The use of dual forms in the “Collection of lives of Greek saints” by Saint Nilus of Sora

In this article we reveal the key principles of dual contexts in Hagiography ‘Life of Saint Simeon Stylites of the Admirable Mountain’ and ‘Life of Saint Onoufrios of the Desert’, which are included into the “Collection of Lives of Greek Saints”. We proceed from the discrepancy between the history of dual number in colloquial language and book-Slavic language. And we consider the form of dual number as a sign of book-Slavic grammatical norm in the period of the end of 15 th - beginning of the 16 th centuries. St. Nilus of Sora uses dual number not only with certain stylistic purposes, but also as a clear indication that a text is a monument, that implements strict grammatical norms of Church Slavonic Russian. We provide the most detailed description of the features of the use of free dual forms and also the description of the features of the use of associated dual number. According to the classification, which was proposed by A. Belich, free dual number refers to symmetrical objects, usually of the free dual number are the most stable and consistent in its use. So, one of the features of the representations of St. Nilus of Sora and his disciples about the grammatical norm of using dual number forms is used as a grammatical synonymic forms of the plural and dual number of verb forms in the combination of a noun with a numeral “two”.