On one unpublished work by saint Dimitry of Rostov

Abstract

The Menologion, or the Book of Lives of Saints is one of the most signifi cant works by St. Dimitry, Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl, which was published in four volumes in Kiev within his lifetime (1689–1705) and republished many times after his death. The Martyrology belongs to the hagiographic genre as well as the Menologion (full Russian title: Мартиролог или мученикословие, житиа святых по мѣсяцех и числах въкратцѣ собранныя, в себѣ содержащое). The work on this text began when St. Dimitry was in the Ukraine, in the Monastery of the Savior in Novgorod Seversky, in 1700. This was the period during which, on one hand the writing and publication of the Menologion was in progress, and, on the other hand, it was the period directly preceding St. Dimitry’s move from the Ukraine to Russia. However, for a number of reasons, Dimitry Rostovsky did not complete this opus and only wrote brief Lives for September. The present paper exposes this work by Dimitry Rostovsky to the scientifi c community. It has been critically analysed and prepared for publication. The paper also raises the problem of unresearched and unpublished works by the Rostov Metropolitan that are being discovered in manuscript collections. These unpublished texts include several sermons given by the Metropolitan in the Ukraine, in Moscow, and in Rostov, as well as plays, poems, letters, hymnographic (services, canons) and chronographic texts, etc. The Martyrology only exists in one authored copy kept at the State Historical Museum (Synodal collection, 811), among unedited non-classifi ed materials collected in Rostov in 1704. When Dimitry of Rostov began to work on the Martyrology, he aimed to make its contents accesible to the general public. This was necessary, because the complete Menologion would be unaff ordable to the majority of people. Moreover, the texts within the Menologion, as opposed to brief lives of saints, were lengthy and detailed, which made them cumbersome to read. In contrast to the Menologion, the goal of the Martyrology was to cover all commemorations of each day to provide the reader with the opportunity to know and commemorate all saints. The monthly list of the Martyrology was clearly based on the Menologion, but it has its particular features. Dimitry curtailed the texts and tried to make the texts not only instructive, but also engaging.

Keywords

• Saint Limitry of Rostov
• hagiograhpy
• Menaion
• Martyrology
• source criticism
• unpublished text