The Tale of the Prophet Isaiah : The Destiny and Meanings of an Apocryphal Text

"In The Tale of the Prophet Isaiah : The Destiny and Meanings of an Apocryphal Text Ivan Biliarsky proposes an edition of the original text of the medieval apocryphon, together with images of the single manuscript copy. The author also includes a large commentary on the otherwise quite unclear narrative concerning its origins, its development, a prosopography of the mentioned persons, an interpretation of its meaning and of the stages of its continuous creation. This completely new approach profoundly revises the source with a strong focus on its biblical roots. Ivan Biliarsky abandons the 'national' understanding of the apocryphon and introduces evidence about its significance for the enforcement of the Byzantine-Slavic/Bulgarian Commonwealth and solidarity"--Back cover. The Tale of the Prophet Isaiah: The Destiny and Meanings of an Apocryphal Text 4 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Preface 12 Introduction 14 1 The Text of the Literary Work and Its Manuscript Tradition 20 The Variable Destiny of the Kichevo Manuscript and the Place of Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in It 20 The Text of the Tale of the Prophet Isaiah 23 Tale of the Prophet Isaiah of How an Angel Took Him to the Seventh Heaven 26 2 Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in the Context of Mediaeval Literature and Modern Researches 42 Historiography 42 Publications of the Text of Tale of the Prophet Isaiah 43 Character of the Text 62 Authorship 64 Localisation 65 Dating of the Text 67 3 The Chosen People and the Promised Land 78 The Prophet Isaiah and the New Israel 78 The Prophet Isaiah in His Historical Context 78 Isaiah in the Mediaeval Christian Tradition 84 New Israel in Christian Thinking 87 Geographical Features of Religious Identity 97 Cities and Founding of Cities 111 The Founding of Cities: Between Creator, Hero, and Ruler 111 The Founding Kings and the Demiurge Heroes 113 The Founding Kings in the Tale of the Prophet Isaiah 115 The Founding of the City and the State-Church 120 St Constantine: The Founding of a City and the City Model between Jerusalem and Rome/Constantinople 121 4 The Divinely Chosen King, Humble to God: Tsar Izot, or Davidic Royalty 142 Tsar Izot and His Reign 145 The Antagonists 148 Goliath, the Sea Frank 149 Ozia, the King of the East 152 The Davidic Paradigm of Power and Tsar Izot: The Bagrationi Dynasty and the Idea of the Davidic Royalty in the Causcasus 163 5 The Renovator King: Tsar Ispor and the Mosaic Royalty: Constantine and the Royalty of the Ruler-Converter to Christianity 176 The Moses-Constantine Typology in the Mediaeval World 178 Moses-Constantine in Bulgaria 192 Moses-Constantine in the Tale 202 6 Kings and Their Names 218 Arev 219 Basil 223 Cometopouloi 226 Constantine 231 Nicephorus 234 Roman 238 Seleukia Simeklit 239 Slav 245 Symeon 247 Theodora and Her Son the Tsar 250 Turgius 252 Conclusion 256 Excursus 1: The List of Names of the Bulgar Princes: Between Myth and History 262 Excursus 2: The Birth of the Founding Kings 274 Excursus 3: The Tabernacle of the Empire or the State-Church 282 Bibliography 292 Index 310 The text of the literary work and its manuscript tradition Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in the context of mediaeval literature and modern researches The Chosen People and the Promised Land The divinely chosen king, humble to God: Tsar Izot, or Davidic royalty The renovator king: Tsar Ispor and the mosaic royalty: Constantine and the royalty of the ruler-converter to Christianity Kings and their names Conclusion Excursus one: The list of names of the Bulgar princes: between myth and history Excursus two: The birth of the founding kings Excursus three: The tabernacle of the empire or the state-church. The book contains an edition of the original text of "Tale of the Prophet Isaiah" and commentary on the quite unclear narrative concerning its origins, development and an interpretation of its meaning with strong focus on its biblical roots.