Original scientific paper
The theme of the Last Judgement in the preface of Vienna folia
Marija Pantelić
Abstract
The theme of the Last Judgement in the preface of Vienna folia
The author identifies the simple and unusual theme of the Last Judgement which appears in the variable part of the preface of Vienna folia (dating from the eleventh or the begining of the twelfth century) in the mass honouring several apostles as a literary-liturgic genre. The biblical and theological analysis of the text reveals elements of theology of St. John's Gospel, the First Epistle of St. John and the Apocalypse.
As a Latin protograph was not found in the five volumes of the recently published Belgian edition of old Latin prefaces (Moeller) the author stresses the modern ideological background and synthesis of Cyrillo-Methodian mission. Namely, their multiple religious and cultural activities, struggles and endeavorings obliged them to accept and live according to religious, legal and ecclesiastical norms contained in the missionary (apostle) tradition. Therefore the Holy Brothers and their collaborators wrote various apologies: of the translation of the Script (Proglas evangelija...); of the Nicene Creed (Napisanie o pravoi vere...); of the glagolitic script of Črnorizac Hrabar. St. Methodius as the archbishop of Pannonia strongly demanded that norms of Christian life be respected even on the court of Svetopluk and Kocelj (the anonymous homily of the Glagolita Clozianus). Thus the author draws a hypothetical conclusion that the threat of the Last Judgement in the preface on the day of the apostels is a dicrete sanction by which St. Methodius ensured that their missionary tradition live permanently among the Slavs and that the main purpose of their apostolic work - the eshatological reality - be fulfilled. The term Strašno sudište which appears in the preface divides Old Church Slavonic monuments in two groups - northwestern and southern. The term Sudnji dan appears in the Freising Leaves (1, 3), the Glagolita Clozianus and the glagolitic Rila Folia, whereas the term Strašno sudište appears in the preface of the Vienna Folia, the orace of the Euchologium Sinaiticum and in younger sanctions of Nemanja's and Dubrovnik document of the twelfth century. Eastern terminology has preserved the term till the present day. This term implies that the Vienna Folia like the first page of the Kiev Fragments originated in the southern Dubrovnik and Hum area.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
14642
URI
Publication date:
30.9.1986.
Visits: 1.776 *