About the New Edition and the Study of the Explanatory Palea
Review on: Mil’kov V.V., Kamchatnov A.M., Kozlova A.Yu. The Explanatory Palea in an Extended Composition in 2 vols. St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya Publ., 2022 (Series: Monuments of Old Russian Thought: Studies and Texts. Issue XI)
Keywords:
Explanatory Palea, apocrypha, Slavic literature, archeography, textual studies, exegetical representationsAbstract
The Explanatory Palea is one of the most significant monuments of Slavic literature. The medieval reader drew basic knowledge about the creation of the world and ancient history from it. The Old Testament texts were difficult to understand and were accompanied by explanations that turned the Palea into an encyclopedia for medieval readers. The new edition of the Explanatory Palea, prepared by V.V. Milkov, A.M. Kamchatnov, and A.Yu. Kozlova, combines publication and research. It serves both further study of the Palea and its popularization. The text of the Explanatory Palea is published in Cyrillic script, in accordance with linguistic rules, and in translation into modern Russian. The study examines medieval man’s exegetical representations, his cosmological, anthropological, and metaphysical views. At the same time, the authors’ archaeological and textual findings, which form the foundation of the publication, raise some questions, and the selection of the main list can not be considered successful.
