The Panegyric on Nicholas Kochanov, a Fool for Christ of Novgorod: Literary Sources

Abstract

The article examines the literary sources of the anonymous Panegyric on Nicholas, named Kochanov, a 14th-century Saint of Novgorod, presumably written in Novgorod in the middle of the 16th century. In numerous cases the author of the Panegyric conveys the few historical information about the life of the Saint by the borrowings from certain literary sources. Established ones are the Sermon on the memory of Basil of Caesarea by John XIII of Constantinople, the Panegyric of Nicholas of Myra attributed to Clement of Ohrid, and the anonymous Sermon on the transfer of the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra of Lycia to Bari. The second part of the article privides a comparison of the Panegyric with two late lives of Nicholas Kochanov. The results of analysis confirm the conclusion that they go back to the Panegyric as their source. Moreover, the late Praise of Xenophon of Robeika, another Saint of Novgorod, the founder of the Monastery in honour of St. Nicholas, as well as the Life of Xenophon of Robeika are also based on the text of the Panegyric of Nicholas Kochanov. The appendix contains the text of the Panegyric of Nicholas Kochanov published in accordance with the manuscript of the 17th century OLDP F.48.