The edificatory prose of Kievan Rus' (review)

294 Reviews that he has seen at Tours (VM, 1.2). While w e may sigh with frustration when he writes of the cathedral of St Martin that 'There is much that I might say about this building; but since it is still here, I have decided it is therefore better to be silent' (VM, 1.6), inscriptions from buildings associated with St Martin are translated in Appendix Three. People in important early medieval churches and monasteries were surrounded by such writings, almost all of them lost to us. Van D a m is particularly to be thanked for including these examples. The last provides lines which can be applied to his book if the name Gregory of Tours is substituted for that of Martin: here, diligent reader, you can learn about Martin's birth, military service, baptism, deeds, parents, teaching, habits, proclamations, wars, triumphs, sufferings, homeland, dangers, sayings, labors, distinctions, miracles, lifetime, proclamations, and commendations. Lynette Olson Department of History University of Sydney Veder, William R., trans., The edificatory prose of Kievan Rus', (Harvard library of early Ukrainian literature, English translations, Vol. VI), Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press, 1994; clodi and paper; pp. lvi, 202; R.R.P. U S $29.00 (cloth), U S $17.00 (paper). This elegandy produced and painstakingly introduced volume is clearly one which must appeal particularly to two classes of readers;first,to all students of earlier Russian literary activity and culture, and, secondly, to those interested either in thefirstwritings, Christian based, in such languages as Gothic or in the slow process of literary transition from scriptural translation to vernacular commentary and creativity; for example, in the East Midlands of England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The book is one small portion of the much larger Harvard project in commemoration of the millenium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine sponsored by the Ukrainian Research Institute. The many texts to be treated, numbering well in excess of one hundred, will encompass such literary activity from its beginnings in the mid-eleventh century through to the eighteenth century, in languages ranging from Church Slavonic, to Polish, and Latin. There will be three strands to this Harvard Library: original works, Ukrainian translations, and Reviews 295 English translations, all of which will contain appropriate editorial and other introductions. Of the two works brought together in the present volume, the Izbornik of 1076 is the third oldest dated Slavic book, a famous 'encyclopedic handbook of theology, history, biblical and legal learning, and morals'. The second, the Homilies of Grigorij the Philosopher, constitutes 'an obscure cycle of sermons addressed to an anonymous congregation'. Both appear to have been written within fourteen years of one another, in 1062 and 1076, respectively, most probably in Kiev. Each had the joint purposes of edification and sanctification. And, as Veder argues, each mirrors the strengthening of the faith and the Church in very insecure times. These years were the period of the third and fourth generations of baptized Rus' (p. xv). Since the people were still largely illiterate it was necessary that instructional books be copied to propagate the Christian faith through service books, manuals of instruction, and such easily carried works as the Izbornik. As the editor observes, it is still conjectural as to whether the baptism of Rus' was carried out direcdy from Constantinople or through the intermediate zone of Bulgaria, itself converted some 125 years before Kiev. Thus the present volume constitutes a most up-to-date overview of the old 'Church Slavonic' language and literature questions and the relative closeness of Greek syntax, lexis, and thought to 'edificatory prose'. The translators stress the more spiritual aspect of these Eastern writings, as distinct from the Christian West. As the expandedtitlesof both the texts make clear: 'The progression from edification to salvation through meditation and spiritual perfection in divine wisdom is the goal of both works ... the Homilies ... for delivery from the pulpit... the Izbornik ... for private reflection' (p. xviii). Thus both texts are concerned with the nature of faith, love and good deeds, the study of scripture and explanation of its texts, the avoidance of sin, prayer and the fear of God, the observance of the various days of devotion...