Panegyric Prefaces in Honor of Benefactors in Old Arabic Christian Prints of the Early 18th Century

The article examines the historical context of writing and the thematic and stylistic features of the prefaces dedicated to the patrons of Arabic Christian printing in the Middle East, namely the prince of Wallachia Constantin Brâncoveanu and the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa. These prefaces are contained in the first old prints in Arabic script which were published in Wallachia (the 1701 Liturgikon and the 1702 Horologion) and in Aleppo (the 1706 Psalter and the 1708 Tetraevangelion). The inclusion of accompanying texts of this kind to the books was due, firstly, to the European tradition of those times, and secondly, to the sincere gratitude of Syrian Christians for the material support that the Church of Antioch desperately needed. Mazepa’s financial assistance came at a time when the newly created Aleppo printing press was on the verge of ceasing its activities due to lack of funds. The hetman allocated six thousand gold pieces, which made it possible to print several more books before the printing press ceased to function after 1711. The prefaces in honor of both patrons were signed by the former patriarch of Antioch (at that time metropolitan of Aleppo) Athanasios III Dabbās, the initiator of Arabic printing in the East. In addressing his benefactors, the author resorts to the genre of panegyric, closely intertwined with the sermon, which brings the texts of the analyzed prefaces closer to the style of baroque sermon that was widespread in Europe at the time. The texts contain many quotations from Scripture, allusions to biblical images and events and historical figures. The leitmotif of the panegyric is the theme of alms, in the context of patrons’ donations to Arabic printing. By using such stylistic devices as metaphor, simile, antithesis, and parallelism, the virtues of the benefactors are praised, and they are compared to biblical characters, apostles, and saints. The publication offers a Ukrainian translation of the first preface from the Bucharest Horologion (1702) and the Aleppo Psalter (1706) dedicated to Constantin Brâncoveanu, as well as the preface in honor of Ivan Mazepa from the Aleppo Tetraevangelion (1708), known in historiography as the “Mazepa’s Gospel”.