Pachomius the Serb

Pachomius the Serb
Born Пахомије
15th century
Died 1484
Nationality Serbian, Ottoman, Russian
Other names Pachomius Logothetes
Occupation hagiographer

Pachomius the Serb (Russian: Пахомий Серб, Serbian: Пахомије Србин), also known as Pachomius Logothetes (Пахомий Логофет; Пахомије Логофет) was a 15th-century Serbian hagiographer who, after taking monastic vows, was schooled on Mount Athos and mastered the ornate style of medieval Serbian literature.[1]

In the 1450s and 1460s he resided at the Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius north of Moscow. One of his major undertakings was a Russian translation of the New Testament. In about 1470 Archbishop Jonas (Iona) asked him to settle in Novgorod where he prepared a set of the lives of local saints. It has been suggested that The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir was also authored by Pachomius.

Life

He arrived in Novgorod at the end of the 1430s or beginning of the 1440s, during the archiepiscopate of Evfimy II of Novgorod (1429–1458) and, under Evfimii's aegis, he composed the Life of Varlaam of Khutyn, the founder of the Khutyn Monastery, as well as the "Tale of the Journey of Ioann (Il'ia, Archbishop of Novgorod 1165-1186) on a Devil to Jerusalem."[2] He then traveled to the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra north of Moscow, where he composed the Life of Sergei of Radonezh, the founder of that monastery. He returned to Novgorod under Arcbhishop Iona (1458–1470), and composed the Lives of several Novgorodian bishop-saints, including those of Il'ia (Ioann) and Evfimii II. He later composed the Life of Moisei, Archbishop of Novgorod sometime shortly after 1484. He died sometime thereafter.[3]

Works

Pachomius is believed to have written eleven saint's lives (zhitie), including those of Metropolitan Peter of Moscow, Stephen of Perm, Ilia (Ioann) of Novgorod, Moisei of Novgorod, Evfimii II of Novgorod, Iona of Novgorod, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, Varlaam of Khutyn, Sergei of Radonezh, and others. He also wrote fourteen services, including those for Evfimii II, The Mother of God of the Sign in Novgorod, Metropolitan Aleksei of Moscow, Anthony of Kiev, and Metropolitan Iona of Moscow.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ G. M. Prokhorov, “Pakhomii Serb,” in D. S. Likhachev, Slovar’ knizhnikov i knizhnosti Drevnei Rusi, vol. 2, Pervaia polovina XIV-XVI v., pt. 2, pp. 167-177.
  2. ↑ Ibid., 167.
  3. ↑ Ibid. 167-168.
  4. ↑ Ibid., 168.