Writings about St. Alexander of Oshevensk in manuscripts from monasteries, churches and domestic libraries of the Kargopol land

Alexander of Oshevensk (1427-1479) is a founder of the Dormition Monastery in Oshevensk, the most esteemed saint of the Kargopol land. The corpus of the manuscripts of the XVI-XIX centuries devoted to him includes hagiography, service, several words of praise and prayers, along with those of Old Believers. The article researches the manuscripts of these writings from monastery, church and domestic libraries in the Kargopol land. It also describes the role of the Alexander-of-Oshevensk Monastery in spreading the copies of the writings about St. Alexander on the basis of owners' records, donation records and scribes' records. Manuscripts with texts about St. Alexander, as the article shows, belonged not only to monks but also to seculars, for instance, to the eminent inhabitants of Kargopol, the Popovs and the Kholmovs. The history of the keeping of some manuscripts and their transfer from one owner to another is traced as based on the records. The study of Kargopol manuscripts revealed previously unknown writings about St. Alexander, which are presented in the article. They are The Word of Praise (1738) and Prayer (1844) composed in the Oshevensk Monastery. The XIX century property inventories of the Oshevensk Monastery, as well as an essay by the expert in the study of early texts V. I. Sreznevsky served as additional sources on the Kargopol manuscripts containing the writings about St. Alexander.