Massimo il Greco nel prisma di Savonarola: echi di santità

The earliest recollection of Maximus the Greek in liturgical literature occurs in the Authentic narrative about the arrival in Rus’ of Maximus the Greek and how he suffered until his death (Skazanie izvěstno o prichode na Rus’ Maksima Grěka i kako preterpě do skončanija svoego) written by the monk Isajja Kamenčanin at the end of the sixteenth century. An analysis of Kamenčanin’s text shows that it includes some excerpts from Maximus the Greek’s Terrible and memorable narrative and the perfect form of monastic life (Povest’ strašna i dostopamjatna i o soveršennom inočeskom žitel’stve) containing the first Slavic biography of Savonarola. From the author’s study of the motivation behind the borrowing it emerges that in Muscovy Maximus closely emulated Savonarola, so closely that posterity – the monk Isajja included – recognized Maximus when reading his portrayal of the Italian. Seeing the agreement, the Monk made use of the passage to portray Maximus himself.