Author: Slavica Vasiljević Ilić
University of Banja Luka
Translation from Serbian by Tanya Neycheva
Published in: Slavyanski dialozi, XIX, 2022, 29, 81-93. [In Bulgarian]
Abstract: This paper deals with ascetic Peter of Korisa from Teodosije the Hilandarian’s Hagiography of Peter of Korisa. The latter remains in the focus of literary historians, while the author provides yet another perspective on this work, given the fact that the phenomenon of synesthesia of sensory perception seems to have passed unobserved in reviews so far. Peter’s temptations are gradually structured, and they can be divided into the ones he undergoes while living in a community with people and the ones he experiences as a hermit. In this latter part of the hagiography, his spiritual battles are outlined realistically, in order for his effort on his way to bliss to be highlighted. Peter ‘suffers’ torments through sensory perception. Although the author of this hagiography uses that of St. Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria as a model, he provides much more space for these battles than the original work. With regard to that, the paper features the most representative examples of such battles and shows how non-material phenomena are given a material character. Yet, the synesthesia in this case is only completed once these temptations are over and Peter reaches tranquility, when his place of residence turns into Paradise on earth. Thus, this synesthesia is an implicit expression of his striving to approach the divine.
Key words: hagiography of a hermit, Peter of Korisa, senses, temptations, Hagiography of St. Anthony