THE CONSTRUCTION ‘byti WITH THE PRESENT PARTICIPLEE’ IN THE Vitae OF BORIS AND GLEB (on the problem of the relationship between the Narration and the Lection)

The Vita of Boris and Gleb was written twice: by an anonymous scribe who composed The Narration and Passion and Eulogy of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb (followed by the Narration of the Miracles performed by the brothers post mortem) and by the monk of the Kiev Cave Monastery Nestor, who wrote The Lection on the Life and Death of the princes. There is no scholarly agreement as to which of the Vitae was written earlier. However, it is clear that the texts are related to each other: either one of them is based on the other or both go back to the same source. The analysis of the construction ‘byti with the present participle’ in these texts may shed light on the relationship between them.