![Valday Town Museum-Patericon,1758 (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Valday_Town_Museum-Patericon%2C1758_%281%29.jpg)
Patericon or paterikon ( el, πατερικόν), a short form for πατερικόν βιβλίον ("father's book", usually Lives of the Fathers in English), is a genre of
Byzantine literature
Byzantine literature is the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders.Encyclopædia Britannica - "Greek literature: Byzantine literature" It forms the second period in th ...
of religious character, which were collections of
saying
A saying is any concisely written or spoken expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. Sayings are categorized as follows:
* Aphorism: a general, observational truth; "a pithy expression of wisdom or truth".
** Adag ...
s of
saints, martyrs and hierarchs, and tales about them. These texts also have their roots in early monasticism.
Among the earliest collections of this kind are the Αποφθέγματα των άγίων γερόντων (''Apophthegmata of Saint Elders'', also known as the ''Alphabetical Patericon'', ''
Apophthegmata Patrum
The ''Sayings of the Desert Fathers'' ( la, Apophthegmata Patrum Aegyptiorum; el, ἀποφθέγματα τῶν πατέρων, translit=Apophthégmata tōn Patérōn) is the name given to various textual collections consisting of stories and ...
'', ''Sayings of the Fathers of the Desert'' (''Sayings of the Desert Fathers''
, the ''
Historia monachorum in Aegypto
The ''Historia monachorum in Aegypto'', also called the ''Lives of the Desert Fathers'', is a combination travelogue and hagiography from the late 4th century AD. It recounts the travels of a band of seven Palestinian monks on a pilgrimage through ...
'' and Λαυσαϊχόν (''
Historia Lausiaca
The ''Lausiac History'' ( grc-x-koine, Ἡ Λαυσαϊκή Ἱστορία, E Lavsaike Istoria) is a seminal work archiving the
Desert Fathers (early Christian monks who lived in the Egyptian
desert) written in 419-420 by Palladius of Galatia, at ...
''
by
Palladius of Galatia, Palladius - of the 4th century. Various paterica also known in translations into a number of languages (Latin, Slavonic, Coptic, Armenian, etc.)
In
Russian Orthodoxy this kind of literature is known from the early Slavic literature, first translations, then original texts created in various monasteries. The popular paterica in the Russian monastic scene included the
Kievan Cave patericon, the patericon of Volokolamsk Monastery, and the patericon of
Solovki Monastery.
The Kievan Cave patericon dates back from the first half of the 13th century and it also includes tales about the history of the monastery and its first monks such as the correspondence between Bishop Simon of
Vladimir-Suzdal
Vladimir-Suzdal (russian: Владимирско-Су́здальская, ''Vladimirsko-Suzdal'skaya''), also Vladimir-Suzdalian Rus', formally known as the Grand Duchy of Vladimir (1157–1331) (russian: Владимиро-Су́здальс ...
and the cave monk Polikarp.
The text is based on the paterica compiled in the centers of Eastern Orthodox Church and was preserved in three 15th-century redactions: Arsenian (1406), First Cassian (1460), and Second Cassian (1462).
Some paterica
* ''Valaam Patericon'', a paterikon of the
Valaam Monastery
The Valaam Monastery (russian: Валаамский монастырь; Finnish version: ''Valamo Monastery'') is a stauropegic Orthodox monastery in Russian Karelia, located on Valaam, the largest island in Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Euro ...
br>
* ''Romanian Patericon'
* ''Serbian Patericon'
* ''Scete Patericon'', an early Slavonic translation of ''Apophthegmata Patrum''
* ''Kievan Cave Patericon'', a paterikon of the
Kiev Cave Monastery (13th century),
:uk:Патерик Києво-Печерський
* ''
Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk (russian: Волокола́мск) is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Po ...
Patericon (16th century)
See also
*
Synaxarion
*
Patristics
* Kiev Patericon reference to St.
Mark of the Caves
The precise dates of the lives of hermit Saint Mark of the Caves, (also known as St. Mark the Grave-digger) and the two sainted brothers Theophil and John are not recorded, however, their story is preserved in the Kiev Caves Paterikon.
Saint Mark ...
References
*
Byzantine literature
Non-fiction genres
Christian hagiography
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