Grapple him crosswise – towards the interpretation of the combat with the devil scene in The Life of Andrew the Fool
Александр Владимирович Сизиков
Владимир Анатольевич Яшкин
Abstract
During the first encounter with the devil Andrew has to wrestle with him. A beautiful young man advises Andrew to grapple his adversary crosswise «συμπλάκηθι αὐτῷ σταυροειδῶς». This passage has a lot of variant readings in different editions of the text. One of the editions was translated into Old Russian and its reading of the combat scene was illustrated in Russian icons. The question whether Andrew defeated the devil by the sign of cross or by a grappling technique, is still disputable.
Keywords:
Andrew the Fool, hagiography, Greek language, Old Russian language, iconography, wrestling
Сизиков, А. В., & Яшкин, В. А. (2017). Grapple him crosswise – towards the interpretation of the combat with the devil scene in The Life of Andrew the Fool. Theological Yearbook, 59(2), 287–298. Retrieved from https://ojs.chat.edu.pl/index.php/rt/article/view/124
polish
English