20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Manuscripts from the works of Saint Vasile the Great ... 197this monastery. Many of the former manuscripts of this monastery are nowin the background of other units in the country and abroad. The manuscriptsfrom the library of Neamt Monastery are: Romanian with Cyrillic andLatin letters, Russian-Slavic and Greek. They contain either titles from theworks of Saint Vasile the Great or some words 11 and in only one case thecomplete work regarding the words at the creation of the world, known asthe “Hexaimeron”. We will deal with this copy in what follows 12 .In the 18 th century, the Archbishop Dositei Herescu of Radauti, wantingto follow the literary efforts of his predecessors, wished to print Saint Vasilethe Great’s Hexaimeron, in the typography made by Varlaam of Neamt inRadauti 13 . With this purpose, he addressed himself to the monk Ilarion,known under the name of Ilarion the Psalm Reader from Neamt Monastery,in order for him to translate this work from Greek. The translation wasmade, but the circumstances have not made it easier for it to be printed thusremaining in the manuscript, being recopied many times 14 .Ilarion was a well-prepared monk and knower of Greek. He helpedPaisie Velicicovschi at the translation and correction of books from Greek11In the third manuscript we give Neamt manuscripts in other libraries as well asthose in the library of Neamt Monastery, for those in need of a more detailed bibliographyof the works of Saint Vasile the Great in the manuscripts.12The title of the manuscript no. 198, Cyrillic, from the Library of NeamtMonastery: The explaining of the six days of the creation, explained from greek from thebook of our holy father Vasile the Great, embellished with many understandable notes bythe former reader Archimandrite Sofronie Garboschi, 1847.13Teoctist, the Metropolitan of Moldavia and Suceava, The Metropolitan IacobPutneanul 1778-1798, The torch bearer of the romanian Orthodoxy, of the wishes ofnational unity and defense of the romanian culture, in M.M.S. LIV (1978), no. 5-8:461 and extract, 6; cf. Pr. Prof. Gheorghe I. Moisescu, Pr. Prof. Ştefan Lupşa, Pr. Prof.Alexandru Filipaşcu 1958, The History of the Romanian Church, vol. II, Bucureşti, 272-276, Dositei Herescu was a bishop at Radauti from the 13 th of November 1750 until 1781when he moves to Cernauti, at the newly created Bishopric of Bucovina and remains hereuntil his death, on 13 th of October 1788.14Al. Piru 1977, The History of the Romanian Literature from Its Very Beginningsto 1830, Bucureşti, 24, shows that in the manuscript 3094 from the statual CentralLibraryof the Academy entitled “Exaimeron”, “explaining of the six days of creationand special words about the creation of heaven” by Saint Vasile the Great was translatedbythe Psalm Reader Ilarion from Neamt. The copy from 1782 was of the monach Teofan;Gabriel Strempel, The Catalogue of Romanian Manuscripts, p. 191, nr. 896, indicates amanuscript from 1789, f.5, For our holy father Vasile, the Archbishop of CappadochianChesarie ofthe six days of creation, eplanation (=Exaimeron). Notes f. 4 “...And this bookwas written at the passing of the years since creation in 1789, 25 th of February, in theNeamt Monastery”. The manuscript has also drawings of Saint Vasile the Great at f.4 v and26. Even if the name of the translator is not given, we consider him to be Ilarion.