RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Sbornik with four texts. A manuscript Sbornik comprising four liturgical texts with hymns. Likely used in a remote monastery or community of few means, it was kept within a repurposed leather binding which has survived untouched. One of the four texts was here used as a pastedown.The sbornik was compiled by several scribes, in the course of at least a few decades, for use during services and personal prayers. The first and last texts, and the one used as a pastedown, appear to date to from the late 17th century, with insertions on thicker paper dated 1758 on the first leaf, and a gathering on different paper probably copied slightly later than 1758. The first text is the Canons of the Saints Florus and Laurus, with a Troparion and the Canon. These were 2nd-century brothers and martyrs who lived in Illyria. The canon is organized according to the Irmologion structure, and subdivided into Irmos' by tone. Probably copied from a Menaion, the second text is the Canon of Zosimas of Solovki, with a Troparion, Kondak', and the Canon with a Molitva. Zosimas (d. 1478) was a hermit who established, with St Savvatiy, the Solovetsky Monastery, near Novgorod in the north of Russia. This might also suggest that this sbornik is a northern Russian production. The fourth text, used as a pastedown, appears to be a dialogue with questions and answers, possibly from a catechism. The slightly later text is an incomplete four-leaf sequence of various kinds of hymns including Inynje, Irmos', Slava,

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