About “Unsubscribe from Metropolitan Paisiy of Gaza to Boyar Simeon Lukyanovich Streshnev”, which belonged to Patriarch Nikon: Observations and Hypotheses

In August 1662 Metropolitan Paisiy Ligarides of Gaza answered in writing 30 questions from boyar S. L. Streshnev about Patriarch Nikon. His answers in the handwritten tradition were called “Unsubscribe”. And in January 1663 during Ligarides’ visit to the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery, it became clear that the Primate was well acquainted with this work. The metropolitan, interrogated upon his return to Moscow, assured that the original in Latin, as well as the translation into Russian, made, according to modern researchers, from the Greek original, were classified. Nevertheless, the Russian translation of the “Unsubscribe”, having fallen into the hands of Patriarch Nikon, was used by him for refutation, which was called “Objection” in manuscript history. This is the most extensive and, perhaps, the most famous work in the polemical heritage of Patriarch Nikon, as well as “Unsubscribe”, which is almost completely woven into his fabric, did not become the subject of philological study. Answering the questions: Was there a special translation of the “Unsubscribe” for Patriarch Nikon? and What was the text quoted by the High Priest in the “Objection”?, we conducted a word-by-word textological study of five available (out of 7 known) lists of the “Unsubscribe”, identified three groups of readings, which were compared with the lexical and stylistic features of the fragments of the “Unsubscribe” in “Objection” — one of the lists compiled during the life of Patriarch Nikon in the scriptorium of the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery (State Historical Museum. Voskresenskoe collection No. 133). It turned out that for Patriarch Nikon, one of his supporters had copied a Russian translation made, as we believe, for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The closest to him should be recognized the text of the list, published by N. A. Gibbenet and now lost (A, I group). When copying the text of the “Unsubscribe" for Patriarch Nikon, discrepancies arose, reflected in the protographer of the II group (it could have been the list made for Patriarch Nikon) — the source of the further handwritten history of “Unsubscribe”.