Review article
https://doi.org/10.31745/s.73.3
Encheiridion of Epictetus (Slavic Translation)
Дмитрий Михайлович Буланин
orcid.org/0000-0002-5480-7964
; Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), Russian Academy of Sciences
Abstract
Bulgarian translation (10th century) of the Encheiridion, a concise textbook of the Stoic philosophical doctrine formulated by Epictetus, is a fact unique for this epoch. As a matter of fact the Slavic medieval culture did not accept the heritage of Ancient Greece, because it was seen through the prism of confession. The people did see a pagan threat in this heritage. The exception for the translation of the Encheiridion was made, because in fact there was translated not the pagan composition itself but its Christian adaptation (Paraphrasis Christiana). The work, its adaptation being attributed to Maximus the Confessor, was translated and copied together with other moral instructions intended for monks’ reading. Later, the same translation, having undergone some structural changes (the text was divided into one hundred chapters and a part of Maximus the Confessor’s letter to Thalassius was incorporated in the text), became part of a new collection (most likely also formed in Bulgaria), addressed to the monks as well. A meticulous comparison of the translation’s copies convinces us that its text underwent through centuries minor changes only. The reason of its immutability is in that the Slavic Encheiridion enjoied a high religious authority. One can resume as follows: it is not the study of its own transmission that will provide new data on the translation, but the history of the sources surrounding it in the manuscripts.
Keywords
Stoic philosophy; Ancient Greece; adaptation; elementary compilation
Hrčak ID:
302661
URI
Publication date:
19.5.2023.
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