Всенощное бдение в Балкано-Карпатском регионе в IV в.: святитель Никита Ремесианский и его трактат «О благе псалмопения»

Abstract

The article presents the first Russian commented translation of St. Niceta of Remesiana’s treatise “On the Benefirt of Psalmody”. St. Nicetas of Remesiana (350–420) was the Apostle of Dacians, Getes, Goths, and, possibly, Early Slavs. His treatese justifies the practice of psalmody in the Early Church and describes an Early Christian vigil in the Balkan-Carpathian region. The translation is preceded by a research on St. Nicetas of Remesiana’s life and oeuvre as well as the particularities of the treatese under study, its historical and liturgical context. According to the treatese, there was an opposition to the practice of All-Night Vigils in the Balkans, while the arguments for the defense of vigils were largely drawn from the writings of Basil of Caesarea. The treatese contains indications of the antiphonic method of Church Chant singing, which spread from Phenicia and Syria throughout the Christian world in the 4th century. The order of the Matins reconstructed in the treatese is similar to the Gallican rite on the one hand (Ode to Jeremiah) and, on the other hand, to the Jerusalem liturgical tradition (the composition and sequence of the other Odes mentioned in the treatese), which can be connected with phenomenon of pilgrimage. In general, the treatese is an important source on the church life of the Balkan-Carpathian region.