PROJECT

The TOCST’s intended goal is to offer new tools in further advancing our knowledge in the textual transmission of Old Church Slavonic writings, that is, the literature of Slavia Christiana (9th – 11th centuries). Slavic philology, unlike Byzantine, Middle-Latin, German and Romance philologies, is still lacking in a truly comprehensive examination of the transmission of the most important Old Church Slavonic texts, which in many cases continue to be studied on the basis of a fragmentary and incomplete investigation of the manuscript sources. Instead of selecting a handful of works retrieved from the earliest Glagolitic and Cyrillic manuscripts (late 10th – 11th centuries) as a starting point, we propose to focus on the 14th and more importantly the 15th and 16th centuries as a key-period for the investigation. This is in contrast with a longstanding tradition in our discipline to focus on earlier testimonies, whereas many ancient traits of Old Church Slavonic – as far as vocabulary and syntax are concerned – are to be found also (and sometimes only) in more recent manuscripts.  Such an outdated traditional practice had grave consequences for an assessment of the works belonging to the earliest body of Old Church Slavonic literature. As a result, a large number of texts were insufficiently studied merely on the grounds that they are not attested in the earliest manuscripts (Palaeoslavic canon). The time is now ripe to achieve a new understanding of the transmission of texts of Slavia Christiana, and thereby to offer a re-evaluation of its literary patrimony.