ʻTHE TALE OF THEODORE THE MERCHANTʼ IN THE PROLOGUE (OCTOBER 31): IN SEARCH OF A SOURCE

The article is dedicated to the possible sources of the legend of a merchant from Constantinople, who borrowed money from a Jew giving as a surety an icon of Christ (ʻThe Tale of Theodore the Merchantʼ), which is read in the old Russian Prologue on October 31. The prototype of the ʻTaleʼ is a well-known in Byzantine literature Greek legend (Narratio de Antiphonete). The text in the Prologue is aligned with the Greek plot in general (characters, the image of Christ the Guarantor, a chest with money thrown into the sea), but stands out for the details (amount of debt, merchant’s trading operations, cities and countries visited by him, etc.); its narrative is characterized by lexical originality and uniqueness. The article suggests that the ʻTaleʼ is a Slavonic revision of a Greek source, either oral or written, with the addition of some folklore and hagiographic motifs. The article also discusses other references to Christ the Guarantor in Slavonic literature in addition to the Prologue (in particular, in pilgrim’ tales of Constantinople).