Гимнографические свидетельства «обмена святыми» между Египтом и Сирией в первом тысячелетии нашей эры

Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия 3: Филология. 2019. № 61. С. 93–103.

Rogozhina A. A.

This article discusses a process that could be defined as ‘exchange of saints’ between Egypt and Syria in the second half of the first millennium. Coptic synaxaria and liturgical books contain commemorations not only of the local martyrs who were born and suffered in Egypt, but also a great number of commemorations of foreign saints who later became appropriated by the Coptic Church, such as a group of the so-called Antiochene saints whose relics were claimed to belong to Egypt either because these saints were martyred in Egypt or because the relics had been transferred to Egypt at some point. The presence of these saints in early hymnographic collections preserved in two manuscripts of the ninth century (M574 and M575 of the Pierpont Morgan Library) provides ample evidence of the continuing and lasting interest of the Egyptian Christians in Antiochene saints. Such enthusiasm could probably be explained by the work of Severus of Antioch (465-538) who did a great deal to promote the exchange of saints between the two communities. The article also examines the seeming absence of reciprocity on the Syrian side and reviews the evidence provided by the early material, such as the hymns attributed to Severus of Antioch, which came down to us in Syriac translation revised by James of Edessa in the seventh century. One of these texts, a hymn dedicated to the Egyptian martyrs, is of particular interest in regard to the ‘exchange of saints’ and shows that the process was in fact reciprocal.

Keywords: Сирия, Syria, рукописи, агиография, Египет, hagiography, cult of martyrs, Egypt, manuscripts, циклы, cycles, гимнография, hymnography, мученики