The life of Vladimir of special composition as late medieval apocrypha

The article presents a detailed criticism of the views of A. A. Shakhmatov and N. I. Serebryansky on the origin of one of the sources of Russian medieval hagiography - the Life of Vladimir of a Special Composition, which contains the Varangian version of the Chersonese legend about the baptism of Vladimir. The numerous anachronisms and borrowings from church and chronicle sources of the 15th-16th centuries revealed in this document lead to the conclusion of a late origin of this apocryphal work. Available copies of the 17th century date back to a protograph composed in the late 15th century. A. A. Shakhmatov’s belief in the early origin of the Varangian version of the Chersonese legend has no evidence base.