The present publication continues a series of works by archpriest Leonid Grilikhes on the «Semitic reconstruction» of the New Testament texts. At the same time, it represents a fundamentally new approach to the reconstruction, which was only outlined in archpriest Leonid’s early works. The author presumes that the parables of Jesus Christ, as well as a significant number of His other speeches, were isosyllabic poetic texts. In other words, they included an equal number of syllables in each line. The patterns represented by the reconstructed texts allow the author to describe several «rules» characteristic for the original language of the parables. The present publication familiarizes the competent reader with the reconstructions of two texts, namely, the speech of Jesus on the Law of Moses from the Sermon on the Mount, and the parable of the Last Judgment.

The author offers the first translation into Russian of the theoretical introduction, which Diodore, bishop of Tarsus, placed at the beginning of his Commentary on Psalms. This fragment, including Diodore’s thoughts on the advantages of historical-grammatical exegesis in comparison with allegory, provides an important material for studying biblical interpretation having been used by the School of Antioch. The introduction leaves no doubt that Diodore, contrary to the previously widespread views, clearly discerned between allegory and anagogical interpretation, or «the more elevated insight», which is, in fact, close to typology. Unquestionably, the latter he considered valid, but subordinate to literal meaning of the text. In the introduction, Diodore had revealed expressis verbis the foundations of his scriptural exegesis, which formed some generations of interpreters within the «school» tradition. Studying this text will make it possible to understand late antique and medieval models and tools of cognition.

This publication contains the Russian translation of the 24–50 chapters of the Augustine’s work «Commentary on Statements in the Letter to Romans». This work was written by Augustine of Hippo in the beginning of 394, during his active controversy with the Manichaeans, and touches on the most important questions for the author’s theology of divine grace and human will, which he will develop throughout his work. The introduction describes the circumstances that led St. Augustine to turn to the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, and also shows the difference between his views on free will, which he expressed in the published work, and the ideas formulated by him after 396. The work is translated into Russian for the first time. The translation is accompanied by a Preface and the necessary commentary.

The paper uses the material of the treatise «On the creation of the world» («De opificio mundi») (AD 557–560) to examine the angelology of the sixth-century theologian and philosopher John Philoponus. A comparison is made between his teaching on angels and the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia; it is concluded that the key difference between them was the understanding of the function of the angelic world: whereas for the Antiochians the angel is addressed to creation and man as its crown, then for John Philoponus the angel is addressed to God. The traditional idea that the main object of criticism of John Philoponus was the treatise of Cosmas Indicopleustes «Christian Topography» is questioned. It is argued that the treatise «On the creation of the world» should be considered in the context of the Three-Chapter controversy which took place in the 530s–550s.

Hans-Georg Beck (1910–1999), the most outstanding 20th-century German Byzantinist, has gone a long way from a Benedictine monk to professor in Munich, a creator of a comprehensive conception of Byzantine general and cultural history. The problems of ecclesiastical history and theology were in the center of his scientific activity from its first steps on. As a student of Martin Grabmann, a prominent historian of Western scholasticism, Beck appropriated the Thomist view of theology. That is why he denied the real distinction between essence and energies in God, which had been disclosed and analyzed by Gregory Palamas. If in his first 1935 article, The Struggle for the Thomist Concept of Theology in Byzantium, Beck criticized Palamism «from outside», i. e., from the neoscholastic viewpoint, it was later then, in his secular thesis of 1952, that the German scholar tried to censure the Palamite doctrine «from inside» by making the case of its incompatibility with the Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. Besides some general considerations about a putative barrenness of the Byzantine folk spirit (Volksgeist), in the question of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy and its survival in the Late Byzantium Beck leaned on Vladimir Solov’ev’s (1853–1900) idea of Byzantine monasticism as being infected from the early stage on with the Monophysitism. Making no clear-cut distinction between Hesychasm in general and Palamism as its most elaborated form, Beck saw in this Monophysite infection the very reason of the Palamite hesychasm being tolerated, accepted and officially stated by the Byzantine Orthodoxy, although it had been a very ‘strange’ and ‘anthropomorphite’ teaching.

This paper focuses on the range of issues which affect isagogical study of the Pentateuchal texts namely the issues of origin and formation of Torah corpus. In this regard we discuss a range of investigative methods and theories developed within the western biblical criticism among which Documental Hypothesis, form and tradition criticism have assumed a special significance in the past century. The present study explicates and analyzes the Documental Hypothesis’ criticism carried out by german Old Testament scholar Rolf Rendtorff in the 1970s. Alternative views on the origin and formation of the Pentateuch proposed by Randtorff, as well as those practical developments of the scientist, which clearly demonstrate the nature of his methodology, are identified and discussed. The article suggests an attempt to discuss and comprehend the theoretical and practical points of Randtorff’s works — and together with them the intentions of all Western biblical critical science — from the orthodox position.

The article discusses the problem of comparing the biblical data on the campaign of Pharaoh Susakim to Jerusalem under the Jewish king Rehoboam and ancient Egyptian infor­ mation about the military campaign in Palestine of Pharaoh Sheshonk. The solution to this prob­ lem is of particular importance, since a Susakim’s campaign to Palestine is the first history of the Bible, which can be directly correlated in extra­biblical sources. The article analyzes the features of the biblical message about this campaign, the testimony of Josephus Flavius, discusses vari­ ous approaches of modern Western scholars to reconstructing the history of the campaign of the Pharaoh Sheshonok, described on the Bubastid portal in the Karnak Temple. A study of the bibli­ cal and extra­biblical data on the military campaign of Sheshonka raises the fundamental ques­ tion of how to perceive the historical events described in the Bible.

Two passages from the Syriac Life of the 5th century monk Barsauma of Samosata and from a Syriac homily dedicated to him report how young Barsauma was suddenly frightened when lying on the ground at night, looking at the stars and examining his conscience. As a result, Barsauma refuses sitting and lying position and adopts standing during the rest of his life. The article explains the reasons of his fear and argues that Barsauma’s attitude makes sense in the context of the spirituality of the Syriac ascetics known as so-called sons and daughters of the covenant (bnay / bnāṯ qyāmā). According to this reading of the two documents, Barsauma’s behaviour can be understood as a link between the covenanters and the early Syriac stylites. Barsauma’s covenant with God is to be seen as one more example of the individual covenants which played a pivotal role in the making of the early Christian monasticism.

The second part of the review of the Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (BIOSCS) covers the second decade of the history of this largescale scientific enterprise. During this period, generations of researchers are being changed, and the names of E. Tov, A. Pietersma, A. van der Kooij, M. Knibb, M. Harl, A. Aejmelaeus and others who remain leading in Septuagint studies to this day gradually come to the fore. At the same time, the research of the Septuagint focuses mainly on specific issues, although they are related to the main desiderata outlined earlier — the creation of the lexicon for the language of Septuagint and as complete as possible description of its grammar. The final goal remains, as in the beginning, to find out the value of the Old Greek translation for criticism of the text of Biblia Hebraica.

The present article contains a survey of the most representative critical commentaries on Hebrews, written since the middle of 19th century onwards. There is a description of each commentary content (introduction materials, theology accounts, reviews on previous studies, exegesis history); commentaries’ characteristics; underlying theories and their criticism (e.g. the concept of Heb. dependence on Philo or Gnosticism).