The chronology of the “Genealogy of Adam through Noah” (Gen 5) in the edited Slavonicrussian Pentateuch of the 15th century: on the origins of Calendric controversy with the “Judaizers”

Abstract

This article analyses the glosses and emendations in the “Genealogy of Adam through Noah” (Gen 5) from the Edited Slavonic-Russian Pentateuch, known from copies since the end of the 15th century, in the wide context of eschatological expectations ca. 1492, i.e., in 7000 according to the Creation Era of Constantinople, when both Eastern Slavic Orthodox and Eastern European Jewish bookmen were waiting the end of the eorld (the Second Coming for the Christians and the Geulah for the Jews correspondingly). However, the chronology of the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text (and the Vulgate) does not coincide: the latter is rather shorter and, therefore, the year 7000 seems to be far from that time. The “Genealogy” in the Edited Pentateuch also used the chronology of the Masoretic Text rather than the Vulgate, as the names of the antediluvian patriarchs in the forms excluding any Greek of Latin mediation were written on the margins of the manuscript. Thus, the Edited Slavonic- Russian Pentateuch could be hypothesised as the “Russian Judaisers’ Pentateuch”.

Keywords

• heresy of “Judaisers”
• Jewish-Christian relations
• 15th century
• Biblical studies
• textual criticism
• eschatology
• chronology