Song-literary heritage from the time of Tsar Samuel (10th – 11th centuries)

SONG-LITERARY HERITAGE FROM THE TIME OF TSAR SAMUEL (10TH – 11TH CENTURIES) 

Svetlana Kujumdzieva 

(Summary) 

The article defends the thesis that in Tsar Samuel’s time in Bulgaria a universal liturgical hymnographic book called tropologion was in use, which was also known in Greek, Georgian, Syriac and Armenian languages. The above claims, in addition to the wide dissemination of the book throughout the Orient, are backed up by some sources in Slavic written in the 10th – 11th centuries. Most of them are Glagolitic whose origin is connected with the western Bulgarian lands and especially with Ohrid. 

The criteria for the selection of the presented sources are, first, that they contain texts that were undoubtedly chanted; second, they exhibit proximity to each other in both palaeographical and structural aspects; and third, they combine Eastern and Western elements. Such are the Kiev Folios from the first half of the 10th century, the recently discovered Glagolitic fragment from a single folio dated from the first decade of the 11th century, the Sinaitic Euchologion from the second quarter of the 11th century, the Sinai Missal from the middle of the 11th century, the fragment of a two-folio tropologion from the 11th – 12th centuries and the Elijah Book, which, although it is from the 12th century and is in Cyrillic, it has been proven to reflect a liturgical practice from the end of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century. 

The structure of the presented books is commented on, which turns out to be close to the old type of the tropologion in its ‘global’ 156 Светлана Куюмджиева form. It is emphasized that the structure is an expression of memory and preserves the creative process. It is also stressed that the presented manuscripts are evidence of a heritage in which can be found traces of literary legacy of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius. That heritage proved the exceptional erudition of the brothers, who were deeply knowledgeable of both Eastern and Western worship and theology. A similar legacy could have been developed and practiced in a literary centre such as Ohrid, where the activities of both St. Clement of Ohrid and St. Naum of Preslav-and-Ohrid took place. 

Keywords: Tsar Samuel, hymnographic books, song repertoire, old music.