in the Old Russian “Word about the Star of Irania”
The story about the prophecy of the sorcerer Valaam is an essential plot component of the
“Word about the Star of Irania,” an ancient Russian homily dedicated to Christmas events.
The source study of the text under consideration was performed by comparing it with various
texts of the Old Russian tradition treating the history of Valaam from the perspectives of the
Christmas narrative (with the Menaion services of the Christmas cycle, the Explanatory Palea,
the Historical Palea). The analysis revealed the story about Valaam in the “Word about the
Star of Irania” to be connected with the Explanatory Palea. However, its author uses several
unique readings from the Historical Palea: Balaam’s service to Baal, the desire to curse, and
the Persian recording of Balaam’s prophecy, possibly related to Jewish exegetical comments
on the Pentateuch of Moses. Another source of the “Word about the Star of Irania” proves to
be the word of “Adoration of the Magi” from the Prologue, the second (Large) edition. It is
confirmed by the unity of the components in the narrative plan and the paraphrastic
processing of separate fragments from the prologue text by the author of “Word about the Star
of Irania.” The context of the handwritten collections where the “Word about the Star of
Irania” exists and its literary connections indicate that Kirill Turovsky, or the scribes of his
school, were involved in its creation. The Word about the Star of Irania” genre specificity
“allows us to define the literary monument as a homily.
Barsov N. I. Istoriya pervobytnoy khristianskoy propovedi do 4 veka. [History of
primitive Christian preaching until the 4th century]. Moscow, 2012, 410 p.
Begunov Yu. K. Novonaydennoe apokrificheskoe “Slovo o zvezde Iran’I” [Newly
discovered apocryphal “Word about the Star of Irania”]. Zietschrift fur Slawistik. 1983,
vol. 28, iss. 2, pp. 238–257.
Dianova T. V., Kostyukhina L. M., Pozdeeva I. V. Opisanie rukopisey biblioteki
Iosifo-Volokolamskogo monastyrya iz Eparkhial’nogo sobraniya GIM [Description of
the manuscripts of the library of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery from the diocesan
collection of the State Historical Museum]. In: Knizhnye tsentry Drevnei Rusi. Iosifo-
Volokolamskii monastyr’ kak tsentr knizhnosti. Leningrad, Nauka, 1991, pp. 122–415.
Georgievskiy G. P. Rukopisi T. F. Bol’shakova, khranyashchiesya v Imperatorskom
Moskovskom i Rumyantsevskom muzee [Manuscripts of T. F. Bol’shakov, stored in
Imperial Moscow and Rumyantsev’s museum]. Petrograd, 1915, 464 p.
Iosif, ierom. Opis’ rukopisey, perenesennykh iz biblioteki Iosifova monastyrya v bib-
lioteku Moskovskoy Dukhovnoy akademii [Inventory of manuscripts transferred from
the library of the Joseph Monastery to the library of the Moscow Theological
Academy]. Moscow, 1882, 360 p.
Kovalenko A. N. To the problem of textological study of the “Word about the Star
of Irania”. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2021, vol. 20, no. 2: Philology,
pp. 76–83. DOI 10.25205/1818-7919-2021-20-2-76-83
Leonid (Kavelin), arkhim. Sistematicheskoe opisanie slavyano-rossiyskikh rukopisey
sobraniya grafa Uvarova. Chast’ pervaya [Systematic description of Slavic-Russian
manuscripts from the collection of Count Uvarov. Part one]. Moscow, 1893, 714 p.
Loseva O. V. Zhitiya russkikh svyatykh v sostave drevnerusskikh Prologov 12 –
pervoy treti 13 vekov [Lives of Russian Saints as part of the Old Russian Prologues of
the 12th – the first third of the 15th centuries]. Moscow, 2009, 466 p.
Opisanie rukopisnogo otdeleniya Biblioteki Akademii nauk SSSR. [Description of
the handwritten department of the Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences”].
Moscow, Leningrad, AN SSSR Publ., 1951, vol. 4, iss. 1 (povesti, romany, skazaniya,
skazki, rasskazy [stories, novels, legends, fairy tales, stories]), 116 p.
Popov A. N. Opisanie rukopisey i katalog knig tserkovnoy pechati biblioteki
A. I. Khludova [Description of manuscripts and catalog of books of the church printing
of the library of A. I. Khludov]. Moscow, 1872, 766 p.
Proekt serii monograficheskikh issledovaniy-izdaniy pamyatnikov drevnerusskoy
literatury [Project of a series of monographic studies-publications of monuments of Old
Russian literature]. In: Trudy Otdela drevnerusskoi literatury [Works of the Department
of Old Russian Literature]. Moscow, Leningrad, 1955, vol. 11, pp. 491–499.
Protas’eva T. N. Opisanie rukopisey Sinodal’nogo sobraniya. Ch. 1 No. 577–819
[Description of the manuscripts from Synodal collection. Pt. 1, No. 577–819]. Moscow,
1970, 264 p.
Skaballanovich M. N. Rozhdestvo Khristovo [Nativity of Christ]. Kiev, 1916, 196 p.
Sreznevskiy V. I. Opisanie rukopisey i knig, sobrannykh dlya imperatorskoy aka-
demii nauk v Olonetskom krae [Description of manuscripts and books collected for the
Imperial Academy of Sciences in the Olonets region]. St. Petersburg, 1913, 746 p.
Stroev P. M. Opisanie rukopisey monastyrey Volokolamskogo, Novyy-Ierusalim,
Savvina-Storozhevskogo i Pafnutieva-Borovskogo [Description of the manuscripts of
the Volokolamsky, New Jerusalem, Savvin-Storozhevsky and Pafnutiev-Borovsky
monasteries]. St. Petersburg, 1891, 392 p.
Tvorogov O. V. Opisanie sostava Prostrannoy redaktsii Prologa po spiskam 14–
16 vekov. Chast’ 1: Prolog za sentyabr’ – fevral’ [Description of the composition of the
Extended edition of the Prologue according to the manuscripts of the 14th – 16th
centuries. Part 1 Prologue for September – February]. In: Trudy Otdela drevnerusskoi
literatury [Works of the Department of Old Russian Literature]. St. Petersburg, 2014,
vol. 62, pp. 269–342.
Vassiliev A. Anecdota graeco-byzantina. Mosquae, 1893, p. 1, 348 p.
Vodolazkin E. G. Redaktsii Kratkoy Khronograficheskoy Palei [Editions of a Short
Chronographic Palea]. In: Trudy Otdela drevnerusskoi literatury [Works of the
Department of Old Russian Literature]. St. Petersburg, Dmitriy Bulanin, 2004, vol. 56,
pp. 164–180.
in the Old Russian “Word about the Star of Irania” // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2023. № 1. Pp. 62–73. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/82/4.