On Some Features of the Text Division of the Tale from Lives of Peter and Fevronia of Murom by Hermolaus-Erasmus (On the Material of List no. 287/307 of RNL Solovetsky Manuscript Collection)

Abstract

The Tale from the Lives of Peter and Fevronia has by now an established editorial tradition, according to which the entire text is divided into paragraphs, and its own hagiographic part, which is, without an introduction and praise, is reproduced with division into four parts. This tradition took shape gradually in the works of domestic researchers (M.O. Skripil, R.P. Dmitrieva, etc.). As a result, the publishing division began to be mistakenly perceived as an author’s division. The article examines some of the graphic features of the author’s list of the Tale (RNL, Sol. 287/307) — lowercase characters (large and regular dots, commas), their combinations with capital letters, etc. Analysis of the system of graphic characters suggests that the text was divided by a hagiographer into several parts, for example, in the life itself they are distinguished: 1) a representative story about Paul, his wife and the snake; 2) the story of Peter’s salvation through Fevronia; 3) the story of ideal government and ideal marriage; 4) monasticism, repose and posthumous miracles; 5) the appeal of people to the saints for healing. The data obtained make it possible to judge in a new way both the plot-compositional structure of the monument, and also about the concept of Hermolaus-Erasmus as a whole.