New Epigraphic Finds in the Courtyard of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv

Abstract

The author analyses 21 inscriptions on the medieval building and decorative materials found during archaeological research in the courtyard of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv in 2021–2022. Of these, eight graffiti belong to commemorative inscriptions with textual dates of 1036/37, 1118/1119, 1122, 1194/1195, 1252/1253, 1649/1650, 1680/1689, and others. Additional finds include the autograph of a mason from the second third of the 11th century and an inscription from the first quarter of the 12th century, which records an episode from the life of the Volyn prince Yaroslav Sviatopolkovych. Three further graffiti, dated paleographically to the 12th century, may attest to such historical events as the princely peace agreement in 1100, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the eve of its capture by Muslims in 1187, and the intra-church activities of the Patriarch of Constantinople, George Xyphilin.
Several inscriptions from the 11th to 13th centuries preserve traces of prayer graffiti differing from common formulas. In particular, they include early variants of the Lord’s Prayer in Slavic translation featuring the noun лукавый («the Devil» or «Satan») instead of неприѧзнь (literally «enmity» or «hostility», but used here as a designation of Devil/Satan), possibly among the earliest witnesses of this linguistic shift in Slavic texts. Inscriptions bearing the names of St. Panteleimon the Healer, Cyril of Alexandria, and Protasius of Milan allowed us to hypothetically identify the locations in St. Sophia Cathedral from which some fragments of fresco plaster with the indicated graffiti originated.
Overall, the graffiti under consideration constitute an important source for the history and language of medieval Kyiv and provide a basis for the further study of numerous epigraphic monuments uncovered during excavations in the courtyard of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.