On 25-27 April 2023, an International Scientific Conference “Constantine of Preslav’s Uchitel’noe Evangelie and the South Slavonic Homiletic Texts (IX-XIII century): Philological and Interdisciplinary Aspects” was held in Sofia.

The scientific forum was organized by the Institute of Balkan Studies with Center of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences within the project “The Vocabulary of Constantine of Preslav’s Uchitel’noe evangelie (‘Didactic Gospel’): Old Bulgarian-Greek and Greek-Old Bulgarian Word Indices”, funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund (contract No. KP-06-H50/2). Partner in the event was the Regional History Museum – Sofia.

Thirty-five distinguished scientists from Bulgaria, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic, as well as some young researchers from Bulgaria, Austria and Croatia, participated with papers. Plenary lectures were given by the doyen of German Palaeoslavic Studies, Prof. Christian Hannick from Würzburg and the Honorary Doctor of the Sofia University and winner of the Order of Cyril and Methodius Prof. Roland Marti from Saarbrücken.

The central theme of the conference was the Didactic Gospel – one of the landmark works of Old Bulgarian literature. This earliest collection of edifying words in medieval Bulgarian literature originated in the last decade of the ninth century and is preserved in its entirety in only one Russian and three Serbian copies, dating from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. It includes 51 sermons for Sundays, composed of translated and original parts, an original Prologue and the Alphabetical Prayer (Abecedarius) of Constantine of Preslav.

More details can be seen on the project website: https://uchitelnoevangelie.eu/sabitiya/