„Боже мой, Троице милостива, помогай ми"
"My God, Merciful Trinity, Help Me"

(A Phrasal Acrostic of the Late 9th–10th c.)

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an unknown phrasal acrostic discovered in a South Slavonic manuscript (Khlud 135), a fragment of a full octoechos with two canons for week days from the beginning of the 14th с. The phrasal acrostic is formed by stichera for the Holy Trinity. They are in groups of three from the first to the seventh (except for the second) and one for the eight position. The stichera dedicated to the Holy Trinity had originally been part of the evening groups of sticharia (together with those in verse). The reconstruction of phrasal acrostic is воже мои тр мве помози пи ан (My God, Merciful Trinity, help me, amen). They were designed for Saturday, when a midnight service dedicated to the Holy Trinity was celebrated. In the textual history of the cycle of stichera dedicated to the Holy Trinity on Russian soil essential changes can be observed. We come across a unique case where Russian men of letters not only "identified" the acrostic but also attempted to reconstruct it according to their notions. The acrostic may be connected with the two anonymous Trinity canons containing another phrasal acrostic discovered by M. Jovčeva. If we connect the two acrostics, an epigrammatic triplet is obtained, built on isosyllabic rhythm: 6+4; 6+4; 4+2. This renders the hypothesis that the two phrasal acrostics were the work of one author, a disciple ofConstantine-Cyril and Methodius, highly probable.

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