The system of divine service quotations in the life of Stephen of Perm

Abstract

Epiphanius the Wise, the Russian fifteenth-century hagiographer, is well-known as an unexcelled stylist. A monk of the Holy Trinity—St. Sergius Lavra, and one of the most learned and multi-talented people of his time, he was the author of at least two saints’ Lives—Sergius of Radonezh and Stephen of Perm. Moreover, the authorship of A Word on the Life and Repose of Demetrius Ivanovich, Tsar of Russia is most often ascribed to this same hagiographer. The unique style of his works has elicited and continues to elicit the interest of researchers. The analysis of the particularities of his work, in the opinion of LA Dmitriev, is “the critical, central problem in the study of the Russian hagiography linked with the second wave of South Slav influence.” 1 One of the most interesting particularities of Epiphanius’ style was his broad use of various quotations, reminiscences and allusions in hagiographical prose.