Universe of Platonic Thought 2024

32nd International Conference “The Universe of Platonic Thought: Plato’s Heritage in the History of Science and Education”

Lydia Spyridonova, CSc in History; Sociological Institute, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Research Fellow; A.M.Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia), Research Fellow

Andrey Kurbanov, CSc in History; Sociological Institute, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Research Assistant; A.M.Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia), Research Assistant

The Course of Greek Epistolography by the Leichoudes Brothers: Manuscript Evidence, Temporal Context, and Circumstances of Its Creation*

The brothers Ioannikios and Sophronios Leichoudes founded the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow in 1685. For teaching epistolography, they compiled a textbook titled "Περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐπιστολικῶν χαρακτήρων μεθόδου" (On the Method of Epistolary Styles), known from two copies from the late 17th century. The first copy (Iviron 98) belongs to the Leichoudes' student Nikolai Golovin and is dated June 1687. The second copy (NLR, f. 906, №506) was presumably created by the student Theodor Gerasimov in 1693-1694. Both copies reflect the practice of teaching epistolography before rhetoric in Greek schools. They contain valuable information about the time of creation and teaching of the first course in Greek epistolography by the Leichoudes at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in the late 1680s and allow for the reconstruction of its place in the educational program.

Keywords: Leichoudes brothers, Greek Epistolography, Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy

The establishment of Russia's first higher education institution is inextricably linked with the Ioannikios and Sophronios Leichoudes, who founded a school at the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow in 1685, later known as the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. The brothers were responsible for developing both the curriculum and the inaugural textbooks for their students, adhering to the pedagogical traditions of 17th-century Greek academia. Within this educational framework, the study of epistolography was not merely a theoretical pursuit but a practical exercise in crafting letters according to the conventions of classical and Byzantine erudition.
For the students enrolled in this distinctive course, the Leichoudes brothers compiled a specialized textbook titled “Περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐπιστολικῶν χαρακτήρων μεθόδου” (‘On the Method of Epistolary Styles’), a work that remains unpublished and notably absent from historiographical discourse. Our knowledge of this text derives from two 17th-century manuscripts, created by the Academy's first students:
1. Athos, Iviron Monastery, No. 98 (catalogued as 4218 by S.P. Lambros), folios 72–169.
2. St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia, f. 906 (Collection of Greek Manuscripts), No. 506, folios 1–41.
The first codex (Iviron 98) was created by Nikolai Semyonovich Golovin, a pioneer student of the Leichoudes brothers. An inscription within the manuscript provides evidence of Golovin’s hand and the codex's compilation date of June 1687. This date aligns with an example provided by the Leichoudes brothers for dating a letter within the text. Significantly, the same year saw the recording of a textbook on poetics, which predates the epistolography course in this manuscript. Thus, the manuscript, created by Nikolai Golovin, reflects the study sequence at the Moscow school, where rhetoric was introduced in April 1688. The course's chronology is further corroborated by references within the manuscript to notable figures of the period—Patriarch Dionysios of Constantinople (March 1686–October 17, 1687), Patriarch Parthenios I of Alexandria (d. 1688), Patriarch Joachim of Moscow (d. 1690), and the Moscow sovereigns, Ivan Alekseevich and Peter Alekseevich.
The second manuscript—NLR, f. 906, No. 506—is in notably poorer condition than the first. Here, the epistolography manual appears before Sophronios Leichoudes' textbook on rhetoric, mirroring the Greek educational schema where the study of epistolography precedes that of rhetoric. We attribute the authorship of this manuscript to Theodor Gerasimov, another early student of the Leichoudes brothers. Catalogued inaccurately in the NLR as belonging to the 18th century and mistakenly linked to the Novgorod school, this manuscript dates the letter-writing convention to 1687, albeit as a copied element from the original. Subsequent annotations suggest a later writing date for this copy. The inclusion of Patriarch Adrian of Moscow, who assumed his patriarchy in 1690, and a reference to Peter Alekseevich alongside Ivan Alekseevich, sets a creation timeframe between 1690 and 1696. Precise dating is refined by mentions of Patriarch Dionysios of Constantinople, who held office from August 1693 to April 1694—a detail omitted by the scribe in addresses to other patriarchs. This period likely marks the timeframe for this manuscript's creation. The codex's extensive use in teaching has resulted in the degradation of some pages and the loss of Slavonic scholia on others due to rebinding and page trimming.
In summation, these manuscripts provide invaluable insights into the establishment and pedagogical context of the earliest course in Greek epistolography taught by the Leichoudes brothers at the nascent Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in the late 1680s. Through detailed analysis, we reconstruct the genesis of this educational module and its role within the broader curriculum of the Academy.

* The study was funded by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 24-28-01075 “A Course in Epistolography by the Leichoudes Brothers at the Slavic Greek Latin Academy: Edition of an Unpublished Text and Study of the Teaching Methodology” (Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences), https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-01075/