The False “Word of Peter of Damascus” in the Menaion Torzhestvennik from the collection of E.E. Egorov no. 208

<p><strong>Context and relevance. </strong>The study of medieval monuments of solemn eloquence makes it possible not only to identify the author’s linguistic and theological strategies, but also to identify cross-cultural connections and ways of transmitting subjects in culture, which is important for understanding the literature of Ancient Russia. <strong>Goal. </strong>To analyze the text of the sermon on the Nativity of Christ from the Solemnist from the collection of E.E. Egorov No. 208, which is attributed to Peter Damascene, a tenth-century Byzantine monk, and to study the context of its existence. <strong>Hypothesis. </strong>The definition of the primary source of homily at Christmas is important for understanding the mechanisms of cultural interaction between Slavs and other nations.<strong> Methods and materials. </strong>The research used analytical and textual methods: linguistic-historical, source-based, codicological. Texts from handwritten collections and printed publications of the 17<sup>th</sup> century were used as the material.<strong> Results. </strong>The analysis of the text allowed attributing the sermon under study to Nicholas of Clairvaux, a Catholic monk of the XII century. The principles chosen for the translation from Latin (literal translation, author’s change, a close set of filigrees) allowed us to identify the relationship of this translation with the translation of Thomas Kempis’ treatise “On the Imitation of Christ”. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>Belonging to the collection Egor. 208 Kuteinsky Monastery suggests the existence of the Kuteinsky Monastery scriptorium, whose literary activity continued after the resettlement of a significant part of the monks to Valdai in 1655-1657.</p>