March 2025, Prof. Miroslav Vepřek was on a short-term RESILIENCE TNA research visit to Sofia University Centre for Slavo-Byzantine Studies, studying medieval penitential practice. With all digital possibilities, doing research in a library abroad is important to him.
Here is what we asked Miroslav Vepřek about his research stay and what he answered us:
What does your host have what you could not find elsewhere?
The Ivan Dujcev Centre at the Sofia University is an institution which connects the Slavic studies with other important branches (Byzantine studies, Theology, etc.). This is what makes the Centre unique. They also provided me valuable contacts within the Bulgarian research community, dealing with my research topics. And, of course, the academics of the Centre are highly educated scholars, therefore the consultations with them help me to find orientation in my research very much.
With all digital possibilities, why do you need to take the trouble to go to a library abroad?
First, not everything has been digitized yet, not all the manuscripts (especially not the „less famous“ or those held in smaller institutions and archives) and scholarly literature. Sometimes you also need to be a registered user of a library to have access to digital materials. Second, when studying old manuscripts, the „physical“ experience with these materials cannot be fully compensated with the virtual. And at least one more aspect – if you do not exactly know which specific book items you need, browsing the library in person is more effective than the electronic. Moreover, with the help of an experienced librarian.
Penitential practice does not sound as an attractive topic? Why study this and is there any relevance in it?
I strongly disagree! The topic is very attractive, and it can be even considered popular in various scholarly branches – for instance, History, Linguistics, Philology, Historical Sociology. The medieval penitential texts provide very precious material for deeper understanding of the period reality. They often include local specifics and peculiarities (e.g. folk habits, relics of paganism, civil law customs, etc.), and their linguistic character is closer to a spoken language than other Medieval texts of a high class literature.
***
We thank you for answering our questions, and wish you all the best for your research!
Miroslav Vepřek is professor at Palacký University in Olomouc, Department of Slavic Languages.
Visual: Prof. Miroslav Vepřek (right) with Prof. Andrey Boyadzhiev (left) in front of Sofia University Library