International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

The Four Worlds and 
the Two Puzzles of Maxim the Greek,
Paleoslavica XIX/2 (2011) 298-99). In the Greek Psalter (Sankt 
Petersburg, RNB, Gr. 78, Sof. 78, fol. 160 v.) Maxim the Greek subscribed the two-language Kontakion 
to the Announciation of the Mother of God were also observed the related correspondences. 
By such theological-liturgical manner in the personal practice of the inner prayer Maxim 
the Greek not only revealed the devout creativity of the first Slavic church poet, Constantine the 

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Philosopher (a brother of Methodius), Who created the similar accordance in Сanon, 
Памzть свzтааго 
и великааго мученика Христова Дьмитриэ
(R. Jakobson, 
Selected Writings. VI. Early Slavic Paths and 
Crossroads,
1985, 306), but Maxim also created in the Slavic language an exact poetical equivalent of 
the oldest patterns of Christian liturgy as might be found in Greek liturgical manuscripts from the 
ninth century.
Maxim the 
Greek polished the Old Church Slavic liturgical language to the certain 
level that it could serve him as analogous and parallel voice to the Greek language of the Gospels, 
focusing on the devotion the Christian God of the Holy Trinity.
Aneta Dimitrova
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria; 
[e-mail]
Which Greek Versions of Chrysostom’s Commentaries on 
Acts
and 
Epistles
Were Translated for the 10
th
C. Old Bulgarian 
Chrysorrhoas
Collection 
(
Zlatostruy
)?
The paper discusses the Greek sources of the Old Church Slavonic translations in the so called 
Chrysorrhoas collection. This collection of Chrysostomian and pseudo-Chrysostomian homilies 
was put together at the beginning of the 10
th
c. presumably in Preslav. The selection of the texts and 
the undertaking of the translation was conceived and inspired by the Bulgarian tsar Symeon (893–
927), as it is revealed in the ancient foreword of the book. A large part of the collection consists of 
the ethica of John Chrysostom’s New Testament commentaries – several dozens of the homilies 
were selected, translated, sometimes abridged and combined in new compilations. Although only 
later copies of the open manuscript tradition are extant, they still preserve much of the original 
quality of the Old Bulgarian archetype. Each of the texts gives an opportunity for linguistic research 
and allows insight into the process and principles of translation, but it also requires an investigation 
of the Greek original. 
Chrysostom’s commentaries are preserved in hundreds of unedited Greek manuscripts and it 
is well known that many of the texts have a “rough” and a “smooth” version besides the numerous 
variant readings throughout the manuscript transmission. Yet few of Chrysostom’s works have a 
critical edition – the researcher must either be content with Patrologia Graeca, or start a laborious 
examination of the manuscripts. The comparison of the Slavonic translations of Chrysostom with 
their Greek correspondences as attested in Patrologia Graeca reveals that in some cases there are 
significant discrepancies between them as opposed to the otherwise fairly accurate rendition of the 
original. This refers especially to the Commentaries on Acts and some of the Epistles. In a number 
of cases we are lucky to have access to manuscripts which differ from the edition and give answers to 
some of the questions in the Slavonic translation, allowing us to determine which Greek recension 
was used by the Old Bulgarian translators. However, many other examples suggest, that there must 
have been still other Greek versions, or that the translators treated the original quite creatively.

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