We proceed to publish the original text and Russian translation of the newly discovered fragments of «Book of the Chapters on Knowledge» of Joseph Ḥazzāyā (8th c.), one of the brightest representatives of the East Syriac mystical tradition. Now the readers are offered the original text and Russian translation of chapters 75–162 from the fragment of Joseph Ḥazzāyā’s work known from the East Syriac manuscript Paris. syr. 434. These chapters include the commentary of Joseph Ḥazzāyā on Ezekiel’s vision, another exegetical passages, sayings on humility and love, various descriptions of mystical experience, and a lengthy discourse on the role of angels in the life of human beings.

The article presents «Commentary on Revelation», the first work of the Anglo-Saxon theologian Beda the Venerable in the genre of commentary. It is regarded as a literary work, since in the Middle Ages the choice of the literary form was determined by its communicative task. A brief overview of studies and translations of the text consists of the works, published since the 50ies of the XX^th century. The following issues are touched upon: dating of the test, the connection of Bede’s text with the ancient rhetorical heritage, the use of allegory, the problem of the Commentary’s genre, the role of cross-cutting images, the division of the text into books. The study of the text showed that Bede regarded Revelation as a historical narrative in content, but as an allegory in form. A special role is assigned to recapitulation technique and cross-cutting images. Three books of the Commentary may correspond to the division of history into three eras. Bede’s Commentary is not only an explanation of obscure places of the «Revelation of St. John the Theologian», but also the pioneering experience of a historical description of the fate of the Ecumenical Church.

The Russian-speaking reader is presented with the second part of the translation into Russian from the modern Greek of the book Ὁ Θεολογικός Διάλογος Ὀρθοδόξων καί Ἀντιχαλκηδονίων (παρελθόν — παρόν — μέλλον): Μία ἁγιορειτική συμβολή. Ἅγιον Ὄρος: Ἱερά Μονή Ὁσίου Γρηγορίου, 2018 (841 p.). This edition is devoted to the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the non-Chalcedonians and includes all texts of the relevant topics, published on the Holy Mount Athos in the period 1991–2015. This publication includes a translation of a part of the Introduction (Chapter 1, paragraphs 4–9, and Chapter 2). The continuation of Chapter 1 is devoted to the history of the official Theological Dialogue between Orthodox and anti-Chalcedonians. The main problems of dialogue are touched upon — questions about orthodoxy of Dioscorus and Severus of Antioch and the lifting of anathemas. Chapter 2 of the Introduction is devoted to the resumption of the Dialogue. It considers new views and theories that arose after the end of the official Dialogue (in particular, the theory of “miaphysitism”) and should be taken into account if it is resumed.

The article is the first part of our study concerning some possible repercus­sions and influences between the sixth-century thinker Leontius of Byzantium, in whose writings a complex logical, theological and philosophical apparatus for solving dogmatic controversies was being formed, on the one hand, and proto-Palamite and proto-anti-Palamite (Latinophile) thought of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Byzantium, on the other. Although one cannot say about Leontius’ direct influence upon the representatives of the both hostile camps (resp., Theophanes of Nicaea and John XI Veccus), we can still discern some links in the logical chain of continuity between their ideas and Leontius’. These links include: a typology of «vertical» and «horizontal» Divine — human relations in Leontius and Theophanes (this is an example of Leontius’ ideas being possibly positively received and appropriated by Theophanes); but on the other side we see an almost complete setback from Leontius’ ideas and heritage in the chaotic dogmatic system by Veccus, although some limited number of Leontius’ categories might have been used by John. We make the case study of Veccus’ On the Union Between the Churches of the Old and the New Rome in which text we single out and analyze the 34 points of thought in which the Latinophile patriarch dissociated himself from both the Orthodox dogmatics and Byzantine philosophy in general. As the main trait of Veccus’ doctrine which had been criticized earlier by Leontius we call tritheism.

«Apophthegmata Patrum» is a collection of short stories and sayings of great christian ascetics, mainly Egyptian monks, who lived in the 4th‑5th centuries. Studying this original source of monastic life allows us to get familiar with the life of first Christian monks and with the language in which their experience began to be expressed. This article is a part of our research dedicated to the practice of the prayer of Egyptian monks which presents a general overview of the prayer terminology in the «Apophthegmata Patrum» in comparison with modern European terminology, more specifically Russian and French. In our future articles we will analyze in detail the prayer terminology relating to certain types of prayers (prayer of request, prayer of blessing, etc.)

«The Life of St. James of Palestine» (James of Carmel, James the Fasting) is one of the most famous monuments of Byzantine hagiographic literature. The article examines the history of the Syriac version of the Life. As a method, a comparative analysis of the discrepancies in the three oldest Syriac manuscripts of the Life, dated 688–875, is used on the basis of the data obtained, the author shows that the earliest manuscript can not be considered a protograph, which allows to shift the upper limit of the creation of the Syriac translation. This conclusion is also supported by external and internal evidence.

The article discusses the possibility of applying new epistemological theories developed by researchers such as Ch. S. Pierce, A. Tarsky, K. Popper, W. V. O. Quine, for the interpre­tation of the biblical text. In the Modern period, the idea that the Bible contains only one «true» meaning — the idea of the empirical author of a biblical text — was established. In the present situatuin, which can conventionally be called postmodernism, the idea has spread that the text of Scripture can contain an unlimited number of meanings which can be simultaneously opposed to each other, and none of them has the right to claim exclusivity and to be ultimate truth. This situation created a certain stagnation in modern biblical scholarship. As this article proves, it is possible to get out of such a situation of «interpretative anarchy» if we apply the principles developed in modern epistemology of science to biblical hermeneutic theories. Particular at­tention is paid to the possibility of implementing the theory of growth of scientific knowledge, proposed by K. Popper. The article proves that the use of this model in the analysis of variety of different interpretational strategies developed by Biblical scholars allows to eliminate unscien­tific interpretations, as well as to create an opportunity for competitive discussion between the most plausible hypotheses, which in turn should stimulate the growth of scientific knowledge in modern Biblical studies.

In the article we focused attention to the work of L. Petersson about the linguistic profile of the narrative of Priestly Code. A critical analysis discovered both the strengths and weaknesses of her research. In the second paragraph, it is emphasized that the Priestly Code does not have a specific genre or syntax features in the Pentateuch, which from the point of view of the language makes it impossible to investigate it separately from other texts of Torah. The third paragraph is a definition of perspectives, that is, consideration of the possibility and feasibility of studying the linguistic profile of both the Pentateuch in particular and the Old Testament books (Tanakh) as a whole.