Глаголический амулет из Варны в свете древненовгородских параллелей и vice versa

Studi Slavistici. 2023. Т. 20. № 1. С. 5–20.

Gippius A.

The article analyses the Glagolitic prayer on the lead amulet published by K. Popkonstantinov
and H. Miklas in 2009. A new reading of the central phrase is proposed based on the parallels in
Novgorod birchbark documents. In the second part of the article, the Varna amulet and artefacts of
its circle are compared with the birchbark documents about magical contents. It is shown that Old
Bulgarian and Old East Slavic texts share a group of motifs organized around the figure of angel
Sichael as a protector against fevers. The mention of the name Sichael in the inscription – its only
South Slavic attestation – does not support the conclusion according to which the cult of this angel
reached Novgorod directly from Cappadocia, where it had emerged and developed

Keywords: магия, birchbark documents, берестяные грамоты, magic, Amulets, глаголица, амулеты, древнеболгарская эпиграфика, Old Bulgarian epigraphy, glagolitic, angel Sichael, ангел Сихаил

Publication based on the results of: Linguistic and Semiotic Aspects of the History of Russian Culture: Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (2023)