BALKAN SAINTS - Mirjana Detelić

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It should be emphasised that the study of the reception and influence of individual
cults requires that all relevant liturgical texts be taken into consideration, services in
particular because they constitute an important segment of any cult. The liturgical poetry
associated with the cults of saints sometimes gives clues as to how to solve a quandary.
One example is illustrative – a fresco depicting the mounted archangel Michael at
Lesnovo (Gabelic 1977, 55-58). Its direct textual source is the Vespers canon to the
Archangel from the service of November 8. The first troparion of the fourth ode of the
canon reads: „O lover of mankind, you mounted your angels on horses and took the reins
yourself, and your ride means the salvation for those who praise you faithfully: praise be
to your power, O Lord‟. (Translated from the text in Peć MS 53, a menaion from the last
quarter of the fourteenth century).
Apart from full services of the menaion type, Serbian manuscripts of the fourteenth
century, and later, include a series of other texts, hymnographic and in prose, that are not
of primary importance for the observance of the cult. The library of the Serbian
monastery of Hilandar on Mt Athos keeps several copies of an akathist or devotional
hymn to the archangel Michael (Hilander MSS 621 and 743); a common akathist to
Michael and Gabriel (MSS 96, 353, 356, 614); and a paraklesion (prayer) to the bodiless
powers (MS 378). There is also a eulogy (MS 473), while in addition to prologues and
menaions, the story of the miracle at Chonae also occurs in MS 482. Isidor, Patriarch of
Constantinople (1347–1350), wrote a canon to the Archangel Michael, which is not part
of the service (Hilander MS 631). Since this patriarch is not known as a literary writer,
this may be the first information suggesting such an occupation of his (Bogdanovic
1978). Yet another poetical piece from the corpus of Serbian manuscripts is attributed to
him – akathist to Michael and Gabriel (in the Akathiston of Orahovica). The Psalter of
Kostajnica includes a canon of prayer to the Trinity, Michael the Archangel, St Nicholas
and the Holy Virgin, while the Psalter of Gomirje contains a paraklesion to Sts Michael
and Gabriel, archangels. (All the manuscripts mentioned here are kept at the Historical
Museum of Croatia in Zagreb. Cf. Mosin.)
In addition to texts taken, and translated, from Byzantine literature, a Slav contributed
to the consolidation of Michael‟s cult among his co-nationals when Clement of Ohrid
wrote a eulogy to Michael and Gabriel, testifying to the high level of his rhetorical skills
and to his ability to mark out Michael‟s powers as healer and warrior. This eulogy was
highly popular among Orthodox Slavs, as evidenced by its 156 surviving copies made
over a long span from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries (Климент Охридски,
Сьбрани сьчинения 1, София 1970, 238-86. The second in this list of manuscripts is a
mid-fourteenth-century Serbian prologue, Sophia, National Library MS 1039). While
laying emphasis on the qualities of the archangels and angels as warriors, and on their
steadfast concern for the well-being of mankind, Clement also praises his powers of
healing.