1. Journal of Ancient History 3 (286)
  2. Unexpected Evidence on Early Byzantine Gold Mining in Old Slavic Liturgy

Unexpected Evidence on Early Byzantine Gold Mining in Old Slavic Liturgy

Afanasyeva Tatyana I., Ivanov Sergei A.

The intercession on behalf of those «under tribunal and in the mines and in exile and in hard labor», which can be found in the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, was perceived as a remnant of pagan persecutions. This explanation can be called to question by the following fact. Two Old Russian manuscripts of St. Basil’s liturgy copied in the 14th century contain an interpolation: «those who move the gold ore because of Ceasar’s wrath». This interpolation is missing in all the existing versions of St. Basil’s Liturgy, whether Greek, Armenian or Egyptian. However, it could not be a mere invention of a Slavic scribe or a translator: the Slavs themselves did not mine gold. This means that the interpolation in question was translated from a Greek version that did not survive.

Keywords: gold mining, persecutions of Christians, early Byzantium, liturgy of St. Basil, Slavic liturgy.
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