The Skete Charter as Part of a Handwritten Charter of the XVI Century from the Museum of the Moscow Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study the peculiarities and significance of the Skitic Canons (SC) in the manuscript Canons of the 16th century of Moscow Theological Academy, Church-Archaeological Study. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a systematic analysis of a rare liturgical monument reflecting the specifics of monastic life, spiritual practice and cultural heritage of Russia. The methodological approach used, includes palaeographic, textological and comparative analysis of manuscript monuments.

The division of the book of the 16th century Canons (MTA CAS) into chapters has been analysed, the omissions in the numbering have been revealed, the texts of unnumbered chapters, including chapter [80] have been studied, and an assumption has been made about the purposefulness of these features. The links between the Skitic Canons and the Jerusalem Typikon have been revealed, and the differences in the practices of the SC and monastic hagiography have been shown. The historical connection between the Russian and Byzantine monastic tradition has been established, and the significance of the SC as a basis for the spiritual revival of Russia has been proved.

The field of application of the results of the work covers the history of liturgical literature, monastic tradition and religious pedagogy. The conclusions of the study substantiate the uniqueness of the SU as a monument of Russian church writing, valuable for modern monastic practice and the study of Christian culture.