Biblical Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha in Russian Spiritual Verses and Peasant Prophecies

Many of the most interesting manuscripts of apocryphal literature have been preserved only in Slavonic translation. For example, as Michael Stone has shown, the Slavonic manuscripts provide a unique tradition of the primary literature about Adam and Eve. These apocryphal traditions also greatly influenced the composition of both Russian spiritual verses and prophecies by religious virtuosi such as the nineteenth-century Russian peasant Maksim Rudometkin. This paper will explore the links between the medieval pseudepigraphal texts about biblical characters and the peasant oral traditions of prophecy and religious poetry that freely drew on these traditions.

The panel, Radical Religionists through the Ages, is sponsored by the ASU Melikian Center.

The joint meeting of the Medieval Academy of America & the Medieval Association of the Pacific is hosted by ACMRS.

This conference is cosponsored by Faculty of Religious Studies in the ASU School of Historical,
Philosophical & Religious Studies (SHPRS); the ASU Department of English; the ASU School of
Human Evolution and Social Change; the ASU University College; and the Center for Jewish Studies at ASU.

For registration and other information contact: Audrey Walters at Audrey.Walters@asu.edu