THE TALE OF APHRODITIAN IN THE SLAVONIC HOMILIES AT CHRISTMAS OF THE XV–XVIII CENTURIES

Abstract

The apocryphal “Tale of Aphrodithian” is one of the most popular apocrypha of Ancient Russia; it narrates about the Magi’s worship to newborn Christ. The article is devoted to a brief review of Slavic homilies at Christmas, based on an apocryphal text. In total, four works of the XVXVIII centuries were identified, containing the apocrypha: “The Word about the star Irania”, “The Word about the Coming of the Magi”, “The Word at Christmas of the former Archbishop Spiridon” and “Tale for the Nativity of Christ”. The article records the number of lists preserved and the degree of elaboration of each work in the scientific literature. In all homilies, the Tale becomes a source of additional information about the worship of the Magi, but the authors of these homilies use the apocryphal details of the Tale in different ways.In the “The Word about the star Irania” the foggy and obscure language of prophecy in the idol temple is corrected, every detail is included in the context and explained. “Tale for the Nativity of Christ”, in our opinion, is a Western Russian revision of “The Word about the star Irania” and both texts are primarily aimed at revealing all the details associated with the appearance of the star – from the first prophecy by Balaam to the final journey of the Magi. The “Word about the Coming of the Magi”, on the other hand, combines most of the popular Old-Russian narrative texts related to Christmas into one plot: this is how the tale of the Magi, The Legend of Aphrodithian and the Word of John Chrysostom, noted only in Russian lists, (first words: “Today is my nature to the promise of renewal comes”) are combined. In the “Word for the Nativity of the Archbishop ex-Spyridon”, the apocrypha become just an occasion for discussion on the theme of Christmas and the worship of the Magi, the main idea of the author is to follow the spiritual Sun - Christ.The legend of Aphrodithian in this case becomes one of many sources, far from been paramount, in the text intended for public sermon, not for private reading.