“Прикрашений” стиль у греко-сирійській християнській літературі IV–X ст.

Abstract

The article surveys the process of the “flowery” style formation in the Christian East writings, starting from its literary sources that go to ancient times and early Christianity homiletic works until the moment this style secured its key features in liturgical texts of the 8th–10th centuries. The object of the study is stylistic features of works of Greek and Syrian authors, which had a significant impact on Church Slavonic literature. The objective of this research is to trace the “flowery” style step-by-step evolution, gradual growth of the writers’ interest in verbal decorations, appearance of new hidden meanings behind the oral “ornament”. The main method used in this research is a comparative one. The importance of this topic is determined by the lack of systematic research on the “flowery” style development in the Christian East literature, despite its prevalence in the most important medieval texts: hymnographic, epideictic and hagiographic. A systematized survey of the “flowery” style key features found in the most famous Christian East authors’ writings is proposed in this paper. We draw a conclusion on the apparent continuity of the style of East Christian authors from that of the antic writers, particularly, Philo of Alexandria, that appears in the development of one of the “flowery” style vivid elements – threading of synonyms and metaphorical naming. This feature gradually changes its semantic and aesthetic loading in the writings and forms the stylistics pervading all Orthodox East literature later in the 14th century.