Monk Chrabr

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The oldest surviving manuscript, 1348

Monk Chrabr ( Bulgarian Черноризец Храбър / Chernorizets Chrabar , Altbulgarisch Чрьноризьць Храбръ / Černorizec Chrabŭr , such as "Bold cowl carrier" or "brave Monk") is the pseudonym of the author of a apology the Old Slavonic language in the 9th or 10th century.

identity

Little is known about the identity of the "monk Chrabr". It is believed that he was a contemporary or senior student of the Slav apostles . Some researchers recognize behind the pseudonym Konstantin-Kyrill himself, Clemens von Ohrid , Johannes Exarch , Naum , the Tsar Simeon or the monk Doks , a brother of Tsar Boris and for this reason count him among the representatives of the Preslaw School .

Since 2005 he has given its name to the Chrabr Nunatak on Greenwich Island in Antarctica.

plant

About the letters

The only known work by Chrabr is O pismenech ( old Bulgarian . Сказание о писменех; Bulgarian .Сказание за буквите; German. About the letters), an apology of the Slavic, probably Glagolitic , script and the Slavic language of the Dreisprachendog as well as of the supporters of the Greeks . Chrabr describes the origin of the Slavic script and gives the year 863 as the year of its invention. He presents cultural-historical and philological arguments for his thesis that the Slavic language has the same right to be used as a church language as the Hebrew, Greek or Latin.

Some authors date the work to the first years of the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-929), when there was an open dispute between the Greek and the Slavic (Bulgarian) parties over the church language in the empire Christianized since 865.

Chrabr's remark that the Slavs, when they were still pagans, calculated and prophesied with “strokes and carvings” (Old Church Slavonic: чръты и рѣзы , črŭty i rězy ), led to discussions about a possible pre-Christian Slavic runic script . However, there is no historical evidence for this.

“ Before, when the Slavs were pagans and had no books, they read and prophesied with the help of lines and carvings. But when they became Christians, they tried to write the Slavic language in Roman and Greek letters without following any order. But how can one use the Greek letters “Bogъ” or “životъ” or “dzělo” or “crьkovь” or “čajanie” or “širota” or “jadь” or “ọdru” or “junostь” or “jazykъ” and other similar ones Write words well? And so it went on for many years. But then God let [...] his grace rule over the Slavic people and sent them St. Constantine, the philosopher who was called Cyril, a just and true man. And he created 38 letters, some based on the Greek model, but the others based on the Slavic language. "

- Beginning of the treatise On the Letters of Monk Chrabr

Chrabr's writing helped national orthodoxy to victory and found numerous imitators. Around 80 copies have been preserved in several editorial offices, the oldest in a central Bulgarian composite manuscript made in 1348 . The Berlinski Sbornik (Berlin collective code) also contains a copy .

expenditure

  • R. Abicht: The Alphabet Chrabrs, in Archives for Slavic Philology 31, 1910, 210–217.
  • PA Lavrov: Materialy po istorii voziniknovenija drevnejšej slavjanskoj pis'mennosti, 1930 (Neudr. The Hague 1966), 162–168.
  • I. Dujčev: Starobŭlgarska knižnina I, 1943, 65–69, 203–210. (Bulgarian transl.)
  • M. Weingart, J. Kurz: Texty ke studiu jazyka a písemnictví staroslověnského, 1949, 189–192.
  • J. Vašica: Literární památky epochy Velkomoravské, 1966, 11-19. (with Czech translation)
  • P Ratkoš: Pramene k dejinám Vel'kej Moravy, 1968, 264–469. (Slovak transl.)
  • A. Vaillant: Textes vieux-slaves, 1968, I, 57-61; II, 47-51. (French translation)
  • Magnae Moraviae fontes historici III, 1969, 364-371. (with Czech translation)
  • G. Svane: Konstantinos (Kyrillos) og Methodios, Slavernes Apostle, 1969, 138-142. (Danish transl.)
  • Skazanija o načale slavjanskoj pis'mennosti, 1981, 102-104, 174-189. (Russian transl.)

literature

  • Ch. Hannick: Chrabr . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters II, 1999, 1895.
  • J. Hahn: Černorizec Chrabŭr . In: Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas I (SOA 75), 1974, 302–303.
  • K. Haralampieff: Chrạbŭr . In: Small Slavic Biography, 1958, 112.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The monk Chrabăr "About the letters". Translation by Marina Sharlaj and Holger Kuße, TU Dresden, PDF . Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  2. ↑ Radoslav Večerka: Staroslověnská etapa českého písemnictví (= Old Church Slavonic stage of Czech literature) . Nakladatelství Lidové Noviny, Praha 2010, ISBN 978-80-7422-044-9 , p. 45 (Czech, 176 pp.).