The Legend of Twelve Fridays

Extract from twelve temporary Fridays (manuscript, late 19th century)

“The Legend of Twelve Fridays” is an apocrypha , which appeared, apparently, at the beginning of the Christian era ^[1] . The text came to Russia in translation from the Greek language , most likely through the South Slavic medium. One of the earliest Slavic lists (if not the earliest) is considered to be a Serbian -born list , dated to the beginning of the XIV century. Lists of the 15th-19th centuries are also known under different names: “The Word of the Legend ...”, “Finding ...”, etc.

There are at least two editions of The Tales of Twelve Fridays in the Slavic-Russian manuscript tradition, which was noted by A. N. Veselovsky. The scientist singled out the so-called "Eleutheriev" edition and the "Klimentov" edition, which, in turn, falls into variants A and B. The "Eleutheriev" edition is known only in the Slavic-Russian lists, while the "Klimentova" in the Slavic and Western European ones.