The Pseudepigraphical “Life of Moses” in the “Tichonravov’s Chronograph” and in the Biblical Compendium from the Collection of thе Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

Abstract

The article's goal is to study and publish the text of a specific Slavic-Russian version of the apocryphal Life of Moses, previously unknown, which was identified in two manuscripts in the Russian State Library (both from the late 15th century), namely in the Tikhonravov’s Chronograph from the collection of handwritten books of N. S. Tikhonravov and in the Biblical Compendium from the collection of thе Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. The remaining versions of the apocryphon have been known to date as parts of Great Menaion Reader, Barsov’s Palaea Interpretata and Complete chronographic Palaea. Both new copies of the apocryphon were included in an extensive fragment of a previously unknown Old Russian chronograph based, firstly, on the Biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and the Book of Job, as well as on an unknown Slavic translation of Judean Antiquities by Josephus, and on the following Apocrypha (in addition to the Life of Moses): Lesser Genesis (The Book of Jubilees), Death of Abraham and Genesis of Esau. The original feature of the chronograph is a compilation story of Joseph and his brothers, composed of fragments from the full version of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Tale of Joseph the Beautiful by St. Ephraim the Syrian and the famous Letter to Presbyter Khoma from Metropolitan Kliment Smoliatich. Main distinctive features of the Life of Moses published in this article are identified and analyzed: 1) a different sequence of the narration; 2) several individual readings–including primary ones, ascending to the Jewish original; 3) literary and stylistic differences; 4) four insertions, which have correlations with the Greek Chronicon of George Kedrenos and were partially reflected in the Short chronographic Palaea and in the Speech of the Scholar from the Old Russian Tale of Past Years. In addition, some revisions and inserts were discovered in the biblical Compendium of Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, which are based on the Slavic-Russian translation of the Historical Palaea. The final result of the study is presented as a stemma of relations between the editions of the apocryphon.