Saint Petka the hosia - Saint Petka the martyr

Abstract

The cult of the holy recluse Paraskeve (Petka) of Epibatai (October 14th) was translated to medieval Serbia by the middle of the XIII century at the latest, as attested by the oldest Serbian transcription of her service (Archive of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts no. 361). However, there are two other martyrs of the same name - Paraskeve of Rome (July 26th) of Paraskeve of Ikonium (October 28th). The three holy women of the same name undeniably caused a confusion which has also been reflected in a number of Serbian manuscripts. This text deals with two Serbian copies of the service from manuscript no. 516 from the National Library of Sofia (end of XIII - beginning of XIV century; November 8th) and manuscript no. 34 from the collection of the monastery of Decani (end of XIV - beginning of XV century). Both services, regardless of the dates to which they are assigned, are dedicated to Paraskeve the martyr. A careful comparison of the two services showed that there was a cross-over of services dedicated to two martyrs. Particularly interesting are the combined canons, in the odes of which part of the troparia are dedicated the holy woman from Ikonium and part to the martyr saint from Rome. Differentiation was achieved by adopting contents from the vitae of both martyrs in question. Textological differences are also apparent in the translations of parts of the service common to the services of both saints. Structural, textological and differences in content can be observed in a comparative analysis of both services. In part, this study relies also on the Serbian transcription of the service for July 26th dedicated to Paraskeve of Rome (Sofia, National Library no. 118). This service is also dedicated to the martyr Paraskeve. The material presented in this paper indicates all the complexity associated with the cults of three eponymous saints - the three holy Paraskeves (Petkas). .