Past Meetings
Toulouse 2022 (hybrid)
The majority of the participants presented their papers virtually. Our gratitude goes especially to the presenters, who traveled to Toulouse and made sure that both onsite and virtual presentations were running smoothly.
The new research and current issues with Slavonic Apocrypha were the focal point at the 2022 meeting. The sessions on individual texts and manuscripts, their use in religious, social, and cultural context ended with the role of Slavonic Apocrypha in popular culture and dualistic controversies. The Polish team from the Department of Polish and Classic Philology of Adam Mickiewicz University at Poznan updated us with their new research and progress in digitization of Old Polish Apocrypha. A session was dedicated to professor Keiko Mitani with a paper devoted to dr. Mitani’s intellectual biography and presentations inspired thematically and methodologically by her work.
Anissava Miltenova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Again about the Apocryphal, Bogomil and Pseudo-Bogomil Literature in Palaeoslavistic
Ekaterina Dimitrova Todorova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: About the Apocryphal Prayer with a Beginning “Поиде 7 ангель, 7 архангель, 7 свещеносеще, 7 ножь остреще...” in the South Slavonic Written Tradition (13th‒19th Centuries)
Ivan Iliev, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski:” On Two Interpretations of the Book of Daniel
Andrej Bojadžiev, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski:” Acta Thomae in India: Greek and Slavonic Texts
Aleksandra F. Michalska, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Apocryphal Prayers and Traditional Magic Practices in a Contemporary Bulgarian Context
Zofia Brylka, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Hygiene and Cleanliness of Old-Polish Biblical-Apocryphal Narrations Characters as an Indicator of Their Holiness
Via Zoom
Dorota Rojszczak Robinska, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: The Pentateuch in the Old Polish New Testament Apocrypha
Andrzej Jedrzejczak, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Jews in the Old Polish Apocrypha of the New Testament
Wojciech Stelmach, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Thomas Aquinas’ 'Catena Aurea' as a Source of “The Przemyśl Meditation”
Vadim Vitkovskiy, Humboldt University Berlin: Unique Ending of 3 Baruch in ms. 760 (National Library of Serbia)
Liudmila Navtanovich, Universitat Autónoma De Barcelona: About Obscure Places in 2 Enoch
Tetiana Vilkul, Institute of Ukrainian History: On the First Apocryphal Unit of the "Philosopher's Speech"
Liudmila Borisovna Karpenko, Samara National Research University: The Apocryphal Gospel of Childhood as a Source for Studying Middle Bulgarian Culture and Language
Gennady Jurjevich Karpenko, Sr., Samara National Research University: The "DOVE BOOK" as the People’s Orthodox Cathecism
Nirmal Fernando, Ashram Community UK / Urban Theology Union Sheffield: The Relationship between the Infancy Narrative of Thomas and the Illustrations in the losterneuburger Evangelienwerk
Sladana Mirkovic, University of South Florida: When the National Treasure Becomes Internationalized: The Case of Serbian Manuscripts
Basil Lourié, Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk): The Dream of King Jehoash: One More Syriac Maronite Pseudepigraphon Preserved in Slavonic
Ljubica Jovanovic, American Public University System: "Vita Constantini" Revisited by a Biblical Scholar
Wuppertal 2021 (virtual)
Unfortunately, we did not meet in person Wuppertal, Germany because of thе Covid 19 pandemic. Nevertheless and thanks to a new technology, we hеld an annual conference through the Zoom directed by the wonderful EABS team from Wuppertal University. In this virtual conference, the members of the unit shared their polished studies through the PowerPoints and pointed out to new directions that their research took them during the lock-down.
The textual/philological methodology was used by the scholars from the Department of Polish and Classic Philology of Adam Mickiewicz University at Poznan, Poland, who presented their results from the project Old Polish Apocrypha; we heard important news from monastic sources, an invitation to reconsider the sources on the anti-Christ, some prayers against the toothache, and the way to bridge the gap between different genres such as romance and apocrypha; we had an opportunity to get familiar with the work of Moses Gaster, as well as, with the embodiment of biblical figures in the orthodox sacred places.
Dorota Rojszczak Robinska, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Writings of the Church Fathers as a Source of Old Polish Apocrypha of the New Testament
Wojciech Stelmach, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Linguistic Image of Biblical Eve in Old-Polish Historyja barzo cudna o stworzeniu nieba i ziemie (in Comparison to Slavic Apocrypha)
Anissava Miltenova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Apocrypha in the Monastic Miscellanies: Accident or Premeditation?
Ekaterina Dimitrova Todorova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Apocryphal Prayers ‘Against Nezhit’ in South Slavonic Literature
Fedor Veselov, Saint Petersburg State University: The Sea Called ‘Fire of the Sun’: towards Connections between the Alexander Romance and the Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius
Ivan Iliev, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”: Hippolytus Romanus’ De Christo et Antichristo Reconsidered: New witnesses of the Slavonic Tradition
Basil Lourie, Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences: The Acta fabulosa of Peter (CANT 198): a Syrian “Colonial Discourse” about Rome
Maria Cioata, University of Manchester: Moses Gaster (1856-1939) as a collector and translator of Romanian Bird and Beast Stories
Ljubica Jovanovic, American Public University System: Patriarch Joseph (Gen 37-52) as Їѡсифь Прѣкрасни, the Beauteous Joseph, in Orthodox Iconography
Warsaw 2019
At the meeting in Warsaw we discussed the current issues on Slavonic Apocrypha and their relationship with the Bible in the contemporary context and opened the conversation about Old Church Slavonic texts in the interpretation of Polish scholars. Because the National Library in Warsaw houses one of the oldest South Slavonic manuscript, the Codex Suprasliensis, we created a special session, “In Poland: Apocrypha and Codex Suprasliensis.” The latest academic attempts in studying the importance of the concept of light in Slavic Christian tradition were addressed in the session, “Calendars, Apocalypses, and Astronomy.”
Dorota Rojszczak Robinska, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań: Book of Psalms as the source of the Old Polish Apocrypha of the New Testament
Liudmila Navtanovich, Universitat Autónoma De Barcelona: About the Sun's Faces in the Short Recension of 2 Enoch
Sladana Mirkovic, University of South Florida: Could the Biblical Studies Save the Slavonic Apocrypha?
Vadim Vitkovskiy, Humboldt University Berlin” 711 and 760 of National Library of Serbia in the Textual History of Third Baruch
Anissava Miltenova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: South Slavonic Interpolations in the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius
Ivan Iliev, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski: The ‘Kingdom of the Antichrist’ in a Compilation of Bible Quotes
Ljubica Jovanovic, American Public University System. The Figure of Joseph in the South Slavonic “Homily about Fasting, and Joseph, and the Priest, and the Prophet David.”
Alexander Grishchenko, Moscow State Pedagogical University: The Apocryphal Table of Contents in the Edited Slavonic-Russian Pentateuch from the 15th Century
Ekaterina Dimitrova Todorova, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridsky: Between Apocrypha and The Holy Bible: Saint Pantaleon' Martyr from 17th Century
Lilly Emilova Stammler, The Institute for Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: The Erotapokriseis from The Life of Andrew the Fool in the Byzantine and Medieval Bulgarian Literary Tradition
Helsinki 2018
The joint meeting of European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) and International Society of Biblical Literature (ISBL) allowed our EABS session “Slavonic Apocrypha” to hold a session together with the ISBL program units “Rethinking Biblical Written Tradition through Slavonic Interpretations, ” “Apocalyptic literature,” and “Hellenistic Judaism.” We chose the theme “Research on Apocalyptic, Apocryphal, and Second Temple Literature in Nordic, Baltic, and North Slavic Lands” because we wanted to recognize the importance of the scholars of Finland in the field on the on Dead Sea Scrolls.
The goal of our unit for this meeting was to reevaluate the Slavonic Apocrypha in a contemporary light through the exploration of the history of North Slavonic, Nordic and Baltic interpretative traditions in regard of the biblical and related manuscripts.
Ivan Biliarsky, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences/Institute of History: The Testament of Abraham in a Juridical manuscript of XVI Century
Ivan I. Iliev, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski: The Old Church Slavonic Translations of the Book of the Prophet Daniel: How Many are they and how they functioned?
Milan Kostresevic, Universität Bern - Université de Berne: TheLinguistic Analysis of the Names and Toponyms in the Slavic Apocalypse of Abraham
Basil Lourié, Scrinium. Review of the Patrology, Critical: A Jewish-Christian Exegesis in the Slavonic Text on the Perdition of the Higher Intellect
Anissava Miltenova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: South Slavonic Apocryphal Collections
Maria Vitkovskaya, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Humboldt University of Berlin: Rewriting Methods in the Palaea Historica and in the Slavic Cycle of Abraham
Sladana Mirkovic, University of South Florida: Slavic Studies and Wissenschaftliche Approach to the Bible
Vadim Wittkowsky, Humboldt University Berlin: Literary Criticism and Conservative Orthodoxy: Critics of the Q-Hypothesis in 21st century Denmark and Russia
Berlin 2017
“Slavonic Apocrypha” held a joint session with ISBL units, “Apocalyptic Literature,” “Rethinking Biblical Written Tradition through Slavonic Interpretations,” and “Hellenistic Judaism” on the topic “Slavonic Translations of the Second Temple Texts.” Our presenters discussed both literary and visual motifs of the medieval Slavic interpretations. A special session was dedicated to the legacy of Cyril and Methodius.
Keiko Mitani, The University of Tokyo: The Inscription on Solomon’s Chalice in Vita Constantini: An Old Question Revisited
Ljubica Jovanovic, American Public University System: The Septuagint Event in the Ninth Century Slavic Lands: Which Bible did Cyril and Methodius and their Followers Translate?
Amber Ivanova, Universiteit Gent: The Apocryphal Origin of the Martyr Act of Saint Thekla in the Medieval Slavonic Tradition
Basil Lourié, Scrinium. Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography, State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, St. Petersburg: Some Pseudepigraphic Prophecies in Slavonic
Anissava Miltenova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Symbiosis between Apocryphon and Nomocanon: Apocalypsis Johannis Quarta
Enrique Santos Marina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid: Prophet Elijah as a Weather God in Church Slavonic Apocryphal Works
Lyubov Osinkina, University of Oxford: The Representation of Literary Motifs in the Visual Arts (in Connection with the Image of Job)
Leuven 2016
The topics of the presentations were on the current status of the research and the setting of the goals for the future scholarship on Slavonic Apocrypha. We discussed the scope of our panel and the terminology and decided that we will keep the inadequate but easily recognizable name, “Slavonic Apocrypha,” for the historical Slavic religious literature until we agree on a competent replacement.
Sladana Mirkovic, University of South Florida: How to Study Slavonic Apocrypha in the 21st Century?
Ljubica Jovanovic, American Public University System: Reception of Biblical Literary Models in the Slavonic Traditions
Anissava Miltenova, Bulgarian Academy of Sceinces: Slavonic Apocrypha: New Discoveries, New Perusals
Basil Lourié, Scrinium. Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography, State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, St. Petersburg: Rewritten Bible in the “Museum” Slavonic Translation of the Song of Songs
Liudmila Navtanovich, Universitat Autónoma De Barcelona: Slavonic Apocrypha: the Main Problems with their Textual History (a Philological Perspective)
Keiko Mitani, The University of Tokyo: The Dream of King Jehoash: Textual Structure and Intertextuality
Martina Chroma, Institute of Slavonic Studies, Czech Academy of Sciences: Slavonic translation of the Apocryphal Questions of Bartholomew
Cornelia Horn, Freie Universitaet Berlin: The Infancy Gospel of James and Its Reception in the Caucasus: Status Quaestionis