The Novel 40 of Justinian the Great: Translation into Russian with partial commentary

Comprehensive translation of the Justinian’s novels into Russian as a special form of a study in history is almost absent in the Russian historiography of Early Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile Russian byzantinists use the data of the Justinianic legislation with perceptible intensity, but only in the frames of few traditionally developed themes, when not all of the data of separate novel found the application in the scientific work. Author of the publication worked up the method of an “opposite research”, which allows to discover and to begin the investigation of all or almost all the possible themes and subjects containing in a separate novel. This method supposes the full scientific novels’ translation into Russian as a basis of future detailed study of certain versatile historical situation or phenomena, which are produced by the novel. The present publication is the firstly realized complete translation into Russian of the Justinian’s novel 40, with partly commentary and a few samples of line-notes. Besides, this work includes the short historiographical survey, which does show an especially rear use of the novel as historical source in the scientific literature. There the novel was used mainly for the demonstration of a variety the sources of the churches’ financial ensuring. But its data show the Catholic Church in unfavorable light as a commercial organization under the state support. Then, the novel’s text wrote in the intricate style. By these reasons probably this interesting legislative source has not full and correct translation into Russian up to now, and its data didn’t use completely as well. Aforesaid author’s method and the scientific translation allowed to read the tangled text and to display some curious historical topics of these, which very enrich the picture of the epoch. Most important find in the novel 40 is the person of priest Eusebius, who was acquainted with the emperor himself and became the central subject of the novel’s narration. His role in the political and religious events of the 530-s seems to be very important; specifically, Eusebius proved to be capable to organize well the finances of the Church of Jerusalem, and probably gave the practical advices to the ruling clique, both public and cleric. Moreover, the novel 40 and other constitutions of the 536 have demonstrated an interesting feature of the Justinian’s legislation, namely: after 535 it had taken to consider presumably not theoretical questions, but the concrete practical ones. Whole, publication of the translation gave the grounds to hope of subsequent research the themes and problems that are touched in the novel. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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