THE GREEK SOURCE OF MAKSIM GREK’S CHURCH SLAVONIC CATENA ON THE PSALMS

 This paper examines the question of the Greek original used for the catena on the psalms which was translated into Church Slavonic by Maksim Grek and his Russian assistants early in the sixteenth century. For this purpose it draws on two little known manuscripts written in the 1550s and located in the library of the Hilandar monastery; their text is identified on the basis of distinctive readings which they share with early manuscripts of Maksim’s translation held in Russian archives. It compares the sources cited in the catena and the order in which material is presented with Dorival’s analysis of Greek catenae; on this basis arguments are put forward in support of the conclusion that the original used for Maksim’s translation was a secondary catena of Type III according to Karo-Lietzmann’s classification. It emphasizes the importance of this finding for clarifying the circumstances in which the translation was made, for the correct identification of manuscripts containing Maksim’s catena, and for the study of the Church Slavonic language and translation technique in the sixteenth century. It also draws attention to the relevance of the Hilandar manuscripts to the reception history of Maksim’s text.