, 18, and 20) has never been examined previously. In terms of their message, the prayers are diverse as their tone varies from repentance to praise, with a pronounced didactic note. The author skillfully and professionally quotes the Bible and the Triodion (prayer after cathisma 11) and conveys the “sobbing” intonations of lamentation (prayer after cathisma 18).