Panegyric Prefaces in Honor of Benefactors in Old Arabic Christian Prints of the Early 18th Century
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Abstract
The article examines the historical context of writing and the thematic and stylistic features of the prefaces dedicated to the patrons of Arabic Christian printing in the Middle East, namely the prince of Wallachia Constantin Brâncoveanu and the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa. These prefaces are contained in the first old prints in Arabic script which were published in Wallachia (the 1701 Liturgikon and the 1702 Horologion) and in Aleppo (the 1706 Psalter and the 1708 Tetraevangelion). The inclusion of accompanying texts of this kind to the books was due, firstly, to the European tradition of those times, and secondly, to the sincere gratitude of Syrian Christians for the material support that the Church of Antioch desperately needed. Mazepa’s financial assistance came at a time when the newly created Aleppo printing press was on the verge of ceasing its activities due to lack of funds. The hetman allocated six thousand gold pieces, which made it possible to print several more books before the printing press ceased to function after 1711.
The prefaces in honor of both patrons were signed by the former patriarch of Antioch (at that time metropolitan of Aleppo) Athanasios III Dabbās, the initiator of Arabic printing in the East. In addressing his benefactors, the author resorts to the genre of panegyric, closely intertwined with the sermon, which brings the texts of the analyzed prefaces closer to the style of baroque sermon that was widespread in Europe at the time. The texts contain many quotations from Scripture, allusions to biblical images and events and historical figures. The leitmotif of the panegyric is the theme of alms, in the context of patrons’ donations to Arabic printing. By using such stylistic devices as metaphor, simile, antithesis, and parallelism, the virtues of the benefactors are praised, and they are compared to biblical characters, apostles, and saints.
The publication offers a Ukrainian translation of the first preface from the Bucharest Horologion (1702) and the Aleppo Psalter (1706) dedicated to Constantin Brâncoveanu, as well as the preface in honor of Ivan Mazepa from the Aleppo Tetraevangelion (1708), known in historiography as the “Mazepa’s Gospel”.
How to Cite
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Christian Arabs; the Church of Antioch; Athanasios III Dabbās; Constantin Brâncoveanu; Ivan Mazepa; printing; old prints; preface; panegyric
Дмитриевский А. А. Описание рукописей и книг, поступивших в Церковно-археологический музей при Киевской духовной академии из греческой Нежинской Михаилово-Архангельской церкви // Труды КДА, Приложение, 1885, № 3–12.
Зелінська О. Ю. Українська барокова проповідь: мовний світ і культурні витоки. Київ, 2013.
Книга Чесного Непорочного Євангелія, Світильника, що сяє й освітлює / Упор., передм. І. Осташ. Київ, 2021.
Курганова О. Ю. Присвяти, передмови та післямови до українських кириличних стародруків: проблеми та перспективи науково-бібліографічного обліку // Бібліотечний Меркурій, 2019. Вип. 2 (22). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18524/2304-1447.2019.2(22).165783
Крымский А. Е. История новой арабской литературы: XIX – начало XX века. Москва, 1971.
Маслов С. І. Етюди з історії стародруків: I–VIII. Київ, 1925.
Петрова Ю. І. До історії арабського друкарства на Сході: перші арабо-християнські книги, видані у Волощині // Східний світ, 2023, № 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2023.01.024
Рендюк Т. Євангеліє Івана Мазепи арабською мовою 1708 року – видатна пам’ятка релігії, історії та культури // Сіверянський літопис, 2020, № 5.
Сазонова Л. И. Литературная культура России. Раннее Новое время. Москва, 2006.
Успенский П. Книга бытия моего. Т. 3. Санкт-Петербург, 1896.
Чепіга І. П. Передмови й післямови до українських стародруків як джерело вивчення історії української літературної мови // Мовознавство, 1988, № 5.
Bianu I., Hodoș N. Bibliografia Românească Veche (1508–1830). Vol. 1 (1508–1716). Bucharest, 1903.
Feodorov I. Tipar pentru creştinii arabi: Antim Ivireanul, Atanasie Dabbās şi Silvestru al Antiohiei. Brăila, 2016.
Feodorov I. Arabic Printing for the Christians in Ottoman Lands. Berlin – Boston, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110786996
Kitāb al-Injīl al-šarīf al-ṭāhir wa-l-miṣbāḥ al-munīr al-zāhir. Aleppo, 1708.
Kitāb al-Ūrūlūjiyūn. Bucharest, 1702.
Kitāb al-Zabūr al-šarīf. Aleppo, 1706.
Petrova Yu. The Prefaces of the Christian Arabic Books Printed in Wallachia and Syria in the Early 18th Century // Arabic-Type Books Printed in Wallachia, Istanbul, and Beyond: First Volume of Collected Works of the TYPARABIC Project / Ed. by R. Dipratu and S. Noble. Berlin – Boston, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111060392-012
Rendiuc T. Невідомі аспекти щодо Євангелія, видане гетьманом України Іваном Мазепою та господарем Валахії Констянтином Бринковяном у 1708 році арабською мовою у м. Алеппо (Сирія) // Danubius. Vol. XXXV, pt. 2. 2017.
Tchentsova V. Les documents grecs du XVIIe siècle: pièces authentiques et pièces fausses. 4. Le patriarche d’Antioche Athanase IV Dabbâs et Moscou: en quête de subventions pour l’imprimerie arabe d’Alep // Orientalia Christiana Periodica. Vol. 79, Nr. 1. 2013.
Tchentsova V. New Research on Mazepa’s Arabic Gospel (1708) // Історико-краєзнавчі дослідження: традиції та інновації. Матеріали VI Міжнародної наукової конференції, 8–9 грудня 2023 р. Ч. 1. Суми, 2024.
REFERENCES
Dmitrievskiy A. A. (1885), “Opisanie rukopisey i knig, postupivshikh v Tserkovno-arkheologicheskiy muzey pri Kievskoy dukhovnoy akademii iz grecheskoy Nezhinskoy Mikhailovo-Arkhangel’skoy tserkvi”, in Trudy KDA, Prilozhenie, 3–12, pp. 1–160. (In Russian).
Zelinska O. Yu. (2013), Ukrainska barokova propovid: movnyi svit i kulturni vytoky, Vydavnychyi dim Dmytra Byraho, Kyiv. (In Ukrainian).
Knyha Chesnoho Neporochnoho Yevanheliia, Svitylnyka, shcho siaie y osvitliuie (2021), Compl. by I. Ostash, Fond pamiati Blazhenniishoho Mytropolyta Volodymyra, Kyiv. (In Ukrainian and Arabic).
Kurhanova O. Yu. (2019), “Prysviaty, peredmovy ta pisliamovy do ukrainskykh kyrylychnykh starodrukiv: problemy ta perspektyvy naukovo-bibliohrafichnoho obliku”, Library Mercury, Issue 2 (22), pp. 94–108. (In Ukrainian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18524/2304-1447.2019.2(22).165783
Krymskiy A. Ye. (1971), Istoriya novoy arabskoy literatury: XIX – nachalo XX veka, Glavnaya redaktsiya vostochnoy literatury, Moscow. (In Russian).
Maslov S. I. (1925), Etiudy z istorii starodrukiv: I–VIII, Ukrainskyi naukovyi instytut knyhoznavstva, Kyiv. (In Ukrainian).
Petrova Yu. I. (2023), “Do istorii arabskoho drukarstva na Skhodi: pershi arabo-khrystyianski knyhy, vydani u Voloshchyni”, Shìdnij svìt, No. 1, pp. 24–43. (In Ukrainian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2023.01.024
Rendiuk T. (2020), “Yevanheliie Ivana Mazepy arabskoiu movoiu 1708 roku – vydatna pamiatka relihii, istorii ta kultury”, Siverian chronicle, 5, pp. 47–64. (In Ukrainian).
Sazonova L. I. (2006), Literaturnaya kul’tura Rossiyi. Ranneye Novoye vremya, Yazyki slavyanskikh kul’tur, Moscow. (In Russian).
Uspenskiy P. (1896), Kniga bytiya moyego, Vol. 3, Imperatorskaya akademiya nauk, St. Petersburg. (In Russian).
Chepiha I. P. (1988), “Peredmovy y pisliamovy do ukrainskykh starodrukiv yak dzherelo vyvchennia istorii ukrainskoi literaturnoi movy”, Movoznavstvo, No. 5, pp. 16–25. (In Ukrainian).
Bianu I. and Hodoș N. (1903), Bibliografia Românească Veche (1508–1830), Vol. 1 (1508–1716), Edițiunea Academiei române, Bucharest.
Feodorov I. (2016), Tipar pentru creştinii arabi: Antim Ivireanul, Atanasie Dabbās şi Silvestru al Antiohiei, Editura Istros a Muzeului Brăilei, Brăila.
Feodorov I. (2023), Arabic Printing for the Christians in Ottoman Lands, De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110786996
Kitāb al-Injīl al-šarīf al-ṭāhir wa-l-miṣbāḥ al-munīr al-zāhir (1708), Aleppo. (In Arabic).
Kitāb al-Ūrūlūjiyūn (1702), Bucharest. (In Arabic and Greek).
Kitāb al-Zabūr al-šarīf (1706), Aleppo. (In Arabic).
Petrova Yu. (2024), “The Prefaces of the Christian Arabic Books Printed in Wallachia and Syria in the Early 18th Century”, in R. Dipratu and S. Noble (eds), Arabic-Type Books Printed in Wallachia, Istanbul, and Beyond: First Volume of Collected Works of the TYPARABIC Project, De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, pp. 265–288. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111060392-012
Rendiuc T. (2017), “Nevidomi aspekty shchodo Yevanheliya, vydane het’manom Ukrayiny Ivanom Mazepoyu tа hospodarem Valakhiyi Konstyantynom Brynkovyanom u 1708 rotsi arabs’koyu movoyu u m. Aleppo (Syriya)”, Danubius, Vol. XXXV, Pt. 2, pp. 41–72. (In Ukrainian).
Tchentsova V. (2013), “Les documents grecs du XVIIe siècle : pièces authentiques et pièces fausses. 4. Le patriarche d’Antioche Athanase IV Dabbâs et Moscou: en quête de subventions pour l’imprimerie arabe d’Alep”, Orientalia Christiana Periodica, Vol. 79, Nr. 1, pp. 173–195.
Tchentsova V. (2024), “New Research on Mazepa’s Arabic Gospel (1708)”, in Istoryko-krayeznavchi doslidzhennya: tradytsiyi ta innovatsiyi. Materialy VI Mizhnarodnoyi naukovoyi konferentsiyi, 8–9.12.2023, Pt. 1, Sums’kyi derzhavnyi pedahohichnyi universytet imeni A. S. Makarenka, Sumy, pp. 218–221.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.