The Presence of the Old Testament Figures in the Old Polish Apocrypha of the New Testament

Abstract

Old Polish New Testament apocrypha form a heterogeneous body of medieval vernacular narratives that draw on biblical, apocryphal, patristic, and other Latin sources. This study examines the presence, functions, and transmission of Old Testament figures in all nine surviving Old Polish apocryphal texts dating up to the mid-sixteenth century. Using the lexical index and search tools of the Apocrypha database, occurrences of Old Testament anthroponyms and related possessive forms were identified, disambiguated, classified according to textual and discursive function, and compared with Latin sources and parallel passages. The analysis identified 50 Old Testament figures, whose names occur in theological, catechetical, apocryphal-narrative, and metatextual contexts. They function particularly as elements of typological interpretation, mnemonic and moral exempla, narrative characters, markers of biblical authorship, and components of biblical expressions. Comparison with the sources reveals several modes of transmission: references may be faithfully reproduced, expanded or adapted, omitted, or introduced through individual textual choices. These findings show that Old Testament references in Old Polish apocrypha are not merely inherited layers of translated material but reflect selective, diverse strategies of reception, revealing the active use of Old Testament knowledge in medieval Polish religious writing.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Religions, 2026 · DOI ↗