Цикъл жития на български и сръбски светци в Стишния пролог
Cycle of Lives of Bulgarian and Serbian Saints in the Verse Synaxarion

Summary/Abstract: This article presents data on nine synaxarion lives of Bulgarian and Serbian saints contained in one of the few extant copies of the Verse Synaxarion that covers the whole year. This is manuscript No. 47 in the library of the Zograph Monastery on Mount Athos (Zogr47). It is dated between 1473 and 1524, and its redаction is defined as Bulgarian without juses (ѫ, ѧ). It was created by two brothers from the village of Piskopie, near Debar – Yoan and Nikola Miloshev. The manuscript can be divided into two parts: the first part contains the complete Tаrnovo recension of the Verse Synaxarion and is the work of Yoan Miloshev; the second is his brother Nikola’s. The first part includes six original synaxarion lives of Bulgarian and Serbian saints: of St Petka of Tarnovo (14 October), St John of Rila (19 October), St Ilarion of Maglen (21 October), St Michael the Bulgarian (22 November), St Sava of Serbia (14 January), and St Simeon of Serbia (13 February), as well as the text of a translated from Greek verse synaxarion life of St Clement of Ohrid (27 July). The second part begins with the only surviving copy of the First synaxarion life of St Naum of Preslav-Ohrid (23 December), followed by the synaxarion life of the Byzantine saint Erasmus of Ohrid (of Formia). Next are twenty-five Sunday sermons. The inclusion of so many verses about Bulgarian and Serbian saints in one codex makes this manuscript unique. It should be given its due place in research on the Verse Synaxarion. It is a testimony to the perceived need for unity in spiritual activities in the Balkans under foreign rule. The Appendix contains the texts from Zogr47 in calendar order, and variant readings given from the oldest Bulgarian and Serbian copies of the Verse Synaxarion. It can be concluded that the synaxarion verses of the lives of Bulgarian and Serbian saints in Zogr47 preserved the texts without major changes for more than one century.

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