Review of the Book: Pravdolyubov S., archpriest. Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (History. Poetics. Theology). Moscow: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Troitskoye-Golenishchevo, 2023. 480 p.

Abstract

The author reviews the publication of the master’s thesis of Archpriest Sergius Pravdolyubov The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (History. Poetics. Theology), defended in 1987. The first half of the review describes the contents of the book and the second one contains critical remarks. The book itself is devoted to the reconstruction of the biography and creative heritage of St. Andrew of Crete, as well as his main work — the Great Canon. The saint’s life path is scrupulously reconstructed and the features of his homiletic and hymnography heritage are analyzed. The book under review consists of a preface, five chapters, research results, conclusions, a list of abbreviations, a list of the works of St. Andrew of Crete, a bibliography, an index of the shelfmarks of the mentioned manuscripts, an index of names, a table of contents of the volumes of the original dissertation and the contents of the book under review. This edition is a reproduction of the original dissertation, with the exception of a few minor changes. In the first chapter, Archpriest Sergius examines the biography of the saint and briefly characterizes his legacy. The second chapter describes the history of the genre of the hymnographic canon and the putative role of St. Andrew in it. The third chapter discusses poetics and various rhetorical techniques used in the Great Canon. The fourth chapter of the book examines intertextuality in the Great Canon. In the fifth chapter, Archpriest Sergius describes the history of the inclusion of the Great Canon in the divine services, as well as related texts: the kontakion and ikos, troparia to St. Mary of Egypt and St. Andrew of Crete, troparia at the “Beatitudes”, and other elements. The book ends with an extensive reference apparatus and an extremely valuable “List of the works of St. Andrew of Crete”. This list contains all known homilies, full canons, two-ode and three-ode canons, as well as stichera authored by, or spuriously attributed to the saint. The critical part of the review is mainly focused on the problem of the history of the canon genre in the Ancient Iadgari, which is not touched upon at all in the presented book. The remaining remarks are devoted to various unaccounted by Fr. Sergius old and recent studies on the legacy of St. Andrew of Crete: for example, the “List of the Works of St. Andrew of Crete” is supplemented with positions from AHG and CPG.

Keywords

• archpriest sergius pravdolyubov
• great canon
• andrew of crete
• hymnography
• worship service