Posledovanie pohval’noe 26 avgusta i russkaja tradicija sluzhb bogorodichnym ikonam.

This is a study of «Posledovanie pohval’noe 26 avgusta», the liturgical office included in St. Cyril Belozerskij’s«Kanonnik.» This codex, dated 1407, was in the personal use of St. Cyril. It is currently preserved in the Department of Ancient Russian Art of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The same manuscript also contains the canons of the Patriarch of Con- stantinople Philotheos Kokkinos in a Slavonic translation, calling on believers to fight against the infidels, recently studied and published by Gelian Prokhorov. The text of this liturgical office consists mainly of the service of the Feast of Dormition (Assumption), but includes some special verses (stichkiry) as well. Four of these special verses resemble the text of the Hypapante service (The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, lit., «Encounter», celebrated on February 2nd); they develop the theme of the meeting of the Theotokos. In these and other special verses (stichkiry), the Theotokos is glorified as the Hodigitria and a source of grace and light. These verses or their elements were later introduced into the Russian services celebrating various icons. One filiation of this «Posledovanie,» presum- ably formed in the context of Cyril Belozersky monastery tradition, was the office of 8/9 Ju- ly to the miraculous icon (Smolenskaya, Kolochskaya icons), subsequently dedicated to the icon of Our Lady of Kazan. The other filiation of this «Posledovanie,» formed in the con- text of the state ideology, became the service to the icon of the Theotokos of Vladimir.