The Acrostic Version of the Slavonic Translation of Two George Skylitzes’ Canons for St. John of Rila
The modern liturgical “Green Menaia”, published by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1978–1989 and reprinted with additions in 2002, as part of the Service of St. John of Rilа (August 18) includes a Slavonic translation of the complete Octoechos cycle of canons for this Bulgarian saint, composed in Greek by George Skylitzes in the second half of the 12th century (the canon of the 1st tone is included in the service, and the rest are given in the appendix to it). In addition, the same canon of the 8th tone, but without the rest of the canons of the cycle, is contained in the service to the Transfer of the relics of St. John of Rila (October 19) of the same Menaia. The Greek original of this cycle remains unknown, and its medieval Slavonic translation (originated in Bulgaria) is known from merely two complete manuscript copies of the Rila Monastery, although individual canons are read in more manuscripts. The scholarly edition of the cycle was produced by L. Nenova in 2012, therefore the “Green Menaia” should be considered their first (although not scholarly, a liturgical) publication. Here, the text of the Slavonic translation is edited, and in the first and last canons arbitrary Slavonic acrostics are additionally inscribed, which have nothing to do with the textual history of these canons: ДИВЕН БОГ ВО СВЯТИХ СВОИХ БОГ ИСРАИЛЕВ (the canon of the 1st tone); РАДУИСЯ ИОАННЕ СВЕТИЛНИЧЕ ПРЕСВЕТЛИИ (the canon of the 8th tone). The acrostics were composed by rearranging words and making short additions at the beginning of the troparia, therefore this version should be considered a separate (acrostic) edition of the Slavonic translation of George Skylitzes’ canons for St. John of Rila. At least one of the two Rila manuscripts must have served as a basis for this version, created specifically for the “Green Menaia”. Despite its late origin, it clearly demonstrates the possibility of a secondary introduction of a Slavic acrostic into the Slavonic translation of a Byzantine canon, which is to be considered when studying the earliest Slavic hymnography.