The study focuses on the Romanian manuscripts that contain the works of St. Symeon of Thessalonica (c. 1381-1429), touching problems such as the translation, the diffusion (autonomous or fragmentary) and the publication of this oeuvre. Thus, Adversus haeresus was translated from Greek to Romanian, only once, using the edition printed in Iași in 1688. The translation is preserved in Rom MS Library of the Romanian Academy (BAR) No. 2099 which was copied in the Diocese of Râmnic (Wallachia, Vâlcea county) in 1736. In 1765, Adversus haeresus was printed under the title Dialogue of Questions and Answers in Christ in Bucharest (CRV 344). The preface stated that the translator of the volume was Chesarie, future bishop of Râmnic (1773-1780). In fact, the textual analysis revealed that young Chesarie used the translation from c. 1736 and revised and modified it according to the Greek text. The translator of the Symeonian corpus remains unknown, most probably an erudite clergyman from Râmnic, most likely Damaschin (1708-1725). The oldest Romanian manuscripts preserving the entire work of St. Symeon were produced in Wallachia (Vâlcea county), in the Diocese of Râmnic/ Bistrița Monastery: BAR 2099 (1736), BAR 2594 (1737) and BAR 2579 (1744). However, the volume printed in 1765 had the widest diffusion. It was partially copied in 20 Romanian miscellanies: 4 in Wallachia (one of them in Gorj), one in an area of dialectal transition, one in the South-East of Transylvania and 9 in Moldova. Most of them reflect a thematic selection of questions or chapters from Adversus haeresus. For instance, one (group of chapters 294-297) is centred on the Jesus Prayer and its selection occured due to the influence of the original writings of staretz Basil of Poiana Mărului (1692-1767) and staretz Paisius Velichkovsky (1722-1794), in which St. Symeon is quoted using the same four chapters.
Read full abstract