The Yaroslavl Book of Hours as a Unique Monument of Ancient Russian Liturgical Writing of the Second Half of the 13th Century

The article studies manuscripts that demonstrate changes in monastic cell service in Ancient Rus. Sources, i.e. books of hours, psalters and other liturgical manuscripts of the 11th–14th centuries, allow to review ancient Russian liturgical tradition of the pre-Mongol period and its transformation at the end of the 13th century in North-Eastern Rus'. The research focuses on a well-known ancient Russian manuscript from the second half of the 13th century, kept in the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve – the so-called Yaroslavl Book of Hours, which contains rare prayers and hymnographic works. Structurally, this manuscript has no analogues in Slavic writing; it is the final part of a 12-hour book of hours, which nevertheless has parallels in the Byzantine liturgy of the 11th–12th centuries. The comparison of services in this manuscript with Old Russian and South Slavic sources, as well as with their Greek originals, allows to understand how this collection was compiled and what goals guided its author – a certain scribe Theodosius, who worked in the Rostov Bishop's Library.