The Book “Lestvitsa” and the “Passional of St Bishop Ilarion of Maglen” by St Patriarch Euthymius of Tarnovo

Authors:

Pages: 508-519
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/EDBQ5648

Abstract:

A testimony of the main processes and tendencies in the development of our medieval theological literature is the presence of important texts in the sacral homeland treasure house found in the original works of the Old Bulgarian writers. Quotations, analogies, and reminiscences from the ascetic book “Lestvitsa” by the reverend John of Sinai were registered in the works written in the Teodosius literary circle and the School of St. Euthymius. With the observations on the “Passional of St. Bishop Ilarion of Maglen” continues the work for discovering the influence of this reading, so important for the adherents of Hesychasm, on the literary production and the spiritual life in Bulgaria during the 14th century. The repeated references to “Lestvitsa” in the original parts of the “Passional of St. Bishop Ilarion of Maglen” reflect the entire concept of St. Euthymius of Tarnovo for the strengthening of the respect towards the saint in conformity with the aesthetical points of view and worldly attitudes and experience in the Hesychasts’ spiritual brotherhood. Proofs of the continuity in this respect are the comparisons with the other works of the same man of letters and with the texts of the Hesychastic writers from the Sinaits and Teodosius spiritual circle.

Keywords:

passional, agiography, “Lestvitsa”, sacredness, metatext, intertext, Hesychasm, monkhood

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