(De)kompozicija srednjovjekovnih nabožnih tekstova. Sermones morales u »Ljubljanskom zborniku«
(De)composition of Medieval Religious Texts. Sermones morales in the Ljubljana Miscellany

Summary/Abstract: The Croatian Glagolitic Ljubljana Miscellany from the 15th century contains a title on the margins of a folio, reading »Sermones morales«. It pertains to two texts: an adaptation of the episode of the judgment of souls from The Vision of Paul and the shortened text of the Legend of Saint Macarius. The texts are connected by a common theme, the fate of souls after death. Decomposition (and perhaps writing from memory, because the analyzed texts are based on familiar subjects), as well as the adding of appeals and explanations, in direct address of the narrator to the audience, has turned these texts almost into one, and approximated them to a sermon. Elements from the originals – from the vision and the legend – have thus been almost reduced to exempla. However, as medieval genres are not easily defined and classified, so the two texts analyzed become sermons only by the occasional »inclusion« of the narrator’s/preacher’s voice into the rather scanty narrative and dialogue. The stylistic features clearly show that the narrator/author was more intent on passing on religious doctrine in a comprehensive way rahter than verbally ornating it. Two texts under the heading »Sermones morales« are examples of the typical medieval act of de-composition and re-composition of episodes or larger textual units into new structures, which may change genre, or even slip to the very margins of narrative prose to which the original texts once belonged.

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