A Byzantine Epistle on Bishop Ordination and its Text History in Russia in the 13th–14th Centuries

Abstract

The East Slavic copies of Nomocanon contain two unidentified fragments presented as commentaries on the Council of Constantinople's decree regarding the fourth marriage of Emperor Leo VI the Wise and on Canon 71 of the Council of Carthage. Both fragments address ordination of bishops and their translation between sees. The research suggests that the fragments come from the same source and were translated from Greek. The manuscript tradition and some features of the text indicate a Bulgarian origin of the translation. Probably the source was a non-extant decree by the Council of Constantinople from the first half of the 13th century expanded by a Slavonic scribe.

This work came to the Kiev Metropolis together with Nomocanon in 1262 and attracted constant attention and editing at the end of the 13th and in the 14th centuries. Its variants were included into two church legal miscellanea: Merilo Pravednoye and Blasphemia. Additions by Russian scribes gave different interpretations to the text. Thus, the editor of Merilo Pravednoye turned it into a sermon on bishops’ duties, whereas the author of Blasphemia limited the authority of bishops by excluding a permission to move to another see.

The Supplements include the texts in question as found in the three earliest church legal compilations: Nomocanon, Merilo Pravednoye and Blasphemia.