Old Russia and Nauplio?

On Parallels in Chant Manuscripts of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Authors

• Svetlana Yurievna Poliakova FCSH, Nova University of Lisbon https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2535-8716

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.57050/jisocm.155451

Keywords:

Byzantine, Old Russian, neumatic, Sticherarion, local practices

Abstract

This article considers the oldest generation of Russian Sticheraria of the movable cycle as evidence of the intersection of regional traditions of the Byzantine rite. These manuscripts were written in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, when the Byzantine chant and manuscript traditions were transitioning from a diversity of local practices to a standardized system. The Old Russian Sticheraria reflect a complex picture of this transitional period. They are notated with a variety of Paleo-Byzantine adiastematic notations, even though in the thirteenth century diastematic notation was already widely used in Byzantium. In Old Russian notation, a common archaic layer emerges, on which later layers are visible, containing elements directed towards diastematics that vary from one Old Russian manuscript to another. While the composition of the codices is comparatively more consistent than that found in Greek Paleo-Byzantine Sticheraria, there are many differences between them. This article argues that the similarities and differences came about through an exchange of experience in the field of liturgical practice as reflected in the manuscript tradition of a number of Greek and Slavic monastic, cathedral, and parish centers. In the process of reviewing the composition of dozens of Greek, Slavic, and Old Russian manuscripts while searching for evidence to support this hypothesis, the Greek Triodion Paris, BNF Grec 337 + 353 with Middle Byzantine notation was singled out, as it has a number of characteristics that coincide with the corresponding characteristics of the Old Russian Sticheraria. This article offers a comparative analysis of the characteristics as found in this Triodion, the Old Russian Sticheraria, and the related notated set of Triodia and Pentecostaria in comparison with Greek and Slavic sources.