Superscript signs and accents are not reproduced, with the following exceptions: the pronoun й is distinguished from the conjunction и by an acute accent in the printed edition, as it is in the manuscripts; the superscript jer (paerok) has been printed as an italicised jer after prefixes that are followed by a stem beginning with a vowel, e.g. об’яти ) объяти, от'ити ) отъити, от’яша ) отъяша, из’ити ) изъити, из’яти ) изъяти, из’явил ) изъявил, необ’емлем ) необъемлем. Literal numbers are rendered by Arabic numerals.
The manuscripts are not consistent in the use of capitals, nor is it always clear whether a letter is capitalised, and so with regard to nomina sacra the editors have with some modifications opted for the conventions obtaining in Russia before 1917. Capitals are used for the three persons of the Trinity and for the Mother of God, as well as for all names, attributes and hypostases of God, personal pronouns referring to God, and the adjectives Святый and Божественный, as well as their variants with the prefix Пре-, when they refer to any of the persons of the Trinity. Other capitalised nomina sacra include the Church as an institution, the Sacraments, and the Holy Scriptures.
Punctuation follows that of the copies В and C, which are broadly similar (A is very lightly punctuated), but does not reproduce it at all points. The principle which the editors have followed is to use marks of punctuation in order to clarify meaning, but not to impose it. This has sometimes required minimal punctuation, especially where there are two varying but equally valid readings. Direct speech is introduced with a capital letter, but is not enclosed within quotation marks.
The text of C is reproduced even when it contains a manifest error by the copyist, e.g. line 5 of the poem Голубь евхаристический’: И ныне в неких местех той остаем (for
остает). When this occurs the correct form is seen in the variant reading in A and/or B. The following variants between the texts of C and the other two manuscripts are indicated in footnotes: lexical, grammatical and orthographic variants, corrections to the text (deletions, additions, omissions, insertions, and transpositions), marginalia, and editorial corrections by Sil'vestr Medvedev carried out at any stage in the creation of the work. All variants between C (the final text) and the autograph manuscript A are recorded except the list of contents ("Оглавление», see below). As regards the intermediate copy B, orthographic variants are treated by the editors according to the general rule that where C differs either from A or from both A and B, the variant is recoreded in a footnote, but that where C differs from В but not from A or, in other words, where В gives a variant spelling that is subsequently restored in C, this is not footnoted. Thus, orthographic variants in В that differ from both A and C, where A and C are identical, are omitted. In this connection variants in В that fall into the following categories are not footnoted: variants between the etymological spelling of the letter е and its actual pronunciation, e.g. В всеконечно, чреслех, телец, прилежанием, А , С всеконечно, чреслех. телец, прилежанием; variants between traditional and non-traditional spellings of words with prefixes ending in c and з, e.g. В воставитель, бесмертен, бесценную, съшел, восъприяти, возъможем, изъбежа, изъшедшу, изърек, А, С возставитель. безсмертен, безценную, сшел, восприяти, возможем, избежа, изшедшу, изрек; variants in the suffixes -н- and —нн-, e.g. В вреждены, окаяный, А. С врежденны, окаянный; variants in the spelling of vowels after hush-sibilants, e.g. В ближайший, грешащых, плачют, молча, А, С ближайший, грешащих, плачут, молчя; the presence or absence of ъ and ь before suffixes and endings, e.g. В соборъныя, песньми. А, С соборныя, песнми; variants between the Russian and Church Slavonic spelling of case endings, e.g. В оного, А, С онаго; variants in the spelling of personal names, e.g. В Захариа, Моисей, Аминодав, А, С Захария. Моисий, Аминадав; spelling errors that occur only in B, e.g. писпены (for писмены), Христо (for Христос), жизи (for жизни), злезну (for слезну), едиродна (for единородна); and the occurrence in В of superscript literal numbers to indicate the transposition of words. A particular problem in recording variants concerns the fact that 17th-century cursive writing does not usually distinguish between final jer and jer» (ъ and ь). It is not clear, for example, whether A has Иудифь or Иудифъ, вещь or вещъ, имуть or имутъ. For this reason the editors decided to record the form that occurs in C without attempting to indicate variants in A and B, even though this has meant forfeiting some valuable information about the hardness or softness of consonants.