MEDIEVAL BENEDICTIONS (BENEDICTIONES) IN INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

Benedictions (Benedictiones) are liturgic rites in Catholic church, pronounced by a priest on individual occasions. Medieval studies viewed benedictions and sacramentals (sacramentalia) as “clerical magic” due to multiple superstitions that surrounded these practices. The article uses Yu. M. Lotman’s communicative model of culture, which can be semiotically unbalanced (“core” “periphery”, including foreign semiotic elements), present destructive changes this segment the liturgy temporary, corresponding certain phase dynamic interaction two separate cultures — clerical one (written) traditional (oral) culture ordinary believers. zone their closest contact is religious life parish, author correlates with cultural periphery, where cross-border takes place (dialogue between “core” “periphery”) thus producing universal communication code (“semiotization”). It was at level local parishes number “unofficial” different occasions (benedictions fields, cattle, houses etc.) emerged 10th–11th centuries. Written Latin, they were quite extended specification, application apocryphal sources, so prayers mixed up incantations using elements folk oral tradition. Thus, Church, represented parish priests, got involuntarily involved process creating language understandable its flock, adopting culture. Benedictiones deviating from strict orthodoxy vanish only 16th century spread printed literature unification books.