Maximus the Greek's Biblical Philology in the European Context and in the Church Slavonic Tradition

Abstract

[Rev. of: Verner I. V. The Interlinear Slavonic-Greek Psalter of 1552 Translated by Maximus the Greek. Moscow: Indrik, 2019, 928 pp. (in Russian)] The article offers a review of the study and publication of Maximus the Greek's 1552 translation of the Psalter. This translation, which has remained in manuscripts until now, is viewed as part of the European biblical revision, ialongside other well-known Renaissance translations and editions of the Holy Scriptures. The Church Slavonic-Greek Psalter of 1552 is a monument at once to Byzantine-Slavic, European-Slavic, and inter-Slavic cultural and linguistic ties of the early Modern period. The edition contains an exemplary linguistic and textological description of the Psalter of 1552 which clearly highlights the stages of Maximus the Greek's work on the text, reveals his methods using handwritten and printed sources in different languages, and explicates the translation technique of the Athos scholar. The book identifies the printed Greek original of the Psalter of 1552, which turns out to be the 1498 edition of Justin Decadius. The second part of the book contains a critical edition of the Psalter of 1552 based on the interlinear manuscript of the Russian State Library (RSL f. 173.I # 8) incorporating variant readings of six copies studied. The Greek part of the interlinear manuscript is presented in accordance with its specific Slavonic spelling. This book is a major contribution to paleoslavistics and to the research on biblical studies in Early Modern Russia.