The conversion of the Bulgarians in ‘Acta Sanctorum’

interpretations at the dawn of historical-philological studies in the age of baroque

Abstract

The article discusses for the first time in a comparative perspective the interpretation of the Conversion of the Bulgarians in the commentaries to the hagiographies of chosensaints fromthe firstvolumes of the Baroque hagiographic series Acta Sanctorum. The author defines the work of the Bollandists in the context of the first attempts to reconstruct the history of the Church made by Matthias Flacius Illyricus and Cesar Baronius. The paper outlines the progress made in studying the sources for the conversion of the Bulgarians through textual-critical methods, which have made it possible to reconstruct a reliable historical narrative and a generally justifiable chronology of events in the initial stage of humanities research in Europe.

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