The concept of “meekness” in “The ladder” of John Climacus

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept “Meekness” on the material of the original and translated texts of the monument of ascetic didactic literature of the beginning of the 7th century “Ladder” of St. John Climacus. The analysis involved the published text of the monument (PG. T. 88), 2 Byzantine codices of the 10th centuriy and 6 Slavic manuscripts of the 12th - 14th centuries. The main method of analysis is linguotextological. The verbalizers of the concept “Meekness” in the Greek and translated texts of the “Ladder” are revealed. The features of the translation of Greek lexemes are described. Discovered concepts related to the concept “Meekness”. The place of the concept “Meekness” on the metaphorical ladder of virtues is indicated. The word-formation analysis of the concept “Meekness” led to the conclusion that in the text of the translation of the “Ladder” the semantic range of the concept was wider: in this concept the Slavic translator of the “Ladder” included such qualities as silence and tranquility. Therefore, the word-formation nest of the concept in the Slavic language is much larger than in the Greek language. As a result of the analysis, new meanings of the lexeme “meekness” were discovered, which were not reflected in the historical lexicography of the Russian and Old Slavonic languages. 7 Slavic lexemes not recorded in lexicographical sources were revealed. Clarity has been introduced into the history of the existence of the oldest Russian manuscript of the Ladder (Rum. 198): in the 12th -14th centuries it was located in the northern lands and became a source for copying of the book by Novgorod scribes.