Simeon Polotsky’s Preaching Heritage and its Sources: Some Observations

The study attempts to investigate created within the framework of other denominations sources of Simeon’s Polotskij two sermons: «Slova o perenesenii Ubrusa iz Edessy» (Sermon to a feast of the Mandylion’s translation from Edessa) from sermon’s collection «Vecherya Dushevnaya», 1683 and interpretation of the evangelical parable of the Good Samaritan from collections of homilies «Obed dushevnyj», 1681. The study confirms existed in the literature disparate observations about the significant commonality of the sources of inspiration and factual material of Simeon’s collections and his poetic encyclopaedia «Vertograd mnogotsvetnyj» (A Garden of Many Flowers; Latin poetry sources identified by Anthony Hippisley); in particular, that in both cases Simeon used Latin collections of annual sermons by Bavarian Jesuit Matthias Faber (1586/87–1653). The techniques of translation of Latin sermons were also investigated: these techniques give the reader (researcher) the impression that in one case the biblical fragment of Song of Songs (5:10–16) acts as the structuring text for Simeon’s «Slovo», and in the other case – interpretation of the evangelical parable of the Good Samaritan by John Chrysostom, while Simeon both compositionally and textually reproduces homilies written by Faber and his elder fellow of the Jesuit Order, Spanish exegete Alfonso Salmerón (1515–1585).