Dmitry Gerasimov

Most likely he was born in Novgorod (this is believed to be due to his stable ties with the Novgorod department and the beginning of the career of Dmitry and his brother in this city), the exact place of his birth is unknown. He had an older brother - also a scribe, a monk Gerasim Popovka ^[1] . For some time Dmitry lived in Livonia , he knew German and Latin ^[2] . Then he was in the inner circle of the Novgorod archbishop Gennady Gonzov (the hierodeacon was his brother), in 1489 he acted as a scribe - he rewrites the creations of Athanasius the Great for the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery .

In the first two decades of the 16th century, Gerasimov served at the Embassy Court as a translator (interpreter) (subsequently Order) ^[3] and participated in the embassies of Basil III in Sweden , Denmark , Norway ^[4] , Prussia (to the Grand Master of the Order) and the Holy Roman Empire to Emperor Maximilian I (these missions are presumably timed to coincide with a number of famous grand-princely embassies of the 1510s). In between missions, Gerasimov was engaged in book and translation activities. On April 9, 1525, Vasily III sent Gerasimov a messenger to Pope Clement VII with a letter, where, in response to the Pope’s embassy , he expressed a desire to participate in the League against Muslims. In June-July of the same year, Dmitry was received with honor at the papal court, visited the Roman Senate, and examined the city a lot. Around this time, a portrait of Vasily III became famous in Europe; perhaps he was also presented to Pope Gerasimov. On July 20, 1526, Dmitry returned to Moscow with the papal ambassador ^[3] .

After a trip to Rome, Gerasimov, who reached the age of 60, concentrated entirely on book works. The repressions that befell the same 1525 of Maxim the Greek , with whom Gerasimov worked closely, did not touch him. The date of his death is unknown, the last evidence of him is a translation of the Code of Bruno of Wurzburg, made by Dmitry in 1535 or 1536.

Early translations

Gerasimov's translation activity began around 1500. This year, he translated (together with his long-term employee and colleague in the Ambassadorial Court, prominent Russian diplomat Vlas Ignatov ) psalms from German for Archbishop Gennady; some researchers suggest that Gerasimov and Ignatov translated the preface and interpretation of Jerome from the famous Gennadiev Bible in 1499 from Latin ^[5] . Dmitry also translated from Latin the treatise of Nicholas de Lyra (1501), directed against Judaism . Another treatise of a similar content by Samuel Evrein (1504) was either translated by him or by Nikolai Boulev (“Nikolai Nemchin”); in 1979, an autograph of Gerasimov was found, which, however, can be a copy ^[6] . Work on these two texts is also connected with the order of the Novgorod department and was caused by the struggle against the heresy of the Judaizers , which was then in full swing; Vladyka Gennady Novgorodsky was an active figure in this struggle.

Gerasimov and Maxim Grek

In 1518, Maxim Grek (Greek humanist Mikhail Trivolis) arrived in Moscow from Athos , who was entrusted with the translation of theological texts from Greek into Church Slavonic . To help him, Dmitry Gerasimov and Vlas Ignatov were assigned. The translators spoke using Latin (Gerasimov and Ignatov did not know Greek, Maxim Grek had not yet learned Slavic languages); Latin also acted as an intermediary language in the translation itself (Maxim translated into Latin, Gerasimov and Ignatov - from Latin to Church Slavonic). The work took place in the Moscow Miracle Monastery , about which Gerasimov subsequently told the clerk Misyuryu-Munekhin :

And Vlas and I are sitting with him alternating: he speaks in Latin, and we speak in Russian as a clerk ^[7] .

This collective translated the Explanatory Apostle (i.e. authoritative comments on the Apostle), the Explanatory Psalter, and some Conversations of John Chrysostom dedicated to the Gospel . Subsequently, some grammatical russisms that crept into the Church Slavonic language of the subsequent translations of Maxim, made by him independently, served as a reason for accusing Maxim of heresy and imprisoning him ^[8] .

The Last Work: Bruno of Würzburg Codex with Attachments

In the last years of his life (1530s), Gerasimov, again commissioned by the Novgorod bishop, this time Macarius, the future metropolitan of Moscow , translated from Latin the compilation of interpretations compiled by Bruno of Würzburg (XI century) into the Psalms of Fathers and Teachers of the Church (Jerome, Augustine , Gregory the Great , the Troubles of the Presbyter and Cassiodorus ). The translation of excerpts from the Western (Latin) church fathers, who lived even before the Great schism and therefore authoritative for Orthodoxy (however, little known in the Byzantine cultural area), was of great cultural and theological significance; In the 1540s – 1550s , it gained significant distribution, corresponded several times, and was present in the libraries of several major monasteries.

Quoting the psalms, Gerasimov mainly used the Church Slavonic translation adopted in his time, but in some cases he edited it a little for better “coordination” with commentary ^[9] . The annex to the work contains four Articles of Faith , the blessing of Ambrose of Mediolan , the legend of the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek , the Catholic rules for the interpretation of Scripture, and a Brief Chronology of Isidore of Seville , the so-called "Etymology"; Gerasimov supplied Isidorov’s chronology with his own notes comparing it with the Slavic. He finished this work on October 15, 1535 (a number of scholars date the manuscript in 1536); The 70-year-old translator calls himself “Dmitry, the sinful and little learned Scholastic, a rex student.” The chronicle says that “Dmitriy, the Calling Tolmach”, over the translation “in old age masturbate” ^[10] . Eugene (Bolkhovitinov) in his Historical Dictionary of the Writers of the Rank of Former in Russia (1818; an article about Gerasimov is included in this dictionary, although there is no information that he would ever be a clergyman or monk) gives this code the following description:

These translations are most remarkable because at a time when the Russians considered everything Latin suspicious, Novgorod had the courage to neglect this universal prejudice.

Magellan's Message

Most likely, it was Gerasimov who introduced the Slavic reader to such an epoch-making event as Magellan’s voyage - he is most likely attributed to the Church Slavonic translation of a letter from Maximilian Transilvan , Secretary of Charles V , known under the abbreviated name “De Molucciis”, which describes the great journey ^{[ 11]} first-hand - Transilvan communicated with the captain Juan Elcano who completed the Magellanic expedition. The original was printed in Cologne in 1523 and became the first European circumnavigation report. The scribe of the translation (entitled “The Tale of the Molukitz Islands ”) was Mikhail Medovartsev, who worked in that capacity together with Gerasimov in the “team” of Maxim Grek ^[9] .

Gerasimov owns a work combining translation and philological work: the Russian version of the medieval compilation of classical antique Latin grammar of the language Eliya Donata (“Donatus”). Here the translator suggested grammatical terminology, as well as analogues to Latin grammatical categories , for example, translated the plusquamperfect (“past accomplished”) by the Russian secondary imperfective of - - - - combining with the endings of various Church Slavonic past tenses ( amaverat - loved , a similar form from the verb 'want' it looked like ha h ival , typically Russian, not Church Slavonic), which serves as valuable evidence of the semantics of the corresponding species forms in the living language of the 16th century. The role of Gerasimov’s grammar not only as a monument to grammatical thought, but also as linguistic evidence was drawn to the attention of P. S. Kuznetsov ^[12] .

Numerous Latin-German editions of Donata (the so-called interlinears) served as a model for Gerasimov, where the Latin text (including the paradigm of declination and conjugation) was printed in parallel with a translation into German ^[13] . The creation of grammar was probably associated with the need to learn Latin (there is indirect information about learning Latin in Novgorod at the archbishop's court), but indirectly reflected the need for codification of Church Slavonic grammar according to an authoritative model ^[14] . The translation, according to one of the assumptions, was made during the study of Gerasimov in Livonia ^[15] and was used in the translation activities of the Gennadievsky circle in Novgorod, and on the other, dates back to 1522 ^[16] . The latest version ^[17] brings these two hypotheses together: according to it, Dmitry created the first edition of the Russian Donat in Livonia, and then repeatedly revised it throughout his life. The earliest listings date back to the mid-16th century. For a long time, in fact, only one was studied - the Kazan list of grammar; the Italian Slavic W. Tomellieri discovered at the end of the 20th century and published an early Archangel list that contains a Latin text (copied in Cyrillic ) in parallel with Russian. The total number of Russian lists of Donat Gerasimov for the XVI-XVII centuries reaches 25.

Gerasimov's original works are devoted to theological subjects. Among them are an afterword and other commentary materials on the “Interpretation” of Bruno and a message about icon-painting to the princely clerk M.G. Misyur-Munekhin (also known as the addressee of the message of Philotheus about the Third Rome ). The message to Munekhin is dedicated to an unusual icon from Pskov , where King David is depicted in the image of Jesus , and a crucified seraph is also represented. The message is connected with the trip of Gerasimov to Pskov in the retinue of Gennady in 1495 or 1499 ^[18] .

"Ambassador Demetrius Erasmius" - under such a Latinized version of the name Gerasimov was known in Italy ^[10] - played a role in informing European science about Russia. In the summer of 1525, during his Roman mission, he was a consultant to a number of Italian scholars, in particular, Paolo Giovio (aka Pavel Iovii Novokomsky), who then published “The Book of the Embassy of Vasily, Grand Duke of Moscow, to Clement VII” ( lat. Pauli Jovii Novocomensis de Legatione Basilii Magni Principis Moscoviae ad Clementem VII liber ). The book contains a lot of geographical and cultural information about Russia (as well as Sweden and Denmark, also well known to Gerasimov ^[19] ), quite accurate. Job called Gerasimov "very sophisticated in human affairs and the Holy Scriptures" ( lat. Humanarum rerum et sacrarum litterarum valde peritum ) ^[10] and indicates his age - 60 years. He also wrote that the Russian ambassador has a “calm and receptive mind” and “is distinguished by a cheerful and witty character” ^[20] .

The book by Jovio suggests that if you sail from the Northern Dvina to the east, keeping to the right bank, you can get to the borders of China by ship - one of the first discussions about the possible existence of the Northeast Passage - the Northern Sea Route . Giovio writes about the drawing of the country, which, however, was not found in any of the copies of his book. The first and only now known copy of this drawing was put up for auction at Sotheby's in London on December 7, 1993. Now it is stored in Moscow, in the collection of the Russian State Autonomous Property Administration (f. 192, op. 6, No. 963), woodcut, approx. 80 * 40 cm, top right in the cartouche: “MOSCHOVIAE Tabula ex relatione Demetrue ... Anno MDXXV. Mise Octob. " This is the first engraved map of Russia ^[21] . Based on the materials of this drawing, in 1548 in Venice Giacomo Gastaldi “MOSCHOVIA NOVA TABVLA” was compiled and engraved, published in “Geography of Ptolemy” - the first geographical map of the Russian Empire, engraving on copper, 13 * 17 cm. ^[22] Venetian cartographer Battista Agnese in 1553 he compiled a manuscript atlas that included a nautical chart with a direct link to Dmitry “A map of Muscovy, compiled from the story of Ambassador Demetrius” - lat. Moscoviae tabula relatione Dimetrij legati descripta .

It can be assumed that Gerasimov gave Giovio only verbal information, but did not draw and did not give him any image; this confirms the date of the drawing by October 1525 (that is, the time after the departure of the embassy). The woodcut of 1525 reproduces the information of the book of Giovio with some additions concerning the northern coast of Russia; about whether these additions go back to Gerasimov (directly or through Giovio), there are different opinions. “Gerasimov’s scheme” was reproduced on engraved, that is, replicated maps of Gastaldi (1548) and Ruschelli (1561, 1562, 1564 and 1674) ^[23] .

Gerasimov’s messages were also used by Sigismund Herberstein .

In 1493, Russian Dmitry Zaytsov (Zayetsov) accompanied Ambassador Ivan III , Greek Dimitry Rallis Paleolog, to Denmark; EE Golubinsky identifies this Zaitzov with Gerasimov ^[18] .

Modern science identifies Gerasimov with “Mitya Maly” of Russian chronicles, while another interpreter Mitya, “Staraya”, is considered a different person, most likely, by Greek Dmitry Manuilovich Trakhaniot ^[24] . This “Mitya Old” is attributed to the authorship of the Novgorod Tale of the White Cowl and brought from abroad by order of Gennady Novgorodsky (who sent him for two years to Rome and Florence ) calendar-chronological and theological materials of 1491-1493 about the correction of Easter in connection with the approach 7000 years from the creation of the world (in connection with which eschatological expectations intensified); upon his return to Russia, Gennady generously awarded him. There is information about him in the Old Believer manuscripts, in one of which he is called "Dmitry the Greek interpreter" (which speaks against identity with Gerasimov). In the 19th century, the issue of identifying two “Mity-Tolmachi” - “Small” and “Old”, on the one hand, and three firmly historically known D (s) -Mitries-contemporaries - the Greeks Rallis Paleolog and Trakhaniot and Russian Gerasimov, on the other hand, was the subject of a long scientific discussion ^[10] . The problem is complicated by the fact that in the second half of the 16th century, obviously, after the death of Gerasimov (who lived to a venerable old age), he is also called "Old" in a number of Russian sources ^[25] .

• On the list of works of Athanasius the Great: Russian National Library . Weather, No. 968, L. 222 about.
• Cyrillic copy of the Latin Psalter: State Historical Museum . Miracle No. 53 (29).
• Translation of the story of the Loreto Icon of the Mother of God: Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Arkhang. D. 193.
• The Legend of the Molucci Islands: Russian National Library. Q. IV. No. 412.
• The first list of Bruno of Würzburg's translation as part of the Sophia Cheteya Mineya for August 1541 : Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts , F. 201, No. 161, L. 200-317.

Publications of works and translations of Gerasimov

• Yagich I.V. Reasoning of the South Slavic and Russian antiquities about the Church Slavonic language // Studies in the Russian language. - St. Petersburg, 1896 .-- T. 1 . - S. 524-623 .
• Kazakova N.A., Katushkina L.G. Russian translation of the XVI century. the first news of the journey of Magellan // Transactions of the Department of Old Russian Literature. - L. , 1968 .-- T. 23 . - S. 240-252 .
• Nicholas de Lira. Evidence of the coming of Christ: Latin theological treatise and its translation into Church Slavonic, done by Dmitry Gerasimov at the beginning of the 16th century. / Translation into Russian, preface, analytical review, index of words and word forms by E. S. Fedorova = Probatio adventus Christi. - M .: Educator, 1999. - ISBN 5-7248-0058-6 .
• Der russische Donat: Vom lateinischen Lehrbuch zur russischen Grammatik. Hrsg. und comment v. VS Tomelleri. - Köln: Böhlau, 2002 .-- ISBN 978-3-412-13901-8 . (Rec .: V. A. Romodanovskaya. A new book about the “Russian Donat” // Russian language in scientific coverage. - 2004. - No. 2 (8) . - P. 266-272 . Archived October 11, 2017. )

Source Editions

• Gorsky A.V. Maksim Grek Svyatorets // Add. to the ed. creations of the holy fathers. - M., 1859. - Part 18. - S. 190—192.
• Voskresenskaya annals // Complete collection of Russian annals. - 1859. - T. 8. - S. 271.
• Description of the manuscripts of the Solovetsky Monastery, located in the library of the Kazan Theological Academy. - Kazan, 1881. - Part 1. - S. 150-151.
• Notes on Muscovite affairs / Baron Sigismund Herberstein . The book about the Moscow embassy / Pavel Ioviy Novokomsky; Introduction, per. and note. A.I. Maleina. - M., 1908.
• “On the Embassy of the Grand Duke” Paolo Jovio // Russia in the first half of the 16th century: A look from Europe. - M., 1997. - ISBN 5-85810-030-9 .

Research

• Eugene (Bolkhovitinov) . Historical dictionary about former writers of the spiritual rank of the Greek Russian church in Russia. - SPb. , 1818.
• Grigorovich I. Correspondence between popes and Russian sovereigns in the 16th century. - SPb. , 1834.
• Sobolevsky A.I. Translated literature of Muscovite Russia of the XIV — XVII centuries. - SPb. , 1903. - S. 122, 186, 189-193.
• Pierling P. Russia and the papal throne. Prince 1. - M .: Pechatnya A. L. Budo, 1912. - S. 311-319.
• Gerasimov, Dmitry // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Starkov V.F. Description of the map of 1525 // Domestic archives. - M. , 1994. - No. 4 . - S. 8-15 .
• Ikonnikov V.S. Maxim the Greek and his time // Collection of historical works. - К. , 1915. - T. 1 .
• Lurie Ya. S. The ideological struggle in Russian journalism of the late XV - early XVI centuries. - M. - L .: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1960.
• Bagrow L. At the Sources of the Cartography of Russia // Imago Mundi. - 1962.- T. 16 . - S. 33-48 .
• Zimin A.A. Russia on the threshold of the New Time. Essays on the political history of Russia in the first third of the 16th century - M .: Thought, 1972.
• Kazakova N.A. Dmitry Gerasimov and Russian-European cultural relations in the first third of the 16th century // Problems of the history of international relations: Sat. - L. , 1972. - S. 248-266 .
• Rybakov B. A. Russian maps of Muscovy of the 15th - early 16th centuries - M .: Nauka, 1974.- S. 70-84.
• Kovtun L. S. Lexicography in Muscovite Russia XVI - beginning of XVII centuries. - L .: Nauka, 1975 .-- S. 81-83.
• Sinitsyna N.V. Maxim the Greek in Russia. - M .: Nauka, 1977 .-- S. 64, 71, 72.
• Kazakova N.A. Dmitry Gerasimov (Mitya Tolmach, Mitya Maly) // Dictionary of scribes and books of Ancient Russia. - L .: Academy of Sciences of the USSR. IRLE, 1988 .-- T. 2 , no. 1 .
• Gorshkova K.V., Khaburgaev G.A. Historical grammar of the Russian language. - 2nd ed. - M .: Moscow State University, 1997 .-- S. 357-358.
• Assumption B. A. History of the Russian literary language (XI — XVII centuries). - 2nd ed. - M .: Aspect-Press, 2002. - S. 302. - ISBN ISBN 5-7567-0146-X .
• Tomelleri VS Il Salterio commentario di Brunone di Würzburg in area slavo-orientale: Fra traduzione e tradizione (con un'appendice di testi). - Münch. : Sagner, 2004 .-- ISBN 3-87690-879-5 .
• Bagrov L. History of Russian cartography. - M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2005. - S. 92-96. - ISBN 5-9524-1676-4 .
• Macarius (Veretennikov). Gerasimov Dmitry // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Central Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2006. - T. XI . - S. 171-173 .
• Petrova M. S. Perception of Latin grammatical knowledge by Russian scholarship in the 16th century: the example of Dmitry Gerasimov and others // Dialogue with Time. Almanac of Intellectual History, 34, 2011. - S. 311-364.