On the Sources of “The Eulogy of John the New”

Abstract

The Eulogy of John the New was composed by Theodosius, Abbot of the Moldovan Neamţ monastery, in 1534. Its only copy dates back to 1574 and comes from the Moldovan monastery of Putna. Based on the results of the codicological, paleographic and textual analysis of the Slavic manuscripts of Moldovan origin containing texts about the Life of John the New, it is suggested in the paper that there is a previously unknown abridged version of the Life of John the New, the text of which is partially reconstructed in the article. It is concluded that the main source used by Theodosius was not the Life of John the New written by Gregory Tsamblak, as is accepted in modern historiography, but instead this abridged version. It was also found that Theodosius borrowed the material for the conclusion of his Eulogy from the Eulogy to the Great Martyr Nedelya (Kiriakia) by Euthymius Turnovsky.