Literary parallels to one Novgorod inscription of the 12th century

Abstract

The article cites new literary parallels to a graffiti inscription of the 12th century about the death of Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel, found on the wall of the Church of the Annunciation on the Settlement in Veliky Novgorod as a result of archeological and work by Vladimir Sedov in the summer of 2016–2017. This inscription is a traditional genre of annalistic news of the death of the Old Russian princes. They usually use the expression “weeping and sobbing”, “weeping and longing / sorrow”, in different versions, to refer to the crying and tears of the prince’s squad and relatives. In the inscription under consideration, it refers to the weeping of the squad for the deceased Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich. The author of the article adds a number of other literary parallels to the literary sources noted by the publishers and interpreters of the Annunciation inscription. Especially important for expanding the literary context is the old Russian apocryphal “Homilia for the Resurrection of Lazarus” at the end of the 12th — beginning of the 13th centuries”. An important episode in it is the weeping — the prayer of Adam in Hell, where he turns to Christ. The theme of weeping in the inscription on the wall of the Church of the Annunciation and in the “Homilia on the Resurrection of Lazarus” is expressed in similar words and phrases. The examples of similar expressions and formulas presented here allow us to expand the literary context of the Annunciation inscription about the death of Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich.