Simon Azaryin’s Menologies from the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library

The largest part of the private library of Simon Azaryin, prominent church writer of the 17th century, is kept in the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library. There are two manuscripts (F. 173. Collection of the Moscow Theological Academy) which include Menologies compiled by Simon. Both MDA books are collections of writings and extracts of Saints’ Lives, chronicles, etc, and there is a Menology with memories of only the Russian Saints. Simon Azaryin’s Menologies is the prominent monument of the time of “Collecting the Russian Sainthood”. The list of Saints in Simon’s Menologies includes a part organized in calendar order and a part with the data on Saints, for whom the date of memory is unknown. The Menologies contain several rare and unique memories. Data on disciples of St. Sergius of Radonezh texture a separate part of the Menology (for some of them it is a unique, and, possibly, legendary evidence).