Византийские источники богословия иконы в «Послании иконописцу» (Часть первая)

Abstract

The first treatise dealing explicitly with theology of the icon in medieval Rus’ was preserved in an anonymous work known as Poslanie iconopistsu ( Letter to the Iconographer ) written at the end of the 15th century which contains three sermons. These three sermons later became part of the famous Prosvetitel ( Enlightener ) compiled by Joseph of Volokolamsk. The paper makes an investigation into the problem of the hidden sources of the Letter to the Iconographer which almost entirely consists of verbal quotations from different earlier theological texts. Among the cited writings there are five Byzantine dogmatic works written in defense of icons and translated into Church Slavonic which are of outstanding importance. In the case of these works the method of borrowing their passages and the additional content these gain in their new contexts where they were transplanted shed light to the aims and interests of the 15–16th century Russian theologian which are apparently different from those of his Byzantine predecessors. It is especially interesting to observe how the Russian author tries to legitimate the icon of the Holy Trinity by the aid of the different arguments of Byzantine apologists.