Exegetical Preaching by Kirill Turovskij: The Sermon on the Paralytic

Abstract

Through the analysis of how biblical quotations function within the Slovo o rasslablennom (Sermon on the Paralytic) by Kirill Turovskij (1130–1182), the author aims at verifying the validity and stability of the “functional model” she previously deduced from the analysis of the same author’s Slovo na verbnoe voskresenʹe (Sermon for Palm Sunday). Textual analysis demonstrates that both writings differ from the functional model shared by sermons of Bishop Luka Židjata († 1059), Metropolitan Nikifor I († 1121), Hegumen Moisej († 1187), and Bishop Serapion Vladimirskij († 1275) in that they pursue a chiefly exegetical aim. This aim, achieved through a particular “liturgical-exegetical” function of biblical quotations, recalls the patristic exegetical model. Given the liturgical mediation of Patristic literature, the author identifies a concrete example of such a model in Homily 36 on the Gospel by John Chrysostom.

Keywords

• predicazione medievale slava orientale
• Kirill Turovskij
• Slovo o rasslablennom
• citazioni bibliche
• tradizione liturgica
• tradizione patristica