Popova Tatiana

"The Siberian Ladder" in Slavonic writing

Section: Studies of Archival and Book Fonds

Abstract: The aim of the research. The aim of the research is to draw specialists’ attention to the manuscripts of themonument of Slavic literature of the 17th century, known in science as the «Siberian Ladder», the author of whichis traditionally considered to be the Siberian Metropolitan Filofey Leshchinsky. The methodology of the study.The main research method is the linguistic-textological method of analyzing manuscripts. In addition, descriptiveand statistical methods of material analysis are used in the research. The scientific novelty. The article is the firstto express the hypothesis that the author of the «Siberian Ladder» book may be a monk who lived at the end ofthe 17th century in one of the Kyiv monasteries, since the oldest manuscripts of the monument were in use in Kyiv.A systematized updated information on the corpus of manuscripts with the text of «Siberian Ladder» is given. Achronological list of codes with the text of the monument is attached to the article. A total of 32 manuscripts withthe text are named. This list includes 4 books, the fate of which is unknown, with the aim of the possible discoveryof these manuscripts in the future. 14 of the 28 books that have survived nowadays are kept in the collections of theInstitute of Manuscripts of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: in the collection of the Kyiv-PecherskLavra (10), in the collection of Saint Sophia Cathedral (2), in the collection of Kyiv Spiritual Academy (1) and in thecollection of Mykolaivskyi monastery (1). In addition, manuscripts with the text of the «Siberian Ladder» are in thecollections of Russia (5), Romania (4), Greece (3), Lithuania (1) and Belarus (1). Conclusions. It is necessary to carryout a thorough comprehensive historical and philological analysis of the oldest Kyiv manuscripts with the text ofthe «Siberian Ladder». As a result of this analysis, the hypothesis stated in the article about the creation of a bookin a Kyiv monastery by one of the monks of this monastery may be confirmed (perhaps the name of this monk willalso be found). In this case, the opinion established in science that the author of the work was Metropolitan FilofeyLeshchinsky can be debunked. On the other hand, it is necessary to study the biography of Filofey Leshchinsky (theKyiv period of his life) carefully. As a result of this analysis, the hypothesis that the «Siberian Ladder» belongs toMetropolitan Filofey may be confirmed.

Keywords: «Siberian Ladder», Filofey Leshchinsky, «Ladder» of John Climacus, manuscript collections, OldRussian literature.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.27.071     Citation

• Popova Tatiana (Northern Arctic Federal University (Severodvinsk, Russia), lestvic@mail.ru) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8431-2962

Cite:
Popova Tatiana (2021). "The Siberian Ladder" in Slavonic writing. Manuscript and book heritage of Ukraine, (27) 71-81. doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.27.071

References:

1. Panaitescu P. P. Catalogul manuscriselor slavo-române şi slave din Biblioteca Academiei Române. Bucureşti, 2003. Vol. II. (No. 301–600). [In Romanian].
2. Parpulov G. R. Cyrillic Manuscripts in U.S. Public Collections: A Catalogue. Palaeoslavica. Cambridge – Massachusetts, 2010. Vol. 17 (2), pp. 1–53. [In English].
3. Popova T. G. Die Leiter zum Paradies des Johannes Klimakos. Katalog der slavischen Handschriften. Köln–Weimar–Wien: Boehlau-Verlag, 2012. [In German and in Russian]. doi: https://doi.org/10.7788/boehlau.9783412215163
4. Popova T. G. The Greek Manuscripts with the Text of the Ladder of Saint John Climacus: a Preliminary Skeleton List. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2018. [In English].
5. Viktorov A. E. Opisi rukopisnykh sobranii v knigokhranilishchakh Severnoi Rossii [Inventories of Manuscript Collections in the Libraries of Northern Russia]. St. Petersburg, 1890. [In Russian].
6. Gorskii A. V., Nevostruev K. I. Opisanie slavianskikh rukopisei Moskovskoi Sinodalnoi (patriarshei) biblioteki. Otd. II. Pisaniia sviatykh ottsov. Ch. 3. Raznye bogoslovskie sochineniia (pribavlenie) [Description of the Slavic Manuscripts of the Moscow Synodal (Patriarchal) Library. Vol. 2. The Writings of the Holy Fathers. Part 3. Different theological Writings (Addition)]. Moscow: Publishing house of Synod, 1862. [In Russian].
7. Dergacheva-Skop E. I., Soboleva L. S. Malenkaia zametka o bolshom nedorazumenii, ili byl li Sviatoi Filofei Leshchinskii avtorom Sibirskogo Lestvichnika? [A small note about a big misunderstanding, or Whether Saint Philothei (Leshchinsky) was the author of Sibirskij Lestvichnik?]. Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. St. Petersburg, 2019. Vol. 1 (25), pp. 193–200. [In Russian]. doi: https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu19.2019.114
8. Popova T. G. Kievskie rukopisi Lestvitsy Ioanna Sinaiskogo [Kiev Manuscripts of the Ladder of John Climacus]. Rukopysna ta knyzhkova spadschyna Ukrainy [Manuscript and Book Heritage of Ukraine]. Kyiv, 2019. Iss. 23, pp. 56–71. [In Russian]. doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.23.056
9. Popova T. G. Lestvica Ioanna Sinaiskogo v perevode Paisiia Velichkovskogo [The Ladder of John Climacus in the Translation of Paisius Velichkovsky]. Afonska spadshchyna. Naukovyi almanah. Vydannia Mizhnarodnoho instytutu afonskoi spadshchyny v Ukraini [Athos Heritage. Scientific almanac. Edition of the International Institute of Athos Heritage in Ukraine]. Kyiv-Chernihiv: Publishing of University, 2016. Vol. 3–4, pp. 186–196. [In Russian].
10. Popova T. G. Sibirskii Lestvichnik Filofeia Leshhinskogo i ego rukopisi [The Siberian Ladder of Philothei Leshchinsky and his manuscripts]. Rukopisi, staropechatnye i redkie knigi v sobraniiakh Rossii [Manuscripts, old-print and rare books in the collections of Russia]. Novosibirsk: Publishing of Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology, 2018. Pp. 115–128. [In Russian].
11. Prepodobnyi Paisii Velichkovskii. Zhitie i izbrannye tvoreniia [Saint Paisius Velichkovsky. Life and Favorite Creations] / trans. A. P. Vlasiuk. Serpukhov: Publishing "The Heritage of the Orthodox East", 2014. [In Russian].
12. Prokhorov G. M. Lestvitsa [Ladder]. Slovar knizhnikov i knizhnosti Drevnei Rusi [The Dictionary of Scribes and Bookishness of Ancient Rus']. Trudy Otdela drevnerusskoi literatury [Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature]. Leningrad: Nauka, 1985. Vol. 39, pp. 253–258. [In Russian].
13. Sviatitel Filofey Leshchinskii. Sibirskii Lestvichnik [Saint Filofey Leshchinsky. Siberian Ladder] / M. Bakulin, T. Saifullin (Eds.). Tyumen: Russian Week, Tyumen Publishing House, 2015. [In Russian].