Verbal celebrations

The book provides a comprehensive account and analysis of the role and function of rhetoric in the Russian bishop Kirill of Turov’s (ca. 1130-1182) cycle of festal sermons, against the background of the Byzantine rhetorical tradition. The monograph consists of two parts. The introductory chapters examine the interrelationship between rhetoric and homiletics within the framework of a general introduction to early Christian preaching. It is followed by a critical discussion of the question of Kirill’s literary sources, and of source-critical investigations within earlier scholarship on Kirill of Turov. On the basis of the specifics of Kirill’s rhetorical register, the sermonist is placed within a new literary historical context, a thesis reinforced by detailed comparative juxtapositions, as well as a preliminary exposition of Slavonic translations of Greek homilies within this tradition. The second part of the book contains interpretative analyses of Kirill’s sermons arranged in six main chapters: Metadiscursive Refl ections, Aspects of Amplifi catio, Speech and Dialogue, Quotation, The Preacher and his Audience, and Paradox.