"The Siberian Ladder" in Slavonic writing

Abstract

The aim of the research. The aim of the research is to draw specialists’ attention to the manuscripts of themonument of Slavic literature of the 17th century, known in science as the «Siberian Ladder», the author of whichis traditionally considered to be the Siberian Metropolitan Filofey Leshchinsky. The methodology of the study.The main research method is the linguistic-textological method of analyzing manuscripts. In addition, descriptiveand statistical methods of material analysis are used in the research. The scientific novelty. The article is the firstto express the hypothesis that the author of the «Siberian Ladder» book may be a monk who lived at the end ofthe 17th century in one of the Kyiv monasteries, since the oldest manuscripts of the monument were in use in Kyiv.A systematized updated information on the corpus of manuscripts with the text of «Siberian Ladder» is given. Achronological list of codes with the text of the monument is attached to the article. A total of 32 manuscripts withthe text are named. This list includes 4 books, the fate of which is unknown, with the aim of the possible discoveryof these manuscripts in the future. 14 of the 28 books that have survived nowadays are kept in the collections of theInstitute of Manuscripts of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine: in the collection of the Kyiv-PecherskLavra (10), in the collection of Saint Sophia Cathedral (2), in the collection of Kyiv Spiritual Academy (1) and in thecollection of Mykolaivskyi monastery (1). In addition, manuscripts with the text of the «Siberian Ladder» are in thecollections of Russia (5), Romania (4), Greece (3), Lithuania (1) and Belarus (1). Conclusions. It is necessary to carryout a thorough comprehensive historical and philological analysis of the oldest Kyiv manuscripts with the text ofthe «Siberian Ladder». As a result of this analysis, the hypothesis stated in the article about the creation of a bookin a Kyiv monastery by one of the monks of this monastery may be confirmed (perhaps the name of this monk willalso be found). In this case, the opinion established in science that the author of the work was Metropolitan FilofeyLeshchinsky can be debunked. On the other hand, it is necessary to study the biography of Filofey Leshchinsky (theKyiv period of his life) carefully. As a result of this analysis, the hypothesis that the «Siberian Ladder» belongs toMetropolitan Filofey may be confirmed.