On the Theotokia in the Canon for St. Wenceslas

Abstract

The present paper reports on the first results from the investigation of the Church Slavonic canon composed for the Czech saint Wenceslas (Václav, Viacheslav) and preserved in East Slavic manuscripts from the end of the 11th century. Particular attention has been given to the analysis of the Marian hymns (theotokia), whose Greek originals could be detected in all cases but one (the first ode). The Slavonic translation has been thoroughly compared with its Greek original and with other versions taken from different canons. Following the critical edition of each single Slavonic text, a synoptic interlinear version is provided, which allows the immediate identification of common readings, errors, and omissions. The theotokia contained in the canon for Wenceslas show interesting similarities with the textual tradition documented in the Oktoechos and the Common of Saints, the latter being usually associated with Clement of Ohrid; a possible explanation of this fact could be that these texts were not newly translated from Greek, but taken from already existing hymnographic sources. Undoubtedly, much deeper analysis is required in order to disentangle the textual history of these texts; the collected material aims to provide a good starting point for further investigations.