Babalyk, M. G. A LITTLE-KNOWN MANUSCRIPT TALE “A WORD ON THOSE WHO ADORN THEMSELVES WITH DECEITFUL VESTMENTS”. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2026;48(5):72–79. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2026.1337


Russian literature and literature of the peoples of the Russian Federation

A LITTLE-KNOWN MANUSCRIPT TALE “A WORD ON THOSE WHO ADORN THEMSELVES WITH DECEITFUL VESTMENTS”

Babalyk
M. G. 		Karelian Re- search Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Keywords:
manuscript tradition
textology
Old Believers
tale
ornate clothing
demonology		 Summary: The article examines a little-known Russian manuscript work, “A Word on Those Who Adorn Them- selves with Deceitful Vestments”, which condemns the pursuit of ornate clothing and belongs to a corpus of writings against drunkenness, tobacco smoking, European fashion, and foul language. The study focuses on the history of this work’s existence within manuscript culture from the XIX to the early XX century. The scholarly novelty lies in the fact that this work is introduced into academic circulation for the first time. Based on an analysis of sixteen copies from various collections and regions, the author identifies two versions of the text – the “Sergian” and the “Georgean” (named after the self-identification in the manuscripts) – which differ by their titles and the composition of their narra- tive motifs. The article also examines two variants of the “Sergian” manuscript: a short version and a version written in the genre of a vision. Of particular interest is a hybrid manuscript, which demonstrates how a formal combination of a fragment from the “Sergian” version with a chapter from The Great Mirror titled “On Deceitful Female Adornments” creates a new narrative. Both studied versions of the manuscript are provided in the annex.


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