The Enduring Value of the Testimony Of Faith In the Story of the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste in the Berlin Damaskin

Abstract

The manuscript collection of the Jagiellonian Library in Cracow contains the so-called Berlin Damaskin (Berl. Slav. Fol. 36, late 18th c.), a handwritten codex belonging to the former Prussian State Library in Berlin. Damaskin, as a book type, marks a transition in the literary tradition in the Balkans, and in particular in Bulgaria, between the medieval Church Slavonic, and the early modern tradition of the Orthodox Church. Its expression is characterised by simplified language, less formal register, and a more extensive use of the common (vernacular) spoken language. Among the forty-five texts included in the Berlin Damaskin there is the Story of the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste. Based on medieval hagiographic sources, the Story is an interesting case of employing an old literary theme in the service of the new Bulgarian religious and homiletic literature. The present paper discusses the characteristic features of the Story’s composition and its plot, with special emphasis put on the narrative’s axiological message.