The Slavonic Translation of the Life of Saint Euthymius the Great: Observations on Language and Authorship

The Slavonic translation of the Life of Saint Euthymius the Great (BHG 647) by Cyril of Scythopolis, attested at the earliest manuscript of the late 14th c., was probably made by a person originating from South-East Rus in the 11th c., as it displays some grammatical, lexical, and phonetic features peculiar for this area and time, and visible, in particular, in Ipatiev Chronicle and the Tale of Igor’s Campaign. It may have formed a part of the collection comprising several writings by Cyril, including the Life of Saint Sabas and the Praise of Euthymius and Sabas (lost in the Greek original). This collection was later incorporated into the Great Lectionary Menologion of Metropolitan Makarij. The details added by the translator to the description of certain realia pertaining to the Monastery of Saint Euthymius in Palestine suggest a personal knowledge of that monastic complex (the Laura and the coenobium). The proposed author of the translation is Saint Anthony of the Cave Monastery in Kiev († 1073), who could perfectly well have visited the Holy Land during his stay on Mount Athos prior to 1051