Psaltiki Journal, Vol. 4 by Psaltiki, Inc.

Psaltiki: the online journal Volume 4 (2012)

www.psaltiki.org/journal/

INSIDE Psalmody and the Desert Fathers john wortley | Psalmody

The Princess and Her Book: the iconography, history and linguistics of Uric’s tetraevangheliar (ad 1429). Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Canonici Graeca 122 elena draghici-vasilescu | Byzantine Liturgical Manuscripts

Mystagogy: Ecclesiastical History & Mystical Contemplation germanus constantinopolitanus | Liturgy

“It is well that we are here”: transfigurations and realizations on the Holy Mountain john e afendoulis | Pascha on Mount Athos

w w w . p s a l t i k i . o r g

Superb Digital & CD Releases from Psaltiki, Inc Hagios: The Byzantine Liturgy Inspiring Chants of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great from XIIIth- through XVth-century Byzantine composers

Paraklesis: Hymns of Supplication The Small and Great Canons of Supplication to the Mother of God in Greek and English

Available at www.psaltiki.org Psaltiki, Inc â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a nonprofit dedicated to Byzantine Chant Listen to sample tracks! www.soundcloud.com/psaltiki/

Tweet us! twitter.com/psaltiki/

Like us! facebook.com/psaltiki/

T H E P S A LT I K I J O U R N A L V O LU M E 4 ( 2 0 1 2 ) Palia Chora, Aegina

Cover Hagia Kyriake, Palaia Chora, «Ὕμνος ἅπας ἡττᾶται, συνεκτείνεσθαι σπεύδων»”

Psaltiki, Inc.

psaltikiMission Dedicated to the Byzantine Chant heritage. Contributors

John Wortley

Psalmody and the Desert Fathers Devout psalmody in the monastic desert and the ‘Apophthegmata Patrum’

Germanus Constantinopolitanus Patriarcha (VIIIth Century)

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Mystagogy Ecclesiastical History and Mystical Contemplation

John E. Afendoulis

“It is well that we are here”: Transfigurations and Realizations on the Holy Mountain  A Psaltiki Pascha on Mount Athos Award Recipient

Elena Ene D-Vasilescu

The Princess and Her Book The Iconography, History, and Linguistics of Uric’s Tetraevangel, ad 1429: Bodleian Library Ms. Canon. Gr. 122

Psaltiki: The Online Journal — Editor: Rev. Dr. Konstantinos Terzopoulos, email: frc@psaltiki.org; Editorial Assistant: Thomas Carrol. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 149161, Orlando, FL 32814. Psaltiki, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the State of Florida dedicated to the advancement of the Psaltic Art in America and its study around the world. Copyright Statement: All “content” of this publication (including but not limited to all documents, programs, and images on this page and related pages of the Psaltiki Web Site, www.psaltiki.org) is protected by U.S. and international copyright law under one or more of the following copyrights, or other copyrights to content of particular pages of this site. ISSN 1946-7532. Copyright © 2008 Psaltiki, Inc. and the Authors. Email: psaltiki@psaltiki.org All Rights Reserved. The copyright holders provide the content online as reference material for educational or cultural purposes. The content is provided “as is” without any warranty whatsoever. Commercial use of the content is prohibited except by express, written license. For submission requests, contributors should supply three copies of their transcript. All transcripts should be double spaced with generous margins. Footnotes and indented quotations should also be double spaced. Electronic submissions should be in the .rtf format with an accompanying .pdf. The editors will consider all typescripts as quickly as possible. All musical examples, tables, images and diagrams should be written on separate sheets and identified by captions. For general matters of style and spelling contributors should consult the mla Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd ed. by the Modern Language Association. Upon acceptance for publication, Psaltiki will request a short biography of the author, as well as any contact information that the contributor wishes to be included with the article. The Journal requires contributors to obtain clearance for any copyright materials reproduced in their articles. The fact that the Journal appears primarily online, with a downloadable print version may further complicate the issue. When in doubt seek advice. All accepted articles will be archived within the Psaltiki site in their .html and .pdf forms. Articles must be submitted in English, although they can also be simultaneously posted in Greek, German or Russian versions supplied by the author.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

PSALTIKIMISSION Perpetuating the Psaltic Heritage

saltiki, Inc. is a non-profit organization promoting the advancement and perpetuation of the Psaltic Art, better known as Byzantine and post-Byzantine chant and Hymnology.

Psaltiki supports the chant heritage and tradition through the creative initiating of educational projects, the development of various multimedia, online resources, publications, recordings, as well as financial gifts in support of worthy projects, individual scholars, researchers and musicians engaged in exemplary activities and endeavors related to Psaltiki’s purpose. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς νοήματα γνωρίζομεν καὶ σημαίνομεν δι’ ὧν προφέρομεν λόγων, οὕτως, τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐν ψυχῇ ἁρμονίας τὴν ἐκ τῶν λόγων μελῳδίαν σύμβολον εἶναι θέλων ὁ Κύριος, τετύπωκεν ἐμμελῶς τὰς ᾠδὰς ψάλλεσθαι, καὶ τοὺς ψαλμοὺς μετ’ ᾠδῆς ἀναγινώσκεσθαι. Just as we make known and signify the thoughts of the soul through the words we express, so too the Lord wished the melody of the words to be a sign of the spiritual harmony of the soul, and ordained that the canticles be sung with melody and the psalms be read with the canticles. —Saint Athanasius the Great (ad 296-373), Letter to Marcellunus.

New Superb Digital & CD releases from the Psaltiki Ministry of Chant! hagios: the byzantine liturgy paraklesis: hymns of supplication

n August of 2012, with great pleasure the Psaltiki Ministry of Chant released two recordings of both ancient and practical chants. Both recordings are available as digital downloads or Compact Disc from a number of points, including Amazon and iTunes. hagios: the byzantine liturgy presents hymns for the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great as preserved by Chourmouzios Chartophylax and his exegeses as found in the Constantinople-Athens manuscripts of the Holy Sepulchre (ΜΠΤ 704 and 705) completed in the year 1829. Included are compositions attributed to Byzantine composers and melodoi Xenos Korones, Joannes Koukouzeles, Joannes Damascenus, Joannes Glykys and Joannes Kladas, many of which are recorded here for the first time! The production of Hagios: The Byzantine Liturgy CD was sponsored in memory of Dr Robert (Charalambos) H Terss (1926 - 2007) by his loving wife of 52 years, Eugenia. Psaltiki, Inc. is grateful for her support; may his memory be eternal! Playlist: 1. Trisagion Mode II, Melos archaion

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Dynamis Mode II, Xenos (Xenophon) Korones (floruit circa 1325-50) Allelouiarion Mode I Plagal, Joannes Koukouzeles Papadopoulos (floruit circa 1300-50) Cherubikon Mode II Plagal, Joannes Damascenus (circa 650-circa 750) Hagios (Sanctus) Mode II, Joannes Glykys (floruit late 13th century) Amen Mode II, Joannes Glykys Amen Mode II, Joannes Glykys Se hymnoumen (We praise thee) Mode II, Joannes Glykys Aineite (Praise the Lord from the heavens—Psalm 148) Mode I Tetraphonos, Joannes Kladas (floruit circa 1400) paraklesis: hymns of supplication presents interpretations of the Small and Great Canons of Supplication to the Mother of God in both Greek and English. The Greek versions were chanted from the Anastasimatarion of Konstantinos Byzantios (Constantinople 1863). The text for the canons in English were taken from the translation by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston MA. According to their melos the Great Canon was musically adapted and arranged by P Elgohary and the Small Canon by K Terzopoulos. The production of the Paraklesis: Hymns of Supplication CD was living sponsored by Anastasia Chehak of Oklahoma City (of Anastasia Pure Skin Therapy®, amlab.com) in memory of her great-grandfather, Nikolaos G Louizos (1851 - December 29, 1923), mousikodidaskalos and Protopsaltis of Karlovassi on the Island of Samos. Psaltiki, Inc. is grateful for her generousity and support!

www.psaltiki.org/cd/

2013 Psaltiki Holy Week on Mount Athos Award Announced

he Rev. Deacon John Efthymios Afendoulis was the recipient for the 2011 Psaltiki Holy Week on Mount Athos Award. You can read his reflections on that Psaltic Pilgrimage in this issue of the Psaltiki Online Journal, “‘It is well that we are here’: transfigurations and realizations on the Holy Mountain.” We are now also pleased to announce the commencement of the 2013 competition! This round of competition is sponored by the Helen Petriti-Stratigos Memorial Fund.

The Right Reverend Abott Alexios and the fathers at Xenophontos will once again be hosting the winner! www.psaltiki.org/athos/ www.psaltiki.org/stratigos/

Mission

saltiki is dedicated to education, empowering, and connecting the next generation of chanters in America. We are dedicated to enriching and informing the present environment of psaltic culture in America in order to enhance and cultivate a spirit of excellence worthy of this great musical inheritance and the spiritual benefits it provides via the Orthodox liturgical life, the arts and beyond.

All projects are geared toward the advancement of the Psaltic Art, its application, appreciation, preservation and perpetuation by focusing on at least one of the following core areas: Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

1. Education, 2. Visibility, and 3. Psaltic Community. Established in the year 2007 and receiving 501(c)(3) classification in 2008, Psaltiki, Inc. is presently in its plenary first phase. In this phase the organization looks toward foundational development and strategic planning. Psaltiki is studying the prospects of providing educational services by utilizing the electronic mediums available today. Today, Byzantine chant is a rapidly vanishing sacred art form in America. Unfortunately, past generations of chanters have not left behind a new generation of pupils. For various reasons, the Church has not developed a formal educational system to ensure the continuation of our Byzantine chant heritage. Partial, inadequate, piece-meal solutions have not resulted in the needed creation of a sustainable educational plan that could be fruitful in supplying the Church with a continuous, renewable source of personnel to carry on this all-important ministry and great spiritual heritage. It is not that the talent and desire do not exist. Whenever people of musical aptitude are exposed to Byzantine chant, they are often fascinated and desire to explore. The aural tie with our ancient Christian roots and this uniquely Orthodox art form is spiritually uplifting and inspirational. Unfortunately, teachers are nowhere to be found. In our seminaries instruction is aimed toward the practical, unspecialized needs of preparing the clergy, who are not necessarily musically inclined. Due to financial, linguistic, and geographic obstacles, schools of chant do not exist in America and have not been integral to the American Orthodox experience. Self-help resources abounding on the Web usually assume a certain level of familiarity and knowledge of the chant tradition and are not designed to produce chanters or provide a complete educational experience. Past attempts to transpose the chant corpus into Western Notation have often either over-simplified or distorted the melodies to the point where they are unrecognizable, awkward and un-inspired, failing to bring about the desired results. In short, no viable means exists to successfully introduce and train chanters and readers to serve the liturgical needs of the Church. At Psaltiki we believe it is time to re-order and re-imagine how one can learn this rich Orthodox liturgical heritage. In harmony with the Book of Psalms of the Prophet-King David, the hymnographic and chant heritage of the Orthodox Church stands at the very center of its spiritual and liturgical life. The Church has always lived in a mystic link between earth and heaven using the Divine Services to raise the faithful to the eternal reality of the heavenly Church triumphant. Her divine poetry and chant are important partners in this process of anagogy—raising the hearts of the faithful to the Lord. Along with the beauty of the Church’s architecture, the oil lamps burning before the holy Icons, the vestments, readings and the scent of incense, the words of the divine hymns—logos—and melodies of the sacred chants—melos— point the faithful to the eternal reality which the earthly eye has not seen, nor ear heard (Isaiah 64.4; 1 Corinthians 2.9). The story of our Orthodox hymnography is one at the heart of our liturgical life, one richer and more surprising than we have been told. Beginning with the earliest known Christian hymn written with ancient Greek Hypolydian musical notation in a late third century papyrus fragment (Oxyrhynchus No. 1786), Orthodox chant notation continues to develop its unique forms. Soon after the Iconoclastic period in the eighth century, new forms of Byzantine chant notation emerged with the compilation of the Oktoechos hymnbook of Eight Modes by Saint John of Damascus. The musical tradition continued to grow, providing the Church with master composers hundreds of years before the Classical musical tradition even began in the West, including such notable figures as Romanos Melodus, Xenos Korones, Joannes Glykys, Joannes Koukouzeles, and others. The chant tradition was passed down through the centuries in the Church, both East and West (although it would take a different course in the West). Through the work of the Three Teachers, Gregorios, Chourmouzios and Chrysanthos, in 1814 the Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

tradition finally reached its present notational form, commonly referred to as the New Method. For many Orthodox Christians in America, basic questions concerning the venerable art of Byzantine liturgical chant abound: What is Byzantine chant, and where does it come from? What purpose does it serve, and how did it take on its present form, style, and unique sound? How can I learn when I have no teacher? While interest is on the rise, resources to learn this ancient art form and assure its continuation in America are inadequate. Psaltiki is dedicated to these needs. Psaltiki relies on volunteers and donations of money, materials and services to create and conduct its projects. We look forward to your participation! www.psaltiki.org

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

CONTRIBUTORS

JOHN WORTLEY (“Psalmody and the Desert Fathers”) was born and educated in Britain where he studied under Joan Hussey and Cyril Mango. Appointed Professor of Medieval History at the University of Manitoba in 1969, he developed a program of Byzantine studies there until his retirement in 2002, since when (as professor emeritus) he continues to research and publish, latterly concentrating on the Apophthegmata Patrum. His pioneering work on the role of relics in Byzantine society can now be conveniently consulted in Studies on the Cult of Relics in Byzantium up to 1204 (Ashgate-Variorum 2009). A priest of the Anglican Church since 1960 he continues to practice in an assistant capacity.

ELENA ENE D-VASILESCU (“The Princess and her Book: the iconography, history and linguistics of Uric’s tetraevangheliar (ad 1429). Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms. Canonici Greaci 122”) is a Tutor in Theology and Religion and a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Byzantine iconography, University of Oxford. Her project at the History Faculty focuses on “Aspects of art circulation along Via Egnatia in the Middle Ages” and is funded by the British Academy for the period 2011-2013. Her research, teaching, and publications are centered on Byzantine texts (Patristics) and post-Byzantine icons. They also focus on the connection between liturgical art and text and on Byzantine and Eastern Christian monasticism and spirituality. JOHN E AFENDOULIS (“‘It is well that we are here’: transfigurations and realizations on the Holy Mountain”) is the parish priest at St John the Baptist Church, Salinas, California and submits these reflections on his Holy Week pilgrimage to Mount Athos as the 2011 recipient of the Psaltiki Holy Week on Mount Athos Award.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

PSALMODY AND THE DESERT FATHERS

BY J O H N W O R T L E Y Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

hile the early Christian monks withdrew further and further into the desert wastes of what is now Egypt then of Syria-Palestine, there is no reason to imagine that they withdrew into profound silence. Apart from the natural sounds of the wind and the wild animals that made the desert such a dangerous place (to say nothing of the bandits and the tribesmen who occasionally harassed the monks) there would often be the sound of human voices. It is unlikely that these would be singing the (apparently) ribald songs that invaded the ears of a pious greengrocer living in a city: Now, just as they were going to eat, the elder heard some people singing songs on the road [ἀκούει ὁ γέρων εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν τινων ᾄσματα λεγόντων,] for the greengrocer’s cell was in a notorious place. “Brother,” the elder said to him, “since you so wish to lead a godly life, how do you stay in this place? Are you not disturbed now when you hear them singing these songs?” [ὅτε ἀκούεις τῶν λεγόντων τὰ ᾄσματα ταῦτα;] “I tell you, abba,” said the man; “I have never been troubled or scandalized.” On hearing this, the elder said: “Well, what are you thinking in your heart when you hear these [songs]?” and he said: “[I am thinking] that they are certainly going off to the Kingdom.” N 67 1

But even in the desert there could be similar distractions: Some brothers visiting a holy elder living in a desert place found some children outside his monastery minding [animals] and making inappropriate remarks [λαλοῦντα ῥήματα ἀπρεπῆ.] After they had revealed their logismoi to him and benefited from his knowledge, they said to him: “Abba, how do you tolerate these children and do not tell them not to be boisterous?” The elder said: “There are indeed some days when I would like to tell them [that] but I rebuke myself, saying: ‘If I do not stand this little [disturbance], how am I to withstand severe temptation if it is unleashed upon me?’ For that reason I say nothing to them so I may be nourished in order to bear 1 References to the Apophthegmata are in the form of: name + number and ref. to PG 65 for APalph; by the letter N+ number to APanon; of which François-Nicolas Nau published items 1-400 in his “Histoires des solitaires égyptiens (ms. Coislin 126, fols. 158 – 256) in ROC 12 (1907) – 18 (1913) with a partial French translation and there is a complete French translation of the series without the Greek text by Dom Lucien Regnault, of blessed memory, Les sentences des Pères du désert: série des anonymes (Solesmes-Bellefontaine 1985); by chapter and item [XX.YY] to Guy’s edition of APsys.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

the things that come upon me.” N 338, 16.23

The monks themselves were by no means silent. When they assembled and met together for worship, they sang aloud (not sotto voce.) It was an imposition when illness made it impossible for one to do so [ψάλλειν μετὰ φωνής, Synkletika 8, 424CD, 7.24.] for they believed their singing was the earthly representation of the singing in heaven. An anchorite said: Every day I behold the assembly of the spiritual forces with the Lord of Glory in the midst of them, outshining them all. When I become discouraged, I ascend to heaven and contemplate the wondrous beauty of the angels, the hymns that they unceasingly offer up to God and their melodies. Then am I buoyed up by the sounds, their voices and their tune, so that I have a conception of that which is written: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 18.2) and “I count everything on earth as ashes and rubbish.” (cf. Phil 3.8) [Ἐγὼ καθημέραν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τῶν νοερῶν δυνάμεων2 θεωρῶ καὶ τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ πάντας λάμποντα. Ὅταν δὲ ἀκηδιάσω, ἀνέρχομαι εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ θεωρῶ τὰ θαυμαστὰ κάλλη τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ τοὺς ὕμνους οὓς3 ἀναπέμπουσιν ἀπαύστως τῷ θεῷ, καὶ τὰς μελωδίας αὐτῶν, καὶ μετεωρίζομαι ὑπὸ τῶν φθόγγων καὶ τῆς φωνῆς καὶ τοῦ μέλους αὐτῶν, ὡς ἐννοῆσαι τὸ γεγραμμένον· οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς σποδὸν καὶ σκύβαλα ἡγοῦμαι.] N 487

It was once revealed to Abba Antony in the desert: “There is somebody in the city like you, a physician by profession, who provides those in need with his superfluous income and is singing the trisagion with the angels of God all day long.” Antony 24, 84B, 18.1 A woman who has turned a monk away from sinning sends him back “To hear the choir of those holy ones singing” [ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων ψαλλόντων] N 52 while another monk is urged to “glorify God and offer up hymns to him, in fulfilment of the saying: ‘Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God’” [1 Cor 10.31] N 85, 18.42. Another brother was instructed: When you rise from your sleep your mouth will immediately glorify God with its first words, breaking out in hymn and psalms. For whatever the mind encounters first thing, it grinds it like a mill all the day long, whether it be wheat or tares. So always be the first to throw in wheat before your enemy injects tares. [Ἀνιστάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου σου εὐθέως πρῶτον λόγον δοξάσει τὸ στόμα σου τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἄρξεται εἰς ὕμνον καὶ ψαλμούς. Εἴ τι γὰρ προλάβῃ ἀπὸ πρωῒ ὁ νοῦς, ὥσπερ μῦλος αὐτὸ ἀλήθει ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν· 2 δυνάμεων] ἀγγέλων S Cod. Sinaï gr. 448 3 οὓς] om Cod. Paris Coislin 126

Superb Digital & CD Releases from Psaltiki, Inc Hagios: The Byzantine Liturgy Inspiring Chants of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great from XIIIth- through XVth-century Byzantine composers

Paraklesis: Hymns of Supplication The Small and Great Canons of Supplication to the Mother of God in Greek and English

Available at www.psaltiki.org Psaltiki, Inc â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a nonprofit dedicated to Byzantine Chant Listen to sample tracks! www.soundcloud.com/psaltiki/

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Tweet us! twitter.com/psaltiki/

Like us! facebook.com/psaltiki/

εἴτε σῖτον, εἴτε ζιζάνια. Διὸ προλάμβανε πάντοτε καὶ βάλλε τὸν σῖτον, πρὶν ὁ ἐχθρός σου βάλῃ τὰ ζιζάνια.] N. 592/43

There was singing at funerals [ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ ἐντίμως μετὰ ὕμνων καὶ προσευχῶν] N 618 and probably at many other times, for an unnamed abba said: If we do not pay attention also to God, we wander into pathless [wastes] but if we constantly pay attention, we sing to him unending hymns of thanksgiving [ἀδιαλείπτους ὕμνους καὶ εὐχαριστίας αὐτῷ προσάδομεν] and of the indescribable wonders of God achieved on our behalf, so that we might also accede to the benefits of eternity. 11.51

By “hymns” the writer means psalms, for the psalms were so central to the life of monks that they coined a word, ψαλμῳδία, that is still in use: “Psalmody: the action, practice or art of singing psalms” [OED]. There were psalms specified to be sung at the hours of worship [ὁ κανὼν τῆς ψαλμωδίας 18.48, lines 34-35] – twelve at night and the same number again at dawn (τὰ ὀρθινά, N 211 7.52). Macarius the Great said: “The soul ought to gather her own considerations together in psalm-singing with sorrow for sin” (κατάνυξις, compunction) 11.49 for psalm-singing is highly beneficial, e.g. against accidie (“It is necessary to scare this spirit [of accidie] away, especially by prayer and psalmAbbreviations used: APalph Apophthegmata alphabetica Jean-Baptiste Cotelier (ed.), PG 65 APanon Apophthegmata anonyma, John Wortley (ed., trans.), Sayings of the Elders (Cambridge University Press), forthcoming APsys

Apophthegmata systematica Guy, Jean-

Claude (ed.), Les Apophtegmes des Pères, collection systématique (Paris 1993, 2003, 2004), 3 Vols.; Sources Chrétiennes 387, 474 and 498 GRBS Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies OED

Oxford English Dictionary (begun 1879)

PG Migne, J.-P. (ed.), Patrologia Graeco-Latina, 161 vols. (Paris 1857-66) ROC

Revue de l’orient chrétien

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

singing.”10.102 Synkletike S 10, Guy p.35;) against wrath (θυμὸν δὲ καταπαύει ψαλμῳδία καὶ μακροθυμία καὶ ἔλεος Evagrius, Pract. 15, 10.25;) in repentance (a penitent monk “has many advantages: meditation, psalm-singing and manual labor – these are the foundations,” APanon N 168 5.22) and for burning demons, N 36 12.19. When a brother asked one of the fathers: “What is life?” he got this answer: “A truthful mouth, a holy body, a pure heart, thoughts that do not wander off to the world, psalm-singing with sorrow for sin, living in hesychia and having nothing in mind other than the expectation of the Lord.”1.35 It is possible however that there were those who were less than enthusiastic about psalm-singing, for the great Evagrius also said: “It is a great thing to pray without distraction, but yet greater to sing without distraction too” [μεῖζον δὲ καὶ τὸ ψάλλειν ἀπερισπάστως] Evagrius 3 173D 11.17 and Isaiah of Scete has this to say: Do not look down on the Psalms for they expel the unclean spirits from the soul and install the Holy Spirit. Remember David when he sang to the harp, how he pacified Saul from the unclean spirit. [1 Sam 16.23] And Elisha too, who (when the people suffered severe thirst while they were fighting with the sons of Moab) said: ‘Bring me somebody who knows how to sing to [ψάλλειν] the harp.’ While he was singing, Elisha prayed: there came water and the people drank.” [2 Kgs 15:13] 11. 33

It is clear from the above that it is not enough merely to sing with the voice. One should sing with sorrow for sin and without distraction and, as the Psalmist himself insists (cf. Ps 46.8 ψάλλετε συνετῶς) one must sing with understanding (ψάλλε μετὰ συνέσεως 11.50 & 11.87). This however does not appear to have been a universal conviction, for we read of a brother who… said to [an unnamed father]: “Look, abba, I meditate but there is no grief for sin in my heart for I do not know what the phrase [I am repeating] means.” [The elder] said to him: “Just meditate. I heard that Abba Poemen and many of the fathers uttered this saying: ‘The snake-charmer does not know the force [dynamis] of the words he speaks but the beast hears and knows: it is rendered obedient and subservient.’ That is how it is with us; even if we do not know the force [dynamis] of the words we are saying, yet the demons hear and retreat in fear.” N. 184 / 5.37

Α little light is shed on how the psalms were sung in a tale of Macarius the Great (the Egyptian) visiting two foreigners who came to live at Scete. When he arose from sleep: The older one merely said this to me: “Do you want us to offer the twelve psalms?” “Yes,” I said and the younger one sang five psalms, six verses at a time with

an allelujah [πέντε ψαλμοὺς ἀπὸ ἕξ στίχων καὶ ἓν Ἀλληλούïα]. With each verse [καὶ κατὰ στίχον] a lamp of fire came out of his mouth and went up into the heavens. Likewise the older one too, when he opened his mouth to sing, something like a rope of fire came out, stretching up to heaven. Macarius 33 273D-277B, 20.3

It is difficult to be sure what exactly this means about the way the psalms were sung, but it leaves one in no doubt of the great value that was set on devout psalm-singing. We may not however greatly err in supposing that the singing- (as opposed to the speaking-) voice was used more widely than we have suggested so far. Following Dom Lucien Regnault, I have demonstrated elsewhere that, for the Desert Fathers, “to meditate” [μελετᾶν] meant to recite and to recite audibly (unless secret meditation is specified)4 a text that had been memorised. The text might be anything from a single verse over and over again to one or more entire books of the Bible,5 of which the most frequent would be the Psalter. “Constrain yourself to the meletê of the psalms for this protects you from being captured by the enemy” says Isaiah of Scete.6 And meletê, like psalmody, may very well have meant recitation in a singing voice (cantilena.) This is never expressly stated, but it seems to be implied by a saying attributed to Abba Hyperechios: “Let there be a spiritual song [Ep. 5.19] in your mouth and let meletê assuage the force of the temptations you encounter. A good example of this is a heavy-laden traveller who dissipates the discomfort of his journey with a song [asmati].”7 So it may be safe to conclude that between the communal synaxis, his private worship and the monk’s meletê he would be using his singing voice a great deal of the time. Now such is human nature that, wherever there is singing, there will almost certainly be a tendency to elaborate and decorate the tunes in various ways. A simple drone will be inflected, a monotonous chant be developed into a melody and a musical tradition will evolve. But it is also human nature for some to resist change. Evidence of such a resistance among the early monastic community certainly exists, 4 Hê kryptê meletê, N 127, 5.29, cf 10.93, line 7 and N 567, 18.19 but especially Eulogius the Priest 169C-172A, 8.4. 5 “How the Desert Fathers ‘meditated’”, GRBS 46 (2006) 315-328. 6 Isaiah 9 / 5.53; cf “Once I saw a brother doing meletê in his cell when a demon came and stood outside the cell. As long as the brother continued his meletê he was unable to enter but once the brother desisted, in he went” N 366, 18.38. 7 Hyperechios 7.27.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

although how early it is difficult to say. The series of apophthegms of the Desert Fathers known as “Anonymous” [APanon] was probably constituted (together with the “Alphabetic” series, [APalph] to which it is an appendix) shortly before AD500 – but there is every reason to suspect that subsequent scribes added other material from time to time. The earliest complete manuscripts we possess are no older than the end of the tenth century. Their later pages contain some items that clearly post-date the fall of Jerusalem in 614 and not a few others that give rise to suspicion that they may be even later. Already among the earlier material of APanon there is “A passage from Gregory the Theologian on humility” (it is in fact a piece by Basil of Caesarea) that includes this: Let your deportment, your clothing, your walking, your down-sitting and your uprising, (cf. Ps 138.2) your food, your way of life, the preparation of your bed; your house and all the furnishings of your house, be fashioned in a simple manner, likewise your psalm, your hymn and your good behaviour towards your neighbour [καὶ ψαλμὸς καὶ ᾠδὴ καὶ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον εὐταξία]. Let these all be simple rather than ostentatious. Let there be no boasting in clever language, no excessively sweet sounds in the singing [μηδὲ ἐν ᾠδαῖς ἡδυφωνίας ὑπερβαλλούσας,] no highflown, no weighty conversations…8

This plea for simplicity in singing is more than echoed in a piece attributed to Abba Silvanus. Now there was a very distinguished Abba Silvanus of whom twelve sayings are included in APalph. A contempory of Sisoes, he had at least as many disciples, some of whose names are known. He was a Palestinian who lived first at Scete then moved to Sinai ca 380 and finally settled near Gaza. It is said that, in common with Sisoes and Pambo, his face shone like Moses’ [Silvanus 12, Pambo 12]. He was a fine counsellor of the perplexed (N 217, 408, 557). But of the twelve narratives of his deeds and words given under his name in APalph (408C-412C) and others in APanon (N 490/2, N 557) none contains anything resembling what he is made to say in the passage about to be considered. The suspicion must therefore remain either that this is some other Silvanus or that the author of this tale has borrowed the name of Silvanus to confer on what he has to say the authority of one of the original Desert Fathers. This is an abbreviated version of what Silvanus is made to say: 34.

A brother questioned Abba Silvanus: “What am I 8 N 486, cf Basil of Caesarea, De humilitate, PG 31:537,14-

to do, abba? How am I to acquire sorrow for sin [κατάνυξις]? I am severely afflicted by accidie, by sleep and by lethargy. When I rise from sleeping I make very heavy weather of the psalm singing. I cannot shake of my languor, nor can I recite a psalm without a tune [χωρὶς τοῦ ἤχου ψαλμὸν οὐ λέγω].” The elder replied: “My child, in the first place, to recite the psalms with a tune [τὸ λέγειν σε τοὺς ψαλμοὺς μετὰ ἤχου] smacks of pride, for it puts you in mind that you are singing while your brother is not. Secondly, it hardens your heart, insulating it against sorrow for sin. So if you want to acquire sorrow for sin, leave singing aside [ἄφες τὸ ᾆσμα]. When you are standing in prayer, let your mind study the meaning of the verse. Consider that you are standing in the presence of the God who ‘searches the very heart and reins’ (Ps 7.10) […] Think of the great fathers, how simple they were; they knew neither tunes and tropes [οὔτε ἤχους οὔτε τροπάρια ἐγίνωσκον] except for a few psalms, and they were brilliant luminaries in the world […] They even raised the dead and performed mighty works, not with singing and troping and tunes [οὐκ ἐν ᾄσμασι καὶ τροπαρίοις καὶ ἤχοις] but in prayer, with a broken and contrite heart and with fasting. […] As for singing, it has brought many down to the lowest most parts of the earth; not only people “in the world” but priests too; it entrenched them in porneia and many passions. Singing is for worldlings, my son [τὸ γὰρ ᾆσμα πολλοὺς εἰς τὰ κατώτατα τῆς γῆς κατήγαγεν οὐ μόνον κοσμικοὺς ἀλλὰ καὶ ἱερεῖς εἰς πορνείαν καὶ πάθη πολλὰ αὐτοὺς βοθρίσαν. Καὶ τὸ ᾆσμα, τέκνον, τῶν κοσμικῶν ἐστι]; that is why people congregate in churches. Just think how many ranks [of angels] there are in heaven, my boy, and it is not written of them that they sing with the eight tones [οὐ γέγραπται περὶ αὐτῶν ὅτι μετὰ τῆς ὀκταήχου ψάλλουσιν] but that one rank unceasingly sings: “Alleluia,” another rank: “Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth,” another rank: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from this place and from his house.” So do you, my son, love the humility of Christ and watch over yourself, keeping watch over your mind at the time of prayer and, wherever you go, do not display yourself as one of ready wit and a teacher but be humble and God will grant you with sorrow for sin. N 7269

In spite of the considerations mentioned above, Derwas Chitty10 accepted this passage as a genuine memory of Silvanus and as an interesting piece of evidence of growing tensions between Egyptian and Syria-Palestinian monachism. There appears to have been a gentle migration of monks from west to east, more especially after the first devastation of Scete by the Mazices in 407-408. The Egyptian deserts appear to have been infested with brigands who did not hesitate to pillage monasteries when the occasion arose, whereas 9 Cod. Sinaï 448, 321vb-322ra PE 2.11.5.3 (olim 2.11.7); J726 in Lucien Regnault (trans.,) Les sentences des pères du désert, série des anonymes, Solesmes-Bellefontaine 1985, p. 307. 10 Derwas J. Chitty, The Desert a City, Oxford 1966, 71-73.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Jerusalem had been constituted the Christian capital of the Empire by Constantine and had since been found to possess the Holy Sepulchre and the most holy of relics, the Wood of the True Cross. A remarkable number of monasteries sprang up in the adjacent Judaean desert and, remarkable quickly, developed their own way of life distinct from the traditions of Egypt. Writing between 425 and 435 John Cassian compared and contrasted the two.11 For among them (viz., the Egyptians) these offices which we are taught to render to the Lord at separate hours and at intervals of time, with a reminder from the convener, are celebrated continuously throughout the whole day, with the addition of work, and that of their own free will. For manual labour is incessantly practised by them in their cells in such a way that meditation on the Psalms and the rest of the Scriptures is never entirely omitted. And as with it at every moment they mingle suffrages and prayers, they spend the whole day in those offices which we celebrate at fixed times. […] For that which is continuously offered is more than what is rendered at intervals of time; and 11 One has to be cautious: what John says depends on his memory of experiences at least thirty years earlier.

The reader may wish to consult the following titles for further reading: John goes on to say that in the East things have • Frøyshov, Stig Simeon Ragnvald, «La rétibecome much more formal and regulated, for instance cence à l’hymnographie chex des anacho“the services of Tierce, Sext, and None are ended with rètes de l’Egypte et du Sinaï du 6e au 8e only three Psalms and prayers each” Inst 3.3, tit., implysiècles,» in L’Hymnographie : Conférences ing that prayer is concentrated at those hours rather than continuous throughout the day. This was quite Saint-Serge, XLVIe Semaine d’Études different from the life of the earliest monks who may Liturgiques (Roma 2000), 229-245; downwell have “prayed without ceasing” to the extent that loadable as a PDF at http://mzh.mrezha. they made no distinction between hours of prayer ru/lib/froyshov/fhv2000a.pdf. and other times. Thus Abba Isidore, a first-generation • Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship in monk and priest at Scete: “For my part, when I was Pagan and Christian Antiquity (Washingyounger and staying in my cell, I had no [time] limits for synaxis [μέτρον συνάξεως οὐκ εἶχον] for both ton D.C. 1983), Chapter 4, Unit 9. more acceptable as a free gift than the duties which are performed by the compulsion of a rule […] Inst. 3.2

night and day were synaxis.”12 Abba Epiphanius (who became Bishop of Salamina in Cyprus in 367) reproved the higoumen of a monastery he had founded in Palestine saying: “You are clearly deficient in prayer at the other hours of the day, for the true monk most unceasingly [ἀδιαλείπτως] have prayer and psalmody in his heart.” Epiphanius 3 164BC 12.6 The higoumen had reported the faithful observance of the third, sixth and ninth hours of prayer by his monks. But Epiphanius had received his monastic formation from Abba Hilarion and others of the Egyptian tradition, hence his response: the monk must “pray without ceasing” [ἀδιαλείπτως, “uninterruptedly”], as Paul said to the people of Thessaly.13 Thus the tendency in Palestine seems to have been for prayer to be concentrated at certain times and for this to be common prayer, in which case it is not difficult to imagine how the psalmody of which that common prayer chiefly consisted would become increasingly sophisticated and possibly (for some) an end in itself rather than a means to the greater glory of God. But while Silvanus obviously disapproves of this musical florescence, his main complaint is that the young person he is addressing appears to think that one cannot pray without music, sous-entendu cannot pray other than at the times of common prayer (synaxis). One has to remember the young person’s original question: How can he acquire sorrow for sin? Silvanus’ answer is formal: by learning to pray at other than the times of common prayer with all its (musical) distractions — which clearly, in his old-fashioned mind, do considerably more harm than good. ❦ 12 13

Isidore 4 220 CD, 11.46. 1 Thess. 5.17.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Dr John Wortley was born and educated in Britain where he studied under Joan Hussey and Cyril Mango. Appointed Professor of Medieval History at the University of Manitoba in 1969, he developed a program of Byzantine studies there until his retirement in 2002, since when (as professor emeritus) he continues to research and publish, latterly concentrating on the Apophthegmata Patrum. In retirement he has held visiting fellowships at the Universities of Belfast (Queen’s, twice) Princeton and Durham. He has always maintained close ties with the Paris Byzantinists; it was at the instigation of R.P. Joseph Paramelle that he began work on the Répertoire of Byzantine Beneficial Tales. His translation of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historiarum (Cambridge University Press 2010) was made in close cooperation with Bernard Flusin and Jean-Claude Cheynet. His pioneering work on the role of relics in Byzantine society can now be conveniently consulted in Studies on the Cult of Relics in Byzantium up to 1204 (Ashgate-Variorum 2009). He lives in Winnipeg with his wife, Sylvia Scott Wortley the harpsichordist. A priest of the Anglican Church since 1960 he continues to practice in an assistant capacity. 16

MYSTAGOGY G E R M A N U S CO N S TA N T I N O P O L I TA N U S PAT R I A R C H A V IIIth cent ur y

Ecclesiastical History and Mystical Contemplation The Trisagion Hymn is sung thus: there the angels say “Glory to God in the highest”; here, like the Magi, we bring gifts to Christ—faith, hope and love, like gold, frankincense and myrrh— and like the bodiless hosts we cry with faith: “Holy God,” that is the Father; “Holy Mighty,” that is the Son and Word, for He has bound the might of the devil and made him who had dominion over death powerless through the Cross and He had given us life by trampling on him; “Holy Immortal,” that is the Holy Spirit, the give of life, through whom all creation is made alive and cries out “have mercy on us.”

“IT IS WELL THAT WE ARE HERE”: TRANSFIGURATIONS AND REALIZATIONS ON THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

BY JOHN E AFENDOULIS

NOTE: Photos used for the slideshow in the digital versions of Psaltiki: the online journal can be viewed at the following URL — http://flic.kr/s/aHsjCfArMs Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

We know not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men.

his is what the emissaries of St. Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, reported after searching for an acceptable religion for the ruler’s people and returning from Hagia Sophia in Constantinople in 988 AD. And likewise, these words are the only words that I can use to describe my pilgrimage to the Holy Monastery of Xenophontos on the Holy Mount Athos, funded by Psaltiki, an organization with a mission to educate, empower, and connect the next generation of chanters with tools for the advancement of the liturgical art of chanting in the Orthodox Church. I will be indebted to them for the rest of my life for providing this scholarship to a Holy Cross Seminarian, and that they chose me, out of all my brothers, to go to the Holy Mountain for Holy Week and Pascha 2011. In trying to decide whether or not to apply for the scholarship, my wife and I concluded that this would probably be the only opportunity I might have to go to the Holy Mountain for Holy Week; after ordination my priestly duties would prohibit such an absence. My bishop was already talking of ordaining me to the Holy Priesthood which would mean placement in a parish soon thereafter. With Metropolitan Gerasimos’s blessing I applied for the scholarship. I remember that the announcement for the award of the scholarship would be on November 22, 2010, and. that I must have checked my emails at least100 times that day. I also Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

checked Psaltiki’s website for the announcement. Nothing. By the end of the day, I told my wife Adina that I was so very disappointed that I didn’t receive the scholarship; I was sure the committee found a more worthy fellow seminarian. Two days later, though, I received an email from my beloved personal friend, Dr. Grammenos Karanos, who was the interim Byzantine Music Professor at Holy Cross (filling in for Photios Ketzetsis) congratulating me on being awarded the Psaltiki scholarship. I told him that I was not awarded the scholarship and that I was so disappointed. He assured me, that I was the recipient and he advised me to check my spam box. Sure enough, the notification e-mail was there. It was official and I couldn’t have been more pleased. (Before I get started in my memoirs with my remembrance of Holy Week on Mount Athos, allow me this time to say some thank you’s: to my wife Adina—it was our first (and I pray our only) Pascha apart; to Fr. Konstantinos Terzopoulos and the entire Board of Psaltiki for making the scholarship available; and to my Metropolitan Gerasimos of

San Francisco, for allowing me to go. I would also like to thank the two professors who wrote letters of recommendation, Fr. Nicholas Kastanas and Dr. Timothy Patitsas. And lastly, thank you to all the fathers of Xenophontos Monastery but particularly the Abbot Alexios and Fathers Theonas, Joseph, Bessarion, Paisios and Daniel.) Fr. Konstantinos was the most kind and gracious person who guided me through the benefits of the scholarship. I had been to Mount Athos seven times before but never to Xenophontos Monastery. Everything was paid for but the real value of the scholarship is not monetary but that it made a stay at one of the monasteries during their most busy time of year possible. In 2003, I had moved to Greece for two years and in those two years I had tried to get to the Holy Mountain for Holy Week and Pascha. In order to give equal opportunity to all guests, each monastery limits the stay of each pilgrim. If you want to go for Holy Week, you must move from monastery to monastery. Combine that with the long services, and it becomes almost impossible for one to stay on “The Garden of 19

Superb Digital & CD Releases from Psaltiki, Inc Hagios: The Byzantine Liturgy Inspiring Chants of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great from XIIIth- through XVth-century Byzantine composers

Paraklesis: Hymns of Supplication The Small and Great Canons of Supplication to the Mother of God in Greek and English

Available at www.psaltiki.org Psaltiki, Inc â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a nonprofit dedicated to Byzantine Chant Listen to sample tracks! www.soundcloud.com/psaltiki/

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Tweet us! twitter.com/psaltiki/

Like us! facebook.com/psaltiki/

the Panagiaâ&#x20AC;? the entire week. The Fathers of the monastery treated me so well. Fr. Konstantinos, not knowing the extent of my fluency in Modern Greek, told me that two of the Fathers, Zosimas and Jeremias, were English speaking. After they realized that my Modern Greek was very good they left me on my own, because they were under obedience to help with the non-Greek speaking pilgrims in addition to their normal duties. Both of Fathers had attended Holy Cross Seminary and they had sent back greetings to their fellow classmates, many who have become professors at Holy Cross. The Fathers at this monastery balance the services so that they are neither too long nor too short. Their trapeza and hours of eating are neither too strict nor too lax. They kept a strict fast, but Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

they always made sure that I had enough to eat, and that included snacks. My wonderful hosts were Frs. Theonas and Joseph. They met me at the archandorikion and were most gracious. Fr. Joseph always directed me during the services and positioned me in a stasidi (the chairs alone the walls) for the services when I was not serving. When not serving as a deacon, my stasidi was on the left (north side) of the church directly opposite the icon of the Mother of God. This icon was originally from the Monastery of Vatopedi. How it happened to come to Xenophontos monastery was by an act and miracle of the Mother of God. One day the Fathers of Vatopedi saw that the monasteryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s icon was missing from the church. The icon is massive (maybe 4 or 5 feet tall) and they set out to find

out where it was. They discovered it in the Church of Xenophontos monastery. They thought that someone stole it and so the fathers brought others from Vatopedi and returned the icon to its monastery. But then again the icon was found missing, and again the icon was returned. When the miracle happened a third time, the Fathers of Vatopedi realized that it was the will of the Mother of God that the icon should remain at Xenophontos Monastery. On the feast of the Icon, the Fathers of Vatopedi come to Xenophontos to celebrate jointly. It was Holy Week. I knew the services would be long and I would be tired because I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect to get much sleep, but I was so excited to be there the services seemed to fly by. The first day was a little tiring. The boat Axion Estin 21

left Ouranopolis at 9:45 a.m. and I arrived at Xenophontos at 11:30 a.m. Upon arrival, Father Theonas told me that Small Vespers would begin at 4 p.m. for Palm Sunday, then we would eat and at 8 p.m. we would have an all night vigil for the Feast of our Savior’s Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem (actually the all night vigil ended at 2:30 a.m.) Divine Liturgy would begin sometime around 7 a.m. Sunday morning. The vigil was wonderful. After apodeipnon and paraklesis, we moved into vespers. They started with the Phokaeus’ Anoixantaria. The custom in the monastery is that anyone who can chant is given an opportunity and each takes a different verse. Fr. David asked me if I could chant and I, in my humble voice, chanted a verse. I was delighted as I was positioned in my stasidi to notice the small icons of the Holy Five Martyrs: Eustratios, Auxentios, Eugene, Mardarios, and

Orestes. These are the patron saints of my maternal grandparents’ village of Semendre in Cappadocia and there they were—there I was!!! They looked down on me while I was on the Holy Mountain for Holy Week!!! And I, as unworthy as I am, positioned myself on the stasidi opposite the icon of the Mother of God, and underneath the patrons Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

of my grandparents’ village looking down and (hopefully) blessing me! I could not have been in a better place. As the service progressed, I noticed how different the monastic style of services is from parish services. One of the most beautiful sights during Holy Week services at the monastery was the swinging of the polyeleos (large candelabra). Since the church was illuminated only by a few kandilia (oil lamps), when the polyeleos and the kandilia were swung in a counterclockwise direction by the ecclesiarch, the beauty of the movement of the candle wicks in that moment reminded me of the universe being created, and I gave glory to Almighty God. The swinging of the polyeleos was one of the most beautiful visual delights during the service, especially during the chanting of the cherubic hymn – while the Abbot Alexios censed and took his censing around the church, all those present and the icons of the saints who are alive in Christ, and my only thought was that this was one of the most compassionate movements in the service. Additionally, what I noticed was the remarkable way the services progressed and how nonmechanical the services were. In reciting the petitions and common prayers and hymns it appeared as though the monks were having a conversation with God. It seemed just the most natural of conversations. The first time this dawned

on me was during the vigil service when I saw the ephimerios (the priestmonk whose obedience it was to serve that week) read the Akathistos Hymn to the Mother of God. He had his epitrachilion on and standing before the icon of the Mother of God, removed his kallimauchion. Without book or papers, he gazed upon her icon and started reciting the whole of the Akathistos from memory, moving only to cross himself when he said, “Rejoice, You Bride Unwedded” or the “Alleluia.” What a feeling!!! In America, our prayers can appear mechanical. We use our books and read the words many times stumbling over them. The members of our churches follow along in their books, trying to find what page the priest is on, not paying attention to the prayers being recited. It just does not sound or appear natural. On the Holy Mountain, my impression of the services for all of Holy Week and Pascha was that when the monks prayed, it was a natural conversation with God—second 22

nature. At the beginning of Holy Week, I stayed quietly in my stasidi, saying my prayer rope and enjoying the chanting of the Fathers. Occasionally Fr. Daniel, one of the chanters of the Left Choir, invited me over to chant an occasional hymn. The Abbot of the community, Alexios, has a wonderful voice. I have never heard the troparion of the hymn of Cassiane chanted so wonderfully. Likewise, Fr. Seraphim, the protopsaltis of the community also chanted the same hymn in the Presanctified. (Abbot Alexios gave allowed me to record the church services. My wife lent me her iPod, and thank God, I have most of the services recorded. My only challenge is editing them. Once I figure out how to accomplish this task, I hope to revise this paper with audio selections.) Since I was a deacon, Fr. Joseph, the typikaris, asked me on Holy Thursday if I wanted to serve. I felt so very grateful to God. I never thought I would have made it to the Holy Mountain for Holy Week and now I was being asked to serve! Xenophontos has only one hierodeacon, Fr. Bessarion, who is an extremely patient and loving brother of the community. His instructions were invaluable and I stood in awe and compunction when I realized where I was during this most holy of weeks in our ecclesiastical year. Pascha day was most amazing, and very tiring. To the best of my recollection, I think we started reading the Acts of the Apostles Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

around 10 p.m., then on to the canon around 1 a.m., and into the Resurrection Gospel and the triumphant chanting of Christos anesti. As I was serving, I heard the glorious Paschal hymn chanted in English and Fr. Joseph turned to me and wondered if I recognized it and if it was a good translation. The Paschal Liturgy and trapeza ended sometime around 5 a.m. We had fish soup, fish, feta, and a paschal egg, of course. What a feast!!! I really was too excited to lie down, but I forced myself and after a few hours, upon rising, I saw Fr. Efthymios walking down the corridor. He asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee. He was an elderly monk who normally resides at the Xenophontos Skete, but because of health reasons, has been at the monastery for some time. He is a wonderful, jolly monk with a beautiful smile and he radiates with the love of our Savior. In his cell he offered me Greek coffee and kourambiedes (cookies) that some of the pilgrims had brought him for the Feast. He had asked me

about Fr. Ephraim’s monasteries in America and if I had been to any of them. He also recounted memories of when he first arrived at the Holy Mountain and how the brethren struggled in those years. Later that day toward evening, we celebrated the Agape vespers with the Resurrection Gospels read in 15 different languages. That evening I finally met with Fr. Zosimas who had been a Master of Divinity graduate of our beloved Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. We spoke for quite some time and he told me stories of his coming to the Holy Mountain and various obedience duties that he had had while at Xenophontos Monastery. As St. Peter said to our Savior on the feast of the Holy Transfiguration, “It is good for us to be here.” I felt the exactly that while on the Holy Mountain. It was so good to be there. It was my last semester at Holy Cross and I had an extremely hectic workload. There was also talk about ordaining me in the summer and being as-

signed to a parish. Spending Holy Week at Xenophontos Monastery was one of the most spiritually rewarding events in my life and I owe it all to Fr. Konstantinos and the wonderful staff of Psaltiki. May God bless them for offering this scholarship to a Holy Cross seminarian and may God bless all those who donate their time and monetary support for making this once-in-a-lifetime scholarship available for a seminarian of our beloved school, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. You will always be in my prayers. â&#x20AC;˘

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

The Rev John E Afendoulis is parish priest at St John the Baptist Church, Salinas, California and submits these reflections on his Holy Week pilgrimage to Mount Athos as the 2011 recipient of the Psaltiki Holy Week on Mount Athos Award.

THE PRINCESS AND HER BOOK the iconography, history, and linguistics of uric’s tetraevangel, ad 1429: bodleian library ms. canon. gr. 122* E L E N A E N E D - VA S I L E S C U

Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.7r— ad 1429; first page of the Gospel of Matthew

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Superb Digital & CD Releases from Psaltiki, Inc Hagios: The Byzantine Liturgy Inspiring Chants of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great from XIIIth- through XVth-century Byzantine composers

Paraklesis: Hymns of Supplication The Small and Great Canons of Supplication to the Mother of God in Greek and English

Available at www.psaltiki.org Psaltiki, Inc â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a nonprofit dedicated to Byzantine Chant Listen to sample tracks! www.soundcloud.com/psaltiki/

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Tweet us! twitter.com/psaltiki/

Like us! facebook.com/psaltiki/

ccording to Ralph Cleminson, MS. Canon. Graeci. 122, or the Gospel manuscript (Tetraevangheliar) written and illuminated in 1429 in Neamţ Monastery, Romania by the monk Gavril Uric1, was bought by the University of Oxford in 1817 from the heirs of Matteo Luigi Canonici (1727- c. 1805/6).2 Canonici was a Jesuit who lived in Venice. His collection consisting of 2047 manuscripts, which Cleminson describes as being “mostly in Latin and Italian, but with a substantial number of Greek and Hebrew items,” included also “five Slavonic manuscripts: two Croatian glogolitic miscellanies, the famous Moldavian Gospel written by Gavrilo of Neamţu, a Russian Gospel codex and MS Canon. Lit. 1 Gavriil (Gabriel) Uric, the scribe monk from Neamţ Monastery, was the son of the ‘uricar’ Paisie. This is Gavriil’s father monastic name, and it seems that he was a local boyar because the Prince of the country chose him as a scribe in his chancellery. Later he took monastic vow in the same monastery where his son was to follow him. Documente privind istoria Romîniei (sic), ed. by Petre Panaitescu, Damian P. Bogdan, Francis Pall et. al., Bucharest, 1956, vol. 1, caption of Fig. 4 showing the first page of the Mark Gospel from the Tetraevangheliar of Neamţ; there is no number indicated on the page, but it is no. [9]. ‘Uricar’ is a scribe or ‘caligraf ’. In Old Romanian ‘Uric’ is a type of a special document, usually a donation decree (and comes from Slavonic, since the Slavonic was the language of the Orthodox Church in Romania during the Middle Ages until late seventeenth century). 2 Ralph Cleminson, A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts in British and Irish collections, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, 1988, pp. 242-244; No. 158. Cleminson refers to the MS. Canon. Graeci. 122 as ‘Gospels. Moldavian. 1429’.

413, a fifteenth-century Serbian miscellany”, and were all purchased by the Bodleian Library at the same time.3 Dr. Barker-Benfield from the above mentioned Library says that most of these manuscripts were bought by the library, but not all.4 Cleminson5 and also J. D. A. Barnicot6 show that the original text of this Tetraevangel was Old Slavonic of the Bulgarian recension. The Greek text was added only later. the history of uric’s gospel The date of Canonici’s death was a matter of controversy (especially if it took place in 1805 or in 1806 1805 or 1806), but the latest conclusion on the matter points towards September 1805.7. 3 Cleminson , Inaugural published lecture “The Serbian Manuscript Heritage in the British Isles”, University of Portsmouth, 15 November, 2002, p. 5. 4 E-mail correspondence of 18 November 2008 with Dr. Bruce Barker-Benfield. 5 R. Cleminson, A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts in British and Irish collections, London 1988, no. 158, pp, 242244. Cleminson refers to this document as ‘Gospels. Moldavian. 1429’. 6 J. D. A. Barnicot, The Slavonic MSS in the Bodleian, vol. 1, no. 2, 1938, entry 40, S. C. 18575, p. 32 [S. C. means Summary Catalogue]. This list of Slavonic manuscripts in Cyrillic and Glagolitic characters reproduced, with some additional notes and references, a previous one compiled by Dr. Craster [no precise date offered, but only the note that it “was written some years ago during work on the Summary Catalogue of Western MSS”]. The date and ‘Sirku’ notations refers to the description of the manuscripts done by P. A. Sirku in his Zametki o slavyannskikh i russkikh rukopisyakh. All this information is given by Barnicot in The Slavonic MSS…, p. 30. 7 Irma Merolle in L’abate Matteo Luigi Canonici e la sua biblioteca: i

In the journal Magazin istoric [Historical Magazine] Lajos Demény confirms that the Gospel written by Uric arrived in Oxford around the middle of the nineteenth century from Venice and that it was obtained from the antiquarian “Johan Pericinotti” (sic).8 G. Popescu Vâlcea agrees with this, even though he cannot explain how the manuscript reached Venice. Here is how he mentions the codex: “Brought in the nineteenth century from the antiquarian J. Pericinotti (sic) from Venice for the Bodleian Library. The circumstances in which the manuscript arrived manoscritti Canonici e Canonici-Soranzo delle biblioteche fiorentine, Institutum Historicum, Rome, and Soc. Iesu &Bibiloteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Florence 1958 develops that debate and speaks about other aspects of Canonici’s life and work. This is a catalogue in Italian of Canonici manuscripts now held in Florentine libraries. The main authors involved in the debate regarding Matthaei Aloisii (Matteo Luigi) Canonici’s date of death are G. A. Moschini, Della letteratura veneziana dela sec. XVlll fino a’ nostri giorni, vols. 1-4 (18061808), Venice, vol. 2, p. 72; C. Sommervogel, Bibliotèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, Brussels, Paris 1891, vol. 2, pp. 688-689; A. & A. De Backer, Bibliothèque des écrivains de la C. De J., lV, Liége, 1858, p. 93; C. Frati, Dizzionario bio-bibliografico dei bibliotecari e bibliofili italiani dal sec. XlV al XlX, Florence 1933, p. 134, and V. Rossi, „La biblioteca manoscritta del senatore Jacopo Soranzo”, in Il libro e la stampa, vol. 1, nos. 3-8, Florence 1907, p. 123. Moschini’s arguments and information from the Museo civico Correr, Venice, Ms. Cicogna, 532r indicate the date of Matteo Luigi’s death as some time in September 1805. Merolle seems to agree with them, and I also find their arguments convincing. 8 Lajos (Ludovic) Demény, “Începuturile miniaturisticii române”, Magazin istoric [Historical Magazine], No 1 (46), 1971, p. 37.

* A shorter version of this paper was presented to the Center for the Study of the Book, University of Oxford, in December of 2008; yet another version was published in Romanoslavica (University of Bucharest 2010) under the title “New Aspects Regarding the Tetraevangelia Written by the Monk Gavril Uric in Neamţ Monastery in 1429.” I am very grateful for the help provided by Dr. Burce Barker-Benfield and the staff in the Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

The 14th Century Church of Neamţ Monastery, beautiful example of Moldavian architecture

from Moldavia to Venice are not known.”9 On this issue ĖmileTurdeanu hypothesised, “It is not impossible that it was brought from Moldavia to Venice by some Rumanian exile or by numerous Greeks or Armenians who roamed through the Danubian Pricipalities throughout the centuries.”10 Nicolae Iorga wrote about the Romanians living in Venice11 and Sirarpie der Nersessian mentioned an Armenian manuscript, copied and illuminated in Moldavia, which reached the library of the Mekhtarite monks in Venice—she did not know when.12 Turdeanue based his view on these facts and sources, but I consider that, in regard to Uric’s manuscript, 9 “Acheté au XlX-e siècle de chez l’antiquare J. Pericinotti de Venise, pour la Biblioteque Bodleienne. On ignore les circonstances qui ont fait parvenir le manuscript de Moldavie a Venise.” Gheorghe Popescu-Vâlcea, La Miniature Roumaine, Meridiane, Bucharest, 1982, p. 89; my translation. 10 Ėmile Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminated Moldavian Manuscript”, Slavonic and East European Review, London, XXlX, 1951, p. 464; I keep his spelling of ‘Romanians’ as ‘Rumanians’. 11 Nicolae Iorga, Ospiti romeni in Venezia (1570-1610), Bucharest, 1932. 12 Sirarpie der Nersessian, Manuscrits arméniens illustrés des Xlle, Xllle et XlVe siècles de la Bibliothèque des Pères Mékhtaristes de Venise, Paris, 1937, no. 143.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

The donation act from the 10th of February 1429 through which Alexandru cel Bun [the Kind] gives Căpriana Monastery and some villages to his wife, Marina

they are not substantial enough to constitute a proof for its way to Venice. Actually, as I will show further, today research has managed to uncover a Romanian document of 1429, which can attest with a higher probability the circumstances in which the manuscript reached Venice. With regard to its itinerary to Oxford, Turdeanu affirms that “in the first half of the 19th century […] it was still in the ownership of the Pericinotti (sic) family at Venice.”13 Actually, the correct name of the heirs of Canonici family is Perissinotti. Following the death of Matteo Luigi Canonici his collections passed to his brother Giuseppe Canonici, who in turn died in 1807. Giuseppe’s property then passed to their nephews Giovanni Perissinotti and Girolamo Cardina, who divi13

Turdeanu, “The Oldest…”, p. 456.

ded it up with Perissinotti taking the manuscripts.14 As shown above, most of these manuscripts were bought from Perissinotti in 1817 by the Bodleian Library. The negotiation was carried out through ‘Mr. Scott, Vice Consul at Venice’; the price was 5500 Louis d’or, which is about £6,000 ‘ready money’, obtained mostly as a loan from the Trustees of the Radcliffe Library in Oxford. The Curators’ minutes of the time mention only the name of Mr. Scott, but not that of Perissinotti, who is only mentined as ‘the owner’ of the manuscript collection.15 However, the contemporary

14 Merolle, L’abate Matteo Luigi Canonici, p. 22. 15 Bodley Curators. Minutes 1793. Library Records d. 12, fols. 39v-41v. On the particular record of the amount, see the minutes of 19 April, 1817 (39v) in which the initial price is discussed (‚6000 Louis d’ors, or £6150 Sterlings’,) and of 16 June (41r-41v) in which the final amount is stated to 5500

list of manuscripts in Italian, which preceded or accompanied the collection, contains the following heading: “Collection of old manuscripts assembled by ‘Senior Abate’ Matteo Luigi Canonici, Venice, a former Jesuit, left through his will to Mr Giuseppe Canonici, his brother, and inherited by Mr Giovanni Perissinotti.”16 ms. canon graeci. 122 in literature and bibliography

ric’s manuscript is important for the historian of Romanian culture because “it is one of the oldest monuments of minor art executed in Moldavia; its origin therefore requires to be explained as precisely as possible.”17 In Romania itself the iconography of the manuscript was the aspect which has received the most attention. Studies on Uric’s Gospel have been made as early as the nineteenth century18, very intensely in the twentieth, in both Romania and abroad. Even when Uric’s Gospel was in Venice it drew the attention of specialists, as for example P. Solarić.19 Generally speaking, in adLouis d’ors, after the negociations done by? the Vice Consul at Venice, Mr. Scott. The application for the money by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford to the Trustees was discussed on 23 April 1817 (40 v). 16 „Collezione di Codici antichi fatta dal fu Sigr Abate Matteo Luigi Canonici, Veneto, Ex-gesuita, e lasciata con Testamento del fu Sigr Giuseppe Canonici di Lui Fratello ed erede al Sigr Giovanni Perissinotti”; Library Records e. 440, fol. 2r; my translation. 17 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Manuscript…,” p. 456. 18 I. I. Sreznevskii, Sviedieniia i zamietki o maloizviestnykh I neizvestnyh pamjatnikah pis’ma, vol. 28, No. 1, St Petersburg, 1875, reproduced in: Sbornik ORJaS, X , 1876, pp. 559-660; I. Dobrowský, Institutiones linguae slavicae dialecti veteris, Vienna, 1882, p. XV. 19 P. Solarić, Pominak knižeskij,

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

dition to Cleminson, Demény and Turdeanu,20 among the researchers who have described and commented on this mediaeval manuscript are G. Balş,21 D. P. Bogdan,22 I. Bogdan,23 I. Bianu,24 V. Drăguţ,25 N.

Iorga,26 E. Lăzărescu,27 G. Mihăilă,28 J. Milin,29 G. U. Mircea,30 M.A. Musicescu,31 S. der Nersessian,32 C. Nicolescu,33 G. Oprescu,34 P. P. Panaitescu,35 S. Petrescu,36 S. Puşcariu,37 P. A. Syrcu,38 P. J.

Venice, 1810, pp. 33-34. 20 Turdeanu, in addition to “The Oldest Manuscript…” see also “Les letters slaves en Moldavie: le moine Gabriel du monastère de Neamţu”, in Revues des Ėtudes Slaves, XXVll, 1951. 21 N. Iorga and G. Balş, Histoire de l’art roumaine ancient, Paris, 1922, p. 317; in the book there is a colour reproduction of a leaf from the Ms.. 122; plate facing p. 336. This information is mentioned also in one Letter about Bodleian manuscripts, XX, Canon. gr.(sic) 122. There are two more such ‘letters’ in the Bodleian containing bibliography regarding the Manuscript Canon. Gr. 122; I have mentioned the respective bibliography (Bianu and Nersensian) in the article [Actually these ‘letters’ in the Bodleian are three brief notes]. 22 D. P. Bogdan, Paleografia româno-slavă (tratat şi album)[Romanian-Slavic Palaeography](Treatise and albume), Direcţia Generală a Arhivelor Statului, Bucureşti 1978; “Quelques témoignages des liens roumano-grecs sous la règne d’Ėtienne le Grand, prince de Moldavie”, in: Bulletin V, nos. 1-2, Association internationale d’Ėtudes du Sud-Est Européen, 1967. 23 I. Bogdan, “Evangheliile dela Humor şi Voroneţ din 1473 şi 1550”, in Analele Academiei Române. Memoriile Secţiunii istorice, s. ll, t. XXlX, Bucharest, 1907. 24 I. Bianu, Presentation to the first Congress of Byzantinology, Bucharest, 1924; at the respective congress Bianu presented the reproductions in colour of the most important ornaments in the manuscript which we have included here (there is a mention about it in Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminated MS…”, p. 257). Reproductions of images from the manuscript were published in “Evanghelia slavo-greacă scrisă în mânăstirea Neamţului din Moldova de Gavriil Monahul la 1429 [The Slavonic-Greek Gospel written in Neamţ Monastery in Moldavia by Gavril the Monk in 1429]”, in Documente de artă românească din manuscripte vechi [Documents of Romanian Art in Ancient Manuscripts], vol. 1, Bucharest, 1922, pp. 2-10. 25 V. Drăguţ (illustrations P. Lupan), Pictura murală din Moldova. Sec. XV-XVl,

Bucureşti, 1982. 26 N. Iorga, “La figuration des évangélistes dans l’art roumain et l’école chypriote-valaque”, in Buletinul comisiunii monumentelor istorice, XXVL, fasc. 75, Bucharest, 1933, pp. 1-4 and the works further mentioned. 27 E. Lăzărescu, “Trei manuscrise moldoveneşti de la Muzeul de Artă al Republicii Populare Române”, in: Cultura moldovenească în timpul lui Ştefan cel Mare, Bucharest, 1958, pp. 541-547 (the mention about the on p. 552). 28 G. Mihăilă, “Manuscrisele lui Gavriil Uric de la Neamţ şi însemnătatea lor filologică”, in: Studii de lingvistică si filologie, Timişoara, 1981, pp. 48-58. 29 J. Milin, “Din istoricul cercetării manuscriselor slavo-române”, in: Studii de slavistică, Timişoara, 1998, pp. 5-73, especially pages 6, 16, 25, 58. 30 G. U. Mircea, “Contribution à la vie et à l’ouvre de Gavriil Uric”, Revues des Études Sud-Est Européennes, vol. Vl, no. 4, Bucharest, 1968. 31 M. A. Musicescu (illustration S. Ulea), Voroneţ, Bucharest, 1971. 32 S. der Nersessian, “Two Slavonic Parallels of the Greek Tetraevangelia: Paris

in: The Art Bulletin, t. IX, 1927, nr 3. 74”,

33 C. Nicolescu, Miniatura şi ornamentul cărţii manuscrise din Ţările Române. Sec. XlV-XVlll, Introd. by M.H. Maxy, Catalogue of an Exhibition in the National Museum of Arts, Bucharest, July-September 1964. 34 Istoria artelor plastice în România, ed. by G. Oprescu (ed.), vol. 1, Bucharest, 1964, pp. 189-194. 35 P. Panaitescu & D. Bogdan, F. Pall et. al. (eds), Documente privind istoria Romîniei (sic), vol. 1, Bucharest, 1956. 36 S. Petrescu, Odoarele de la Neamţ şi Secu [The treasures from Neamţ and Secu], Bucharest, 1911. 37 S. Puşcariu, Istoria literaturii române. Epoca veche[The History of Romanian Literature. The Ancient Epoch], Sibiu 1930. 38 P. A. Syrku, “Zametki o slavyannskikh i russkikh rukopisyakh v Bodleian

Šafařik,39 Ė. Turdeanu,40 S. Ulea,41 and F. Uspenski.42 In literature there are references to Mihai Berza’s contribution on the manuscript, but so far the research has not found out in which publication his contribution were made. As an example of the treatment this manuscript has received we can show that, in his book Paleografia româno-slavă [Romanian-Slavonic Palaeography], D. P. Bogdan mentions either the Uric Gospel or its author together with its work more than 30 times in the 391 pages, comprising the ‘treatise’ part of the book (the other part of the book, which Bogdan calls ‘albume’, has 101 pages). Ion Bianu presented the Tetraevangelia to the first Congress of Library v Oksforde”, Iyvestija Otdelenija russkogo jazyka I slovesnosti, vol. Vll, Book 4, St. Petersburg 1902, pp. 325-345. 39 P. J. Šafařik, Geschichte der serbishen Literatur, Prague 1865, pp. 185-186; he quotes Solarić’s, but acknowledges that since 1810, when the latest’s work was written in Venice, the 1429 Gospel was bought by the Bodleian Library. Turdeanu mentions both these researchers in footnote 1 of his “The Oldest Illuminated Manuscript …”, p. 467. 40 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminated Manuscript…”, pp. 456-469, and also “Les letters slaves en Moldavie: le moine Gabriel du monastère de Neamţu”, in: Revues des Études Slaves , XXVll 1951; “Miniatura bulgară şi începuturile miniaturii româneşti,” Buletinul Institutului român din Sofia, no. l, Bucharest 1942, p. 414-419. 41 S. Ulea, “Gavril Uric, primul artist român cunoscut”, in: Studii şi cercetări de istoria artei (SCIA), ‘Arta plastică’ Series, vol. Xl, no. 2, Bucharest 1964, pp. 235263, and “Gavril Uric. Studiu paleografic”, vol. XXVlll, idem, 1981; “Gavril Ieromonahul, autorul frescelor de la Bălăneşti”, in: Cultura moldovenească în vremea lui Ştefan cel Mare, Bucharest 1964. 42 F. B. Uspenski, „O nekotoryh slavjanskich i poslavjanski psannych rukopisjach, chranjaščichsju u Londone i Oxforde”, in: Žurnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveščenija, CC (LL ?) 1878), pp. 89-94.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Byzantinology which took place in Bucharest in 1924. He showed colour reproductions of the most important ornaments in the manuscript, which I have also included in this article (Bianu’s presentation is mentioned in one of Turdeanu’s articles).43 Additionally, the respective images were published in his study “Evanghelia slavo-greacă scrisă în mânăstirea Neamţului din Moldova de Gavriil Monahul la 1429 [Slavonic-Greek Gospel written in Neamţ Monastery in Moldavia by Gavril the Monk in 1429]”. MS. Canon. Gr. 122 in the Bodleian has also been mentioned briefly in many books and catalogues. For example J. D. A. Barnicot describes it in the catalogue The Slavonic MSS in the Bodleian as being written “in Slavonic of the Bulgarian recension and Greek. 1429, Sirku I, no. 1.”44 Gheorghe Popescu-Vâlcea mentions it in his books,45 and Sextil Puşcariu, in his Istoria literaturii române has a reference to it and reproduces four plates from the man-

uscript.46 Also, Evangelina Smirnova mentions “Ėvangile moldave du moine Gavriil Uric (1429), Oxford, Bodleian Library, Cod. Canon. gr. 122.”; she also refers to an article by S. Ulea about the monk Gavril Uric.47 In his catalogue of Gospel manuscripts Kurt Aland lists Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 among other documents from the Bodleian. He describes it shortly in terms of languages, size, and number of pages.48 Studi Medievali, Serie Terza, contains the following reference: “140 C Moldavian illumination. Slavonic and Greek gospels written in 1429 at the monastery of Neamtzyn [sic] (Cod. Canon. Gr. 122).”49 Nicolescu refers to the manuscript as follows: “Written on parchment; the Slavonic text on a full-page, the Greek translation (sic!) on the margins. Coloured rich decorative headpieces formed by interlinked and intertwined circles precede the beginning of each Gospel. The portraits of the four evangelists on the full page, writing in front of their desks, stand out from the 43 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminatgolden background, surrounded by ed MS…”, p. 457 vegetal frames.”50 Popescu-Vâlcea 44 J. D. A. Barnicot, The Slavonic MSS in the Bodleian, vol. 1, no. 2, 1938, entry 40, S. C. 18575, p. 32 [S. C. means Summary Catalogue]. This list of Slavonic manuscripts in Cyrillic and Glagolitic characters reproduced, with some additional notes and references, a previous one compiled by Dr. Craster [no precise date offered, but only the note that it “was written some years ago during work on the Summary Catalogue of Western MSS”]. The date and ‘Sirku’ notations refers to the description of the manuscripts done by P. A. Sirku in his Zametki o slavyannskikh i russkikh rukopisyakh. All this information is given by Barnicot in The Slavonic MSS…, p. 30. 45 G. Popescu-Vâlcea, Miniatura românească, Bucharest 1981, plate 14, and p. 88, and in its French translation, La miniature roumaine, and also in Cărţile populare miniate şi ornate [Popular books illuminated and decorated], Bucharest, 1989.

46 Puşcariu, Istoria literaturii române. Epoca veche, p. 1? [the page facing the title page], Plate of St. Evangelist Luke, colour, p. 33? [the page facing p. 32] The beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, colour; the latest repeats itself in black and white. 47 E. Smirnova, “Un manuscrit illustré inédit du premiere tiers du XV-e siècle”, in: Byzantine East, Latin West. Art-Historical Studies in honor of Kurt Weitzmann, ed. by C. Moss and K. Kiefer, Princeton, 1995 , pp. 429, 431. In footnote 4 of her article S. Ulea’s work’s “Gavril Uric, primul artist roman cunoscut” is mentioned. 48 K. Aland, Kurzgefasste Liste der Griechischen der handschriften des Neven Testaments, Berlin, New York, 1994, p. 60, entry 525. 49 Studi Medievali, Serie Terza, vol. V, no. 1, 1964, p. 392, entry 140 C. 50 C. Nicolescu, Miniatura şi ornamentul cărţii manuscrise…, Entry 11, p. 9,

mentions: “Tetraevangelia of 1429. Bodleian Library Oxford (Cod. Can. Graeci 122), Figs. 1-6. Parchment. Written in Slavonic, with a Greek text on the margin. Frontispieces [worked] in interlaces: ff. 7r, 90r, 145r, 236r. The miniatures — the evangelists: Matthew, f. 6v; Mark, f. 89v; Luke, f. 144v; John, f. 235v.”51 Then he describes each image of the evangelists and reproduces them, as well as the Epilogue of Uric’s Gospel. He acknowledges as the source for his reproduction of the images Bianu’s “Evanghelia slavo-greacă.” K. Sp. Staikos reproduces in colour and describes the figures of St John the Evangelist and of St Luke ‘of Stiri’ [Figs. 290 in his book] from “the Slavonic manuscript Gospel, written by the copyist Gavril in 1429 (Canon. gr. 122, fols. 235v, 144v).”52 Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1952, refers to the iconography of the Greek manuscripts in Moldavia under Metropolitan Makarios and in this context Turdeanu’s article “The Oldest Illuminated Moldavian MSCanon Gr. 122” is mentioned. The journal also refers to the style of the characters of the Greek text on the Uric’s manuscript.53 my trans. 51 ‘Tetraevangile de 1429. Bibliotèque Bodléienne, Oxford (Cod. Can. Graeci 122) Fig. 1-6, Parchemin. Ecrit en slavon, avec texte grec en marge. Frontispice en entrelacs: ff. 7r, 90r, 145r, 236r. Miniatures: les évangélistes: <Matthieu>, f. 6v; <Marc>, f. 89v; <Luc>, f. 144v; <Jean>, f. 235v.’ Popescu-Vâlcea, La miniature roumaine, p. 89. The figures of the Evangelists are reproduced in his book on pp. [89 - 94]; the pages have not been numbered by the author. Some of them also contain details from the figures, and on p. 84 there are the captions of the images. 52 K. Sp. Staikos, The great librariei, pp. 496 (Figs. 290), 498-499 (captions). 53 Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Stuttgart, 1952, vol. XLX, p. 135

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

description of ms. canon. graeci. 122

urdeanu considers the Tetraevangel of Neamţ as “one of the most remarkable manuscripts in the entire Slavic literature of the Middle Ages,”54 and today it is still one of the Bodleian Library’s most precious acquisitions. Der Nersessian, who mentions Uric’s manuscript in Oxford in the context of a discussion about the collection ‘Parisinus Graecus 74,’ considers it as “one of the most important [manuscripts]” written during the reign of Alexander the Kind.55 It initially had 312 leaves, and this is noted in some of the bibliography, as for example in Henry O. Cox’s catalogue.56 However, if one counts the blank page from the beginning, the two pages with the translations of the colophon, and the last page which is blank, then 316 leaves can be counted; Christian Jensen and Martin Kauffmann count 315.57 Their reckoning is true if a hand-written note in Italian, now glued on the inside front cover, is not taken into consideration. The 54 Turdeanu, ‘La broderie religieuse en Roumanie. Les épitaphisi moldaves au XV et XVl-e siècles’, in: Cercetări literare, vol. 4, Bucharest, 1940, p. 177, footnote 2; my translation. 55 Der Nersessian ,’ Two Slavonic Parallels…’, pp. 222-274; my translation. 56 H. O. Cox, Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues. Greek Manuscripts (reprinted with corrections from the edition of 1853), Bodleian Library, Oxford 1969, cat. l, part ll, col. 105. (The original title of the catalogue was: Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars prima recensionem codicum Graecorum continuens, Confecit Henricus O. Coxe, A. M., Hypo-Bibliothecarus, Oxonii: E Typographeo Academico, MDCCCLIV). 57 C. Jensen and M. Kauffmann, A Continental Shelf. Books across Europe from Ptolemy to Don Quixote. An exhibition to mark the re-opening of the Bodleian Exhibition Room, Oxford 1994, catalogue entry 37, p. 96.

note mentions shortly some of the characteristics of the manuscript and of its language, stating that it is written in a traditional idiom of Russian language (“as close to Russian as the Tuscan dialect is to that spoken in Venice”58). The size of Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122 is ‘31x25 cm’ (Turdeanu) or ‘310x220 mm’ (Jensen & Kauffman). I have measured it myself 58 “L’evangelio in lingua Illirica fu scritto in Moldovalachia per ordine della principessa Moglie di Alessandro l’anno 6637, 13 Marzo, da un certo Gabriele Monaco, figlio di Urih (sic) in un convento appartenente alla Germania (sic). Eli carratteri sono di una eccelente perfezione, pero nell’ espresione molto differenti, quasi in ogni riga, cosicche non puό, esser intélligible, che da piừ pratici della Lingua Russa, e della istoria dell’evangelio; e la differenza consiste nell’ idioma come differenze è, L’idioma toscano dallo Veneziano. Visono le stesse parole, ma non’espressè lingualmente. L’ortografia in mostioltissi luoghi è differente, è da questa dipende la differente pronunzia. p.e use une predana siot. Nell évangelio è scritto usio une predana sut.” The text translates “ The Evangel in the Illyrian language was written in Moldovlahia on the orders of Princess Marina, the wife of Alexander, in 6637 [1429], 13 March, be a certain Gabriel the Monk, the son of Uric, in a convent belonging to Germany (sic). Its characters [letters] are well [clearly] drawn; however their expression is very different with regard to their meaning in such a manner that they can be understood only by someone who knows the Russian language very well; the difference [between Russian and the language of this Gospel – ‘Ilirica’- ] consists in the idiom. The difference is the same as the difference between the Toscan and Venetian idioms. In both there are the same words, but they are not expressed in the same way from the phonetic point of view. In many situations, the orthography of some languages is different and it depends on the pronunciation, i.e. on the dialect. The dialect of this Evangel is traditional […]?”; page glued on the verso of the first cover. Unknown author, probably Canonici himself or a librarian (?). The translation here was made by Dr. Marian Ciucă, with essential corrections made by Prof. Peter Mackridge.

and found that the covers are 31x23 cm, the width of the pages about 21.5 cm, with some little differences from page to page — depending on the angle of opening and how much of the page goes under the binding. Cleminson’s description of the manuscript made in the A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts refers to the document’s pages, as follows: i+314+i leaves, foliated (i), (1), 2 – 312, (313-315). Earlier pagination of ff. 8 – 85: 3-9 (rectos only), (1012), 13, (14-23), 24-25, (26-31), 32, (33-34), 35-36 (37-39), 40, (41-43), 44-159; on ff. 90v-14 iv, 2-104; on ff. 145v-231, 2-173; and on ff. 236v-299, 2-127.59 In my correspondence with Dr. Barker-Benfield it is stated that “Standard Bodleian practice in foliating does not distinguish between original and later leaves; so under our system there are 315 leaves [...] of which fols. 2-312 are original parchment leaves, fols. 1 and 315 are (early?) blank parchment flyleaves, and fols. 313-314 are later paper inserts.”60 The present calf leather covers were added in the nineteenth century.61 The marks of the previous binding are still visible across the pages. They indicated that probably the book previously had what was the usual silver Gospel covers in the Middle Ages. In the Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues: Greek Manuscripts, compiled by Cox, Ms 122 is introduced as “Codex Illyricus membranaceus,” in folio, ff. 312, anno 54λζ 59 Cleminson, A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts…, p. 242. 60 Barker-Benfield, correspondence from December 2008. 61 Discussion with Dr. Barker-Benfield on 9 December 2008, when I gave a lecture in the New Bodleian Library on the Ms. Canon. Gr. for the Centre for the Study of the Book, University of Oxford and Romanian Cultural Institute, London branch (which financially supported the lecture).

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

[sic!], written by “manu Gabrielis cuiusdem monachi in Moldavia exaratus.”62 One of its descriptions says, in the words of Jensen and Kauffmann, that “The Bulgarian Church Slavonic text is written in uncial script: each Gospel begins with a decorated headpiece, gold title, and decorated initial. The pericopes, or liturgical readings, are marked in the text, and their appointed days are given in the margins.”63 The text of the colophon of Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 on fol. 312r says the following: Бл(a)гоизволенїемь ώца и иаоyченїемь с(ъї)на и съвръшенїемь / с(в ) т(а)го д(оу)χа оучинс сіи тетраеυ(аг)г(е)ль вь д(ь)ни / бл(а)гочьстиваго и χ(рист) олюбиваго г(осподи)на Іώ Алеξандра / воеводы, господаp въсеи земли Молдовлаχіискои и бл(а) гочьстивои / его г(оспо)җди Марины еҗе она җеланїемь раҗдегшис, любви / X(pиcto)-в χ cлὼвеcь paчителницa, пoтьщaтелнo дaдe и иcпиca тoи, / в л т ςцлз, и cьвpъшиc м( )c( ) цa мapтїa вь гї д(ь)нь, p ko / Γaвpїилa мωнaχa, c(ъi)нa Oypиkoвa, иҗe иcпиcaвь вь H мeцkoм / мωнacтиpи. 62 Cox, Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogue, cat. l, part ll, col. 105. When I last checked this catalogue, in Nov. 2008, I noticed that the words ‘Illyricus’ and ‘cuiusdem’ have been crossed out by someone’s handwriting (the librarian’s?) 63 Jensen and Kauffmann, A Continental Shelf, p. 96. They base their description on Cox, Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues, cat. l, part ll, col. 105; Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminated Moldavian Manuscript”, pp. 456-469, and Cleminson, A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts in British and Irish collections. In this exhibition of 1994 in the Bodleian Library Ms Canon. Gr. 122 was entry 37.

This translates: With the blessing of the Father, the teaching of the Son, and the fulfilment (‘perfection’) of the Holy Spirit this Four Gospel book was written during [the reign] of the devoted Orthodox ruling Prince Alexandru Voievode, the Master of all the land of Moldo-Vlachia, and of his wife Marina. Their love for the word of Christ made them ask for this writing to be done. In the year 6937 (i.e. 1429); finished on the 13th of March, by the hand of Gabriel, the son of Uric, in the monastery of Neamţu.64

Two translations of the colophon with the Old Slavonic text above, one in Italian and one in French, were inserted at the back on the manuscript; there are no indications as who made these translations and inserted them between the covers of the Gospel. Popescu-Vâlcea also includes a French translation of the colophon in his above-mentioned work, and by comparing his text with the other one at the back of the Tetraevangeliar one can notice some differences between these two translations written at different times, Popescu-Vâlcea’s being the most recent. the iconography of ms. canon. graeci. 122. byzantine elements

s mentioned above, Ion Bianu reproduces ten images from the manuscript and describes them accurately saying, that “on four folios there are reproductions of the opening pages of the four Gospels, each of them with two headings in 64 A translation of monk Gavril’s note in Slavonic was made by Turdeanu in “The Oldest Illuminated Moldavian Manuscript”, p. 458. But the translation here is my own.

colour, one for the Slav text, which is the main one, and another one, smaller, for the Greek text [Figs. 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d]. On other four folios the faces of the Evangelists are reproduced [Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d]. A folio has secondary ornamentation and initials on it [Fig. 3], and the final folio has the epilogue of the text containing valuable data regarding its origins [Fig. 4]. Of a special importance are the portraits of the Evangelists, both for the variegated and rich borders and for the architectural motifs [which surround them], but especially for the manner in which the artist treats the figures of the writers.”65 Turdeanu is also one of the specialists who describe in detail the decorations of the Ms. Canon. Gr. 122. His meticulous description deserves reproduction here: “The miniatures represent the portraits of the four evangelists, each on a full page. The ornament consists of large geometrical decorative headpieces which precede each gospel. The analysis of these themes enables us to establish certain interesting facts about the origin of the miniature painting and decorations in Moldavian manuscripts. The evangelists are represented sitting at their work-table, in front of an architectural scene. Their arrangement aims at a deliberate symmetry: Matthew, with head bent, seems lost in thought, Mark and Luke are writing, John looks attentively into distance. Matthew is old, Mark and Luke are middle-aged, John has white hair and beard. Matthew is sitting in a large roundbacked chair beside a low table with writing implements and with 65 Bianu (ed.), “Evanghelia slavo-greacă scrisă în mânăstirea Neamţului din Moldova de Gavriil Monahul la 1429”, p. 2; my translation. The reproductions also from Bianu’s work, pp. 2-10.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

a higher desk, on which is unfolded the parchment with the gospel text: Mark and Luke are sitting on slightly sloping backless benches and holding on their knees the parchment book or roll on which they are writing; John is also sitting in a broad round-backed chair, beside a marble pedestal which support a desk with a closed book. The evangelists’ heads are circled with haloes; beneath their feet they have a little podium; their clothing consists of chiton and himation. Their expressions are lively, their stature is lofty, the draperies of their clothing are rich. An interesting detail: the Apostle Luke wears a tonsure. The architectural themes which decorate the background of the miniatures are fantastic. A portico formed of 10 columns can be seen in the portrait of Matthew, above which rises a little church and four towers. In the portrait of Mark one observes a palace in front of which there is a large baldachino supported on four thin porphyry columns. Again a palace of a stranger type, but one not unknown to Byzantine miniature, occupies the background of Luke’s portrait, while the palace which appears in John’s is of a form not met with elsewhere.”66 In the end of his thorough description he concludes that the decoration should be read, at least partially, through a ‘Byzantine key’: “The model of the Oxford Gospels was certainly borrowed direct from Byzantium, the place from which the Metropolitans of Moldavia at this period came. The epitaphios of the Metropolitan Macarius in 1428—regarding which I shall refer below—has not only a Byzantine model; its very inscription is in Greek. Greek too is the inscription 66 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminated Manuscript…”, pp. 464-465.

of the stole of Alexander the Good but, as Iorga has shown, the name of the Prince is quoted in its Rumanian form Alexandru, not in its Greek form Alexandros.”67 Turdeanu draws attention to the fact that this type of representation of the evangelists is not found either in Serbian or in Bulgarian miniature, where, in the rare cases where such portraits are depicted, their representation is “in the form of small medallions enclosed in a broad band of ornament.”68 He has problems in finding the source of this type, as he has also in finding the origin of the vignettes. They consist in interlinked circles in various arrangements, loosely or closely connected, with decorative details — some cut by diagonals. Turdeanu concludes that the frontispieces belong to a broader tradition, already noticeable in the manuscript copied by Gavriil in 1424 — Omiliile Sf. Grigorie de Nazianz cu comentariile Iui Nichita al Heracleii (1424) [The Homilies of St Gregory the Nazianus, with commentaries by Nikitas of Heraklea],69 and which was well represented in Serbia. He points out to an aspect of Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 which might surprise any researcher: even though written originally in ‘Old Slavonic of the Bulgarian recension,’ in its iconography the manuscript has more similarities with Serbian rather than Bulgarian incunabula: “Vignettes, some identical, other similar, have been found in Byzantine and Serbian manuscripts. On the other hand, it has so far been impossible to establish any interesting parallel with Bulgar67 Ibid., p. 465. 68 Ibid. 69 Omiliile Sf. Grigorie de Nazianz cu comentariile Iui Nichita al Heracleii (1424) [The Homilies of St Gregory the Nazianus, with commentaries by Nikitas of Heraklea],

even though he does this only once and never repeats the idea.74 In a work written shortly after the above statement was made Iorga tempers his affirmation and says that it can only be suggested that monk Gavriil could have learnt the skills in miniature and ms illumination in Byzantium: “One should therefore state Byzance as a source, without been able to be more precise than that.”75 Vasile Drăguţ refers to the artistic works of that time in Moldova (embroideries included, because the painters made the cartoonspatterns for them), in the following terms: “Starting from iconographic schemes of Byzantine tradition, the Moldavian painters […] have proven a real maturity in their conception of the closed architecture forms, which are balanced and calm, in which the internal tensions allow themselves to be controlled by a restrained solemnity. All these qualities are to be found in the Tetraevangel of Princess Marina, the work of one of the most important Romanian painters of the Middle Age, Gavril Uric, monk and illuminator from Neamţ Monastery. The son of a court calligrapher, Gavril was himself skilled in the technique, the proof being the twelve manuscripts left by him. Among them, the Tetraevangel accomplished in 1429 on the order of the Princess is a veritable 70 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminatmasterwork, pointing to an artistic ed Manuscript…”, pp. 465. (Ibid Tur 465). personality of undoubted original71 E. Ene D-Vasilescu, Inspiration ity. It is interesting to notice that, and innovation: orthodox art in Romaian art.”70 This, in fact, should not be a surprise since, in general, the arts of the time — especially the architecture — reflect the Serbian influence in addition to that more obvious Byzantine, and Turdeanu emphasises that in his article. I have mentioned elsewhere the influence from the Serbian kingdom of the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries manifested in Romanian arts.71 Perhaps the correct statement would be in this context to affirm a Byzantine influence manifested in Serbia, and then spread to the Romanian Principalities. Jensen and Kauffmann also explain the manuscript’s iconography as being painted in the Byzantine style. Furthermore, they affirm that this is to be expected since the principalities to the North of the Danube were in the area of Byzantine influence: “Moldavia (which joined Walachia to form the state of Romania in 1859) was an independent principality at this period; but Byzantine influence continued in all types of artistic production, and is evident here in the Evangelist portrait preceding each Gospel.”72 Iorga and Balş also speak of Byzantine influence on the culture of Romanian principalities in general.73 Iorga even mentions once Constantinople en passant and with no proofs as the place where Gavriil Uric would have been educated,

nian lands in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, vol. 3, Aldershote/London 2006, pp. 277-278. 72 Jensen and Kauffmann, A Continental Shelf, catalogue entry 37 (classified as ‘Slavonic Gospel, Neamtu, Moldavia, 1429’), p. 96. 73 Iorga and Balş, Histoire de l’art roumaine ancient, p. 317.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

74 Iorga, “In jurul pomenirii lui Alexandru cel Bun”, Analele Academiei Romane, Mem. Secţia Istorie, Series lll, vol. 13, Bucharest, 1932-1933, p. 182. 75 “It faut donc retenir comme source Byzance, sans pouvoir préciser.” Iorga, Les artes mineurs en Roumanie, Bucharest 1934, pp. 47-48; my translation, his emphasis.

even though the objects under discussion are illuminated works, the conception behind the images is rather one of a monumental painter. Covering in its entirety the guard page (the page preceding each of the four gospels), the miniatures represent the Evangelists in inspirational moments of writing the Biblical texts, seated in the middle of an architectonic environment, at a desk. The iconographic models forming the basis of Gavril Uric’s work are, obviously, Byzantine from the Palaeologan epoch. But the Romanian artist has managed to escape the constraints of canons, by ordering the decorative elements within a harmonious composition lacking the traditional Byzantine rigidity and lending to the figures a noble serenity. In spite of their small sizes, Uric’s miniatures show some characteristics which are usually present in monumental works, forshadowing the impressive achievements of the Moldavian mural painters from the epoch of Stephen the Great, to which they will serve as a valuable and respected model.76 The website of the Romanian Orthodox Church references thirteen manuscripts written by Uric in Slavonic77 as having survived 76 V. Drăguţ (illustrations Petre Lupan), Pictura murală din Moldova. Sec. XV-XVl, Bucureşti 1982, p. 8; my translation. The spelling in this text follows the pre-1989 linguistic rules regarding the usage of letters ‘î’ and ‘a’. 77 These 13 manuscripts are as follows: The Tetraevangel from1429, another Tetraevangel without illuminations (1436), three Mineia (probably the series was complete); a Sbornic, containing sixteen Sermons of St. Grigory of Nazianzum and St John of Sinai’s Ladder (1413, today in Moscow); The Homilies of St. Grigory of Nazianzum with the commentaries of Nichitas of Heraclea (1424); another Sbornic, containing The Sermons of St John Christostomous and other Patristic texts (no date),

and others being merely attributed to him, their paternity being questionable. Most of them are in the Library of the Romanian Academy of Science; a Sbornic containing Sixteen Sermons by St. Grigory of Nazianzum and St. John from Sinai’s Ladder, (1413) is now in Moscow, and one of his Gospels (1436) is in the Museum of Neamţ Monastery. Together with other works, Maria Ana Musicescu makes Uric’s manuscript representative for the Moldavian culture of the fifteenth century: “The embroideries which illustrate scenes from the cycle of the feasts, the épitaphisi from 1428 and 1437, or even more the Tetravangel written and illuminated by Gavril Uric in the Monastery of Neamt, are typical works, not only as representing the area of art they belong to, but also of the culture of Moldavia in general. They demonstrate a high degree of technical and artistic skill. The figurative and decorative repertoire, the straight lines and the chromatic combinations, the proportion between the main composition and its background constitutes a true artistic achievement. Its fundamentals come both from the organic integration of various contributions from the worlds of the East, Byzantium, and the West, and from the cultural milieu, sensibility and requirements of the Moldavian society. This is the basis on which the first phase of the classical style of the Moldavian art in the Middle Ages developed.”78 two more Sbornic books containing the lives of some saints and sermons (1439 and 1441); The Jewels [Mărgăritarele] of St. John Christostomous (1443), The ascetic writings of St. Basil the Great (1444), and St John’s of Sinai’s Ladder (1446); http://biserica.org 78 “L’étoles brodées de scénes illustrant le cycle des fêtes, les épitaphes de 1428 et de 1437, ou encore le tétraévangile écrit et énlumine en 1429 par Gavril Uric

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Other researchers share the view that the illustrations in the Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 are of Byzantine influence. In his The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production, David Diringer describes fragments from Uric’s manuscript in the following terms: “Fig ll – 30 represents the Evangelist Mark (fol. 89v) and Luke (fol. 144v) and the initial pages of their Gospels [as they appear] in a beautiful Slavonic-Greek Gospel-book of the Bodleian Library (Ms. Canon. Gr.

122).”79 He makes this affirmation in the context in which he states the Romanians’ connections with Byzantium: “Although most of her art and culture came only indirectly from Byzantium, Romania may nevertheless be considered to be culturally within the Byzantine orbit.”80 (Actually in his The Handproduced book written earlier (1953) Diringer had mistakenly taken as and named St Mark a ‘Late Byzantine scribe.’81) Also Bianu puts forward the hypothesis of a “Byzantine common source” for all the au convént de Neamt sous des oeuvres typiques non seulement de l’art qui a présidé à arts in the Romanian lands in his study on the ‘Slav-Greek Evangel’ leur exécution, mais aussi de la culture de la Moldavie in général. Elles temoignent (Evanghelia Slavo-Greacă) writd’un haut degré d’habileté technique et ten in Neamţ.82 In spite of this fact de maitrise artistique. Répertoire figuratif he thinks that one can recognise et décoratif, tracés lineaires et accords a style similar to that of the Italchromatiques, rapport entre composition et found constituaient tout autant des réali- ian primitives in the manner in sation dont la réussite sur le plan artistique which the Evangelists are depicted impliquait l’integration organique des in the 1429 manuscript. Then he différentes apports du monde de l’Oriattempted to suggest that this is ent, de Byzance, de l’Occident, au fonds culturel, à la sensibilité et aux exigencies de the case based on the fact that Romanian principalities received la société moldave. C’est ainsi que furent consolidées les assises sur lesquelles allait direct and indirect cultural influs’élever et se parachever, dans la deuxieme ence from Italy from time to time moitié du XVe siècle, la prèmiere étape du throughout the country’s history style classique de l’art moldave au moyand, in his opinion, that this was en âge.” M. A. Musicescu (illustration S. the case in the beginning of the 15th Ulea), Voroneţ, Bucharest 1971, p. 6; my translation from French. I have not found century. Nevertheless, by the end any documentation for an epitaphios of of his article he doubts the prove1437. Musicescu might refer to a epitranience of the Italian influences and chelion mentioned by Turdeanu in “The just mentions the fact that the arts Oldest manuscript…”, p. 459. But what in the Romanian lands, as in other Turdeanu says even about this epitrachelion is that it “dates from the same period” country from Balkans and even in with the above-mentioned epitaphios; it Italy itself, have the same “common might mean the year 1437, but not compulsory. See more in Iorga, “Patriarhirul lui Alexandru cel Bun. Cel dintâi chip de Domn român”, Analele Academiei Române, Memoriile sectiunii istorice, s. ll, vol. 35, Bucharest 1913, pp. 343-346, with a plate and Domnii români, după portrete şi fresce contemporane, Sibiu 1929, Pl. 10; G. Millet, Broderies religieusse de style byzantin, album, fasc. l, Paris, 1939, Pl. Vlll; Turdeanu, “La broderie religieuse en Roumanie…”, ll and “Les étoles des XV et XVle siècles”, in Buletinul Institutului Român din Sofia, vol. l, no. 1, Bucharest 1941, pp. 7-12.

79 D. Diringer, The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production, Faber and Faber, London, 1958, p. 120. 80 Ibid., p. 119. 81 Diringer, The Hand-produced Book, London, New York, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Cape Town 1953, Fig. Xl-6, p. 558. 82 Bianu, Evanghelia Slavo-Greacă scrisă în Mânăstirea Neamţului din Moldova de Gavriil Monahul la 1429. Bibl. Bodleiană, Oxford: Cod. Can. Graeci 122, Bucharest 1922, p. 2.

Byzantine source.” The culture in Moldavia flourished during the long reign (14001432) of Alexandru cel Bun [the Kind] and the year 1429, when Uric’s Gospel was written, was one of the most fruitful. Princess Marina, Alexandru’s last wife, a daughter of a local boyar (Marin)83 became the patroness of arts and with a Greek Metropolitan, Macarius, a new wave of Byzantine influence manifested itself in the country. In addition to the manuscript in Oxford today, as shown sabove, more objects from that time have survived. They not only reflect the imperial artistic influence on them that was still strong, but the fact that, in their turn, they influenced the evolution of miniature and religious embroidery during the fifteenth through sixteenth centuries. Drăguţ makes known the historical context which made possible the production of such objects: “The thirteenth century witnessed a strong proliferation of the pre-state formations having the necessary means to live a luxury life — obviously only for the upper strata of the society — a life in which the showing off of clothes and jewellery was not a rarity. They were also a proof of political connections and commercial exchanges with the Byzantine centres within the 83 M. Costăchescu, Documentele Moldoveneşti înainte de Ştefan cel Mare, Fundaţiunea ‘Regele Ferdinand l’. Viaţa Românească, Iaşi, 1931, vol. 1. Documente interne, 1374 – 1437 [Internal documents, 1374-1437], p. 296. Costăchescu mentions as sources for identifying this wife of Alexandru the Kind: ‘The list of names’ (pomelnic) from Bistriţa Monastery where the princess appears as Maria (Tocilescu, Analele Academiei Române, seria 2, vol. 18, 1896, p. 65) and the Chronicle (letopiseţ) from the same monastery, where she is called Marina (I. Bogdan, Cronice inedite, p. 35).

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Danube-Pontic area, as well as the artistic centres in the Ukraine, in Russia or Hungary.”84 He also refers particularly to embroidery: “Indeed, beyond the embroidery technique itself, one has to take into consideration the clear and precise compositions, the supple and elegant designs, and the chromatic harmonies of a rare nobility.”85 In this context it is worth mentioning that Gavril Uric made many contributions to the cultural flowering of the time. He copied the book of ascetic writings mentioned above — the collection from the Sermons of Gregory the Theologian in 1424 — and, as shown, other works dating from before and after the manuscript preserved today in the Bodleian Library. The Gospel he copied in 1436 (that which is now in Neamţ) has decorations in the style of the 1429 Ms., but with no illuminations. He copied his third Gospel in the year 1447, when the first school of Slavonic scribes he founded closed.86 This school was to function again during Stephen the Great time (1457-1504) through direct and indirect disciples of Gavril, as will be shown further. My initial view on the issue of iconography in the Moldavian Tetraevangheliar of 1429 was that this could be of Byzantine style belonging to the Palaeologan artistic phase. It looks similar to the Serbian manuscript decoration. This makes sense that the artistic life from the neighbour country would have influenced the Romanian principalities, because “the Serbian Kingdom […] adopted the Palaeologan style as early as 1321 84 Drăguţ, Pictura murală…, p. 6; my translation. 85 Ibid., p. 8; my translation. 86 Turdeanu, “The Oldest manuscript…”, p. 459.

(in Gračanica Monastery.)”87 This would not be the only case when the Serbian influence was present north of the Danube. However, Bianu’s argument for the influence of the Italian primitives on Uric’s iconography in this 1429 book has some basis. In the manuscript there are some common elements — especially architectural — with those in Giotto’s paintings (ca. 1267-1337). Also, the fact that St Luke the Apostle has a tonsure in the Catholic fashion can strengthen an impression along these lines. On the other hand, there are further similar examples of such paradoxes later in history. For example, in Anastasie Crimca’s Gospel, decorated in 1616/1617 by the painter Ştefan from the town of Suceava (and probably meant for the monastery of Krehiv in Ruthenia, which it never reached), one of the illustrations representing an Apostle looks even more “conservative” than Uric’s Gospel in spite of the fact that Crimca’s manuscript was written about two hundred years later. So here the apparent temporal discrepancy between the illustration and the text goes in the opposite direction. Crimca was the Metropolitan of Moldavia from 1608-1617 and 16191629; his Gospel manuscript existed for long time in the Old University Library in Lvov (I AZ) and is now in the National Library in Warsaw (Akc. 10778) — with some of its illuminated folios in Vienna (Cod. Slav. 6). 88 87 Ene D-Vasilescu, Inspiration and innovation, p. 278. 88 C. Costea, ‘Une nouvelle replique slavonne du Paris gr. 74: seven decades after’, in Series Byzantina, vol. 1, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Warsaw 2003, p. 114; Turdeanu, ‘Métropolite Anastase Crimca et son oeuvre littéraire et artistique (16081629)’, in: Études de littérature roumaine et d’écrits slaves et grecs des Principautés

Figure 1a. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.7r â&#x20AC;&#x201D; first page of the Gospel of Matthew Figure 1b. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.90r â&#x20AC;&#x201D; first page of the Gospel of Mark

N.B. All color plates of the Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122 are from I. Bianu 1922 Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Figure 1c. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.145r — first page of the Gospel of Luke

Figure 2a. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.6v — illumination of the Evangelist Matthew

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Figure 1d. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.236r — first page of the Gospel of John

Figure 2b. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.89v — illumination of the Evangelist Mark 38

Figure 2c. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.144v — illumination of the Evangelist Luke

Figure 2d. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122, fol.235v — illumination of the Evangelist John

Figure 2a. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122 — page showing secondary ornamentation and initials

Figure 2a. Oxford: Bodleian Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122 — last page of the manuscript, with colophon

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

the question of languages in ms. canon. graeci. 122 The Greek text here has been an ongoing debate in literature about the dating of the Greek text in Uric’s Gospel. Turdeanu’s opinion on this issue is in agreement with his position regarding the arrival of the manuscript in Venice, being brought there by travellers. He thinks that the Greek text may “have been copied at Venice, where there was a strong community and where, starting from the end of the 15th century, countless books were printed in Greek.”89 Even today a Greek Institute exists in Venice (The Greek Institute of Hellenic Culture), but it does not seem that

Roumaines, Leiden 1985, p. 232 (first published in 1952); apparently the first source to mention the monastery of Krehiv as the destination of the codex is M. Sokolowski, ‘Sztuka cerkiewna na Rusi i na Bukovinie’ in: Kwartalnik historyczny, vol. 3, 1889, pp.

and Revue Roumaine d’histoire de l’art, vol. 38, Bucharest 2001, pp. 3-17. See also Der Nersessian, ‘Two Slavonic Parallels of the Greek Tetraevangelia; Paris gr. 74’, pp. 222-274; idem, ‘Une nouvelle réplique slavonne du Paris gr. 74 et les manuscrits d’Anastase Crimcovici’ [in] Mélanges offerts à M. Nicolas Iorga par ses amis de France et des pays de langue française, Paris 1933, pp. 695-725. 629-630,

Vienna source was indicated to me by Waldemar Deluga, Professor in the Department of History of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw – who sent me also the illustrations, for which I am grateful; e-mail correspondence of 6 December 2008. 89 Turdeanu, “The Oldest,” p. 464.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

the Greek community in Venice would have had a special need for a Gospel written in Old Slavonic in Moldavia, especially one with a margin too small for a second text. Unless a very stringent need — as for example, a liturgical one — prompted this writing, the Greeks would have not have hand-written this text (and, moreover, this is not a printed book). In the context in which D. P. Bogdan states the presence of other Romanian-Slavonic palaeographical sources in various libraries in Slavic and Western countries (he mentions especially the libraries in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Munich, and Oxford),90 and brings a new element into discussion regarding the history of the Ms. Canon. Gr. 122. This element has a connection with the Greek text in Uric’s Gospel. Bogdan states that before being bought by antiquarians from Venice the 1429 Tetraevangel was kept in Zographos Monastery on Mount Athos. This is what he affirms echoing also the appreciation Turdeanu made with regard to this manuscript: “The Tetraevangeliar from 1429, written on parchment, one of the most remarkable art manuscripts in the entire Slavic literature of the Middle Ages, some time ago at Zographos, today is in the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Cod. Canonici Graeci, 122).91 Turdeanu explains how the manuscript went to the monastery on Mount Athos, and also dates 90 D. Bogdan, Compendiu al paleografiei romano-slave, [s. n], vol. 1, Bucharest 1969, p. 38. He also mentions Uric on p. 67 as being the first to introduce the socalled ‘literary minuscule [letter]’ in one of his colophons (in Codice 164 written in Moldavia, now in the Library of the Romanian Academy of Science in Bucharest). 91 D. Bogdan, Paleografia românoslavă p. 105.

the Greek text in accordance with the following facts: On the 30 January 1698, when the Moldavian ruler Antioh Cantemir dedicated Căpriana to Zographos Monastery, the Gospel of Uric dated 13 March 1429 was in Căpriana. This monastery was in Lăpuşna county, Orhei district (in Moldavia beyond the Prut River, not far from today’s Chişinău city). The Tetraevangel was there together with the document through which Alexandru cel Bun (the Kind) gives Căpriana Monastery and some villages to his wife, Marina. This document was also issued in 1429, but on 10 February (see its reproduction at the beginning of this text).92 Both 92 M. Costăchescu, Document 91. “[Suceava. 1429 Fevruarie 10. Alexandru Voevod dăruieşte soţiei sale, Cneaghina Marena [Marina], mănăstirea la Vişnevăţ, unde este egumen Chiprian […], şi satul Calinouţi, unde este Golovca, şi prisaca la Botne din vârful Cunilei, Brăneşti şi Şendreşti şi Prijolteani şi Glăvăşani. Se arată hotarele.” The transaltion of the text is as follows: [Suceava. 1429 February 10. Alexandru the Prince offers as a gift to his wife, the Princess Marena [Marina], the monastery at Vişnevăţ, where Ciprian is the abbot, and the village Calinouţi, where Golovca is, and the apiary Botne from the Cunila hill, [the villages] Brăneşti and Şendreşti and Prijolteani and Glăvăşani. The borders are shown.]”, Documentele Moldoveneşti înainte de Ştefan cel Mare, Viaţa Românească, Iaşi, 1931, vol. 1, pp. 248-253. Costăchescu shows, on pp. 251-252, that ‘mănăstirea la Vişnevăţ’ [Monastery at Vişnevăţ] was called Căpriana Monastery in 1931, and he tries to identify all the other places mentioned in the donation document (which is called uric in Old Romanian). As regarding why and how the name of Căpriana Monastery evolved, see also p. 140 in Documentele Moldoveneşti – from being the monastery of the monk Ciprian or ‘Chiprian’ - who was already settled there before 1420; the local popular language named the village and the monastery Chiprieni (and they shortened and derived the name ‘Căpriana’ for the monastery only). See also Ştefan Gr. Berechet,

the Gospel written by Uric and the document to Marina were taken to Zographos on the occasion of Căpriana been dedicated to this Athonite monastery. Costăchescu shows that in 1931, when he published his collection of documents, the parchment with Alexandru’s donation act was in Zographos Monastery [where it probably still is].93 Syrku believes that the Greek text that exists along with the Slavonic one within Ms. 122 was also copied in Moldova. He thinks that it happened during the Fanariot regime installed by the Turks in the Romanian principalities between 1711-1821, on the orders of one of the rulers of the time.94 Bogdan assumes, very plausibly, that the Greek in Uric’s manuscript might have been written “about the end of the XVll century,” after it reached Mount Athos95 (the realisation that the Greek text was added more recently than the Slavonic explains why it has been categorised as a Greek manuscript by the Bodleian Library — we find it as the Codex Cononici Graecus 122 and not Slavicus 122). Coxe also thought that the Greek text is more recent than the Slavonic one and believed

Mănăstirea Căpriana, Chişinău, 1928, p. 12. 93 Costăchescu, idem, p. 251. A copy of this document is in the library of the Romanian Academy, Ms. 126, donated by I. Bogdan who made this copy after a photograph taken by S. Nicolaescu. Costăchescu says that Uricaru made a wrong summary of this document in (‘17’, p. 102). 94 Syrku, “Zametki o slavyannskikh i russkikh rukopisyakh”, p. 328.

95 D. P. Bogdan, ‘Quelque témoignages des liens roumanogrecs sous la règne d’Étienne le Grand, prince de Moldavie’, in: Bulletin, vol. 5, nos 1-2, Association internationale d’Études du Sud-Est Européene 1967, p. 123; also in: Paleografia româno-slavă, p. 105, footnote 36. Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

the Greek text to have been written independently from the Slavonic. Also Jensen and Kauffman affirm how “The parallel Greek text was added in the margins in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.”96 In his continuation of the above description of Uric’s manuscript Cox shows that: “The titles of the chapters of this (Four-)Gospel, the [Theophylactus’] arguments and the painted illustrations, as well as the Greek version of the Gospel hand-written on the margins of the manuscript, are more recent [than the Slav original]. The Table of Contents, the Synaxarion, the Menologion, and the other parts are original.”97 M. Vogel and V. 96 Jensen and Kauffman, A Continental Shelf, catalogue entry 37, p. 96. 97 The original translated by Cox from Latin is as follows: “Evangelia quatuor, titulis capitum, Theophylacti argumentis, et imaginibus Evangeliarum pictis illustrata, necnon versione Graeca, quoad evangelia, in margine manu recentiori scripta. Subjiciuntur, Synaxarium, Menologium, et alia ejusdem generis.” Cox, Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues, col. 105. Then the text continues, Cox has not translated all of it, but we will include here a translation of the entire text on p. 313 of Ms. Canon. Graeci. 122: “Praemissa est notitia de codice, Italice scripta, quae incipit ‘L’evangelio in lingua Illirica fu scritto in Moldovalachia per ordine della principessa Moglie di Alessandro l’anno 6637 [1429, 13 Marzo, da un certo Gabriele Monaco. Adnectictur unicuique evangelio subscription, cujus initium subjungimus, manus in linguam Italicam ita traduxit: “Colla benedizione del Padre, dottrina dell Figliuolo, e perfezione della Spirito Santo. Si e fatto questo tetro-vangelio nel tempo dell’ortodosso e divoto padrone Gio Alessandro Vajuodo (Pallatino) padrone di tutta la terra Moldavo-Valaca, e della fedele sua moglie Marina, la quale accesa d’amore delle parole di Cristo, sollecitamente ha voluto che sia scritto. Anno 929 (sic!) compito nel mese di Marzo il giorno 13, colla mano di Gabrielle Monaco, filio di Uricova, il quale scrissa nella citta di Vanimesce.” The translation of the second part of the text is

Gardthausen, after mentioning “Gabriel, Monaco, figlio di Uricova” as the author of the Slavonic text, affirm that “the Greek margin translation is much later (seventeenth cent.).”98 Bogdan’s explanation on a seventeenth-century authorship of Ms. 122 by the monks in Zographos is consistent with that given by Turdeanu who tries at length to prove that after a period in which scholars like Syrku99 — and himself — believed that the Greek text was written by monk Gavriil at the same time with the Slavonic original;100 now there is an agreement that it was written later than the original. Turdeanu changed his view after as follows: “The Preface is a hand written note in the Italian language which begins with: ‘The Evangel in lingua Illirica was written in Moldovlahia on the orders of Princess Marina, the wife of Alexander, in 6637 [1429], 13 March, be a certain Gabriel the Monk.’ To each Gospel an annotation is attached, of which beginning we include below; an unknown hand has translated this text in Italian: ““With the blessing of the Father, the teaching of the Son, and the fulfilment (‘perfection’) of the Holy Spirit this Four Gospel book was written during [the reign] of the devoted Orthodox ruling Prince Alexandru Voievode, the Master of all the land of Moldo-Vlachia, and of his wife Marina. Their love for the word of Christ made them ask for this writing to be done. In the year 6937 (i.e. 1429); finished on the 13th of March, by the hand of Gabriel, the son of Uric, in the monastery of Neamţu.” The Tetraevangel Manuscript; later adding [p. 313]. Dr Marian Ciucă’s translation of this footnote. According to Cleminson, Theophilactus was the Archbishop of Bulgaria at that time. 98 M. Vogel and V. Gardthausen, Die griechischen Schreiber…, p. 441. 99 P. A. Syrku (spelled also as Sirku and Sircu in various sources), ‘Zametki o slavyannskikh i russkikh rukopisyakh v Bodleian Library v Oksforde’, in: Isvestia otdelenia rucckogo iazika I clobecnosti, v. 7, no. 4, St Petersburg 1902, pp. 325-345, especially p. 328. 100 Turdeanu, ‘The Oldest Manuscript’, pp. 460-464.

seeing Uric’s manuscript in the library. A bibliographical note from the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1952 draws attention to Turdeanu’s latest position.101 To a possible objection that the Liturgy in Zographos was (and still is) held in Slavonic, being a Bulgarian monastery, one can answer that on Mount Athos each monastery has always had an ethnically mixed community. This statement is especially true for the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, when it is very likely that Greek monks lived in Zographos alongside Bulgarians and possibly others also. The Right Rev Dr Kallistos Ware, Lecturer in Orthodox Eastern Christianity at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford between 1966-2001, who spent extensive periods of time on Mount Athos, affirms that this was the case in the respective places during the period under discussion. He said that in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries the ethnicity of the monks on Mount Athos, as also on Patmos (the monastery of his repentance) was not very important.102 Even now, in Zographos’ library there are 126 Greek manuscripts and 388 Slavonic and the monks who used to live in that monastery until 1845 were Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbians.103 Therefore, it is probable that, when the Gospel written by Gavriil Uric reached Zographos, the monks there added the Greek text for their spiritual needs, as most researchers seem to agree. Turdeanu appreciates that: “For the Byzantinologist, it [Ms. Conon101 Byzantinische Zeitschrift, Stuttgart 1952, v. XLX, p. 135. 102 Personal conversation, June 2009. 103 The 10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities’ website, Mount Athos, Prefecture of Halkidiki.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

ici Graecus 122] poses the question of the provenance of the Greek text, just as for the historian of the art of S.E. Europe it raises the problem of the relations between Moldavian miniature painting and the different Balkan sections of Byzantine miniature painting.”104 His arguments against the writing of the both texts at the same time refer, among others, to the linguistic and also calligraphic aspects: “The Slavonic part is copied in semiuncials, large and precisely traced, so that they appear printed, while the Greek part is copied in a cursive script, minute and with ligatures”;105 and “The Slavonic text, copied in large semiuncials characteristic of the Moldavian scribes fills twothird of the page, while the Greek text, copied in a very small cursive hand, forms a narrower and taller column.”106 The researcher has in view that: “While the Slavonic text occupies a column 20 cm. high and 13 cm. wide, the Greek column is as narrow as 5 1/2 cm and sometimes even 5 cm.; on the other hand it is 21 cm. high and has in general 30 lines. Now if we add to the width of the Greek text the white space which separates it from the Slavonic text on the other hand and from the edge of the parchment on the other, we obtain precisely the width of the white space on the lower edge of the leaf. (The upper edge is usually 4 cm. and includes the line with liturgical indications.) In other words, the copyist of the Slavonic text left a margin of 7 cm. both on the outer edge of the book and also at the bottom of each page. Then another copyist used this free space to transcribe the Greek text and 104 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Illuminated Moldavian Manuscript…”, p. 456. 105 Ibid., p. 462. 106 Ibid.

in this way to adapt the beautiful manuscript for believers of a different liturgical language rather than for those for whom it was originally intended. The Slavonic copyist did not foresee the proximity of the Greek text. Therefore, whenever he had a correction to make to his text, he did not hesitate to make it on the margin of the page, making free use of the empty space.107 Turdeanu concludes that the “very disproportion between the Slavonic column and the Greek shows that the copyist of the first text did not think of reserving sufficient space for the second one.”108 In the same place, Turdeanu even tries to prove that Gavriil did not know Greek, but his arguments on this topic are not convincing enough.109 Another argument is the fact that “it is known that no manuscript was copied in the Rumanian lands during the period in question in both languages. And not only in Moldova or Wallachia; not even among Serbs and Bulgarians, who were more closely linked with the culture of the Byzantium, was any religious manuscript copied in Greek and at the same time in Serbian or Bulgarian.”110 Dr. Christos Simelidis, a British Academy Fellow at the Ioannou Centre for Classics and Byzantine Studies in Oxford, and also Nigel Wilson from Lincoln College (who was consulted by Simelidis as his mentor) appreciate, as did Bogdan and Turdeanu earlier in the twentieth century, that the version of the Greek text (i.e. the choice of variant readings) used in this manuscript conforms to the editorial conventions concerning the Bible that prevailed in the Byzantine period. 107 108 109 110

Ibid., p. 461; my emphasis. Ibid. p. 462. Ibid. 456. Ibid. p. 462.

The 14th Century Church of Neamţ Monastery, beautiful example of Moldavian architecture

It is also independent from the Slavonic text and is not a translation of it.111 They also believe that it could belong to the sixteenth or seventeenth century, the later date being in accordance with Bogdan, Turdeanu, and also M. Vogel and V. Gardthausen’s opinions.112 Simelidis’ conclusion on the Greek text in Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 is summarized as follows: “It is definitely the Byzantine-type text, but I can’t say anything more. It also seems […] that the Greek text was copied from a medieval manuscript and not from a printed edition of the textus receptus. The text was not copied very carefully. There are omissions. In some cases the text omitted has been supplemented later (see e.g. p. 34, l. 4). But elsewhere this is not the case. E.g. in John 6.64 οὐ πιστεύουσιν... οἱ has been omitted (by saut du même au même: οἳ - οἱ) and not supplemented. The same in John 6.69: Θεοῦ του is also missing. I have nothing more to say about the handwriting of the Greek text. It could be dated to the 15th or 16th centuries, but it could also be later 111 Christos Simelidis, e-mail correspondence in December 2008. 112 Marie Vogel and Victor Gardthausen, Die griechischen Schreiber des Mittelalters und der Renaissance [The Greek Scribes in Middle Ages and Renaissance], Otto Harrassowitz, Leipzig, 1909.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

(17th c.) […].”113 The fact that Simelidis considers the Greek versions a copy of another manuscript and not of a printed text could mean that the Greek text is actually a translation of the Slavonic text, but it was not enough space to write the two texts in parallel on the same page. So the scribe wrote in Greek wherever he found the necessary space. Therefore, they were two “independent” texts in the sense that they were written at different times by two different authors. The well-argued and logical conclusions of all above-mentioned specialists close the discussions which took place in literature regarding whether or not the Greek text was written at the same time with the Slavonic original and whether the Greek is an independent text from the Slavonic. The texts were written independently and the Greek in Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 is of the type which is still used today in the Orthodox Church.114

until the moment when a sufficiently large number of gospel texts pertaining to the last period of the flowering of Bulgarian literature has been published.”116 In the 40 years which have passed since that statement was made enough Gospel manuscripts have been published in order for the researchers to try to find out more about Ms. 122 Canon. Gr. by comparing it with Bulgarian sources of the fourteenth century. Turdeanu’s opinion that this Tetraevangel is of interest for the historian of Slavonic religious literature because “it is typical of the period of the first Middle Bulgarian texts copied in the Danubian principalities.”117 I have proposed the project of mounting this manuscript on the University of Oxford website via The Bodleian Library. If this project succeeds the specialists working on similar documents anywhere in the world will have the chance to compare it with any of the others.

In 1951 Turdeanu indicates the fact that “The orthography of the manuscript is characterised by the confusion of the nasals and ж, a phenomenon which appears particularly in the Slavo-Bulgarian texts of the end of the fourteenth century. The original of Ms. Canonici Gr. 122, or rather the archetype of the family of which it forms part will therefore has to be sought in the Bulgarian literature of the preceding century.”115 At that time he considered that “the investigation will not however be possible

113 Simelidis, the correspondence on the 1 April, 2009. 114 Simelidis, the correspondence of December 2008. 115 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Manuscript…”, p. 460.

the role of ms. canon. gr. 122 as model for other mss. of the same epoch

n Dragnev’s opinion, expressed when referring to manuscripts from outside the Parisian group, Uric models of tetraevangels and, in general, the models of the fifteenth century Neamţ school “display a relative homogeneity.”118 Turdeanu concurs in “Les letters 116 Ibid. 117 Turdeanu, “The Oldest Manuscript…”, p. 456. 118 Emil Dragnev, O capodoperă a miniaturii din Moldova medievală: Tetraevanghelul de la Elizavetgrad şi manuscrisele grupului Parisinus Graecus 74, Civitas, Chişinău, 2004, p. 169. The Parisian group of manuscripts refers to a collection of mediaeval Greek manuscripts of which the archetype (sec. Vlll AD) is in the Bibliotheca Vaticanae.

slaves.”119 Dragnev emphasises this with regard to documents from the second half of the fifteenth century, but I believe that it can be also said about some earlier manuscripts written in the same geographical area. Dragnev states that those model-manuscripts “with entrélaces on their frontispieces and the representation of the four evangelists have become a ‘business card’ for the Moldavian illumination crafts in the epoch of Stephen the Great. The representation of the evangelists follows the famous model in Oxford from the iconographic point of view with the exception of one of the three manuscripts illuminated by Tudor Mărişescu (that from Munich from 1493), where Prohorus is depicted besides St John (after which similar replicas followed).”120 D. P. Bogdan compares Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 with some subsequent ones, such as the illuminated FourGospel Book from 1493 mentioned above and preserved today in the National Library in Munich. The latter was written on parchment by the deacon Teodor Mărişescu, also in the scriptorium of Neamţ Monastery on the order of Stephen the Great for the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Hotin. It has an autograph of the Metropolitan Petru Movilă (Peter Mohyla), which makes it even more precious.121 Iorga compares the illuminations from this 1493 manuscript with those of another Gospel written in 1473 for the Monastery of Humor and with another one finished in 1502 on the order of the 119 Turdeanu, “Les letters slaves en Moldavie…”. 120 Dragnev, O capodoperă a miniaturii din Moldova medievală;my translation. 121 Bogdan, Paleografia românoslavă, p. 109.

Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

same ruler (today in the National Library in Vienna) and with the manuscript in the Bodleian Library. His conclusion is that only the Gospel from 1473 and 1502 belong to Gavriil Uric’s school.122 That was also Bogdan’s conclusion.123 Popescu-Vâlcea strongly supports this view when he affirms that in the Romanian lands the preoccupation with art and culture in general through decorating and illuminating manuscripts “arose in the beginning of the fifteenth century in the calligraphy and decorating of cult manuscripts: the Tetraevangel of 1429, by the artistic genius Gavril Uric, followed by the works of his famous fellow craftsmen: Paladie and Spiridon from Putna, Nicodim with his Tetraevangel of Stephen the Great from Humor, Teodor Mărişescu from Neamţ, etc.” Popescu-Vâlcea’s statement strengthens

122 123 slavă.

Iorga, AM, I, ll, p. 47. Bogdan, Paleografia româno-

that of Turdeanu in appreciating that, with the afore-mentioned exception from Munich, Mărişescu’s works follow the 1429 Gospel-book model. Ulea agrees with the idea that manuscripts from the second half of the fifteenth century constitute models for those from Stephan the Great’s reign.124 The fact that the Gospel written in 1429, now in the Bodleian, was a model for other manuscripts and that many researchers take the document in Oxford as a reference in assessing the value of other Mss. with a similar content illustrates its importance. However, until now the comparisons had been made only against other manuscripts produced in the Romanian lands, but not against those written in other countries. Moreover, these comparisons were not made from the point of view of the redaction of the texts, a fact which has been rectified by this article. Another contribution of this study is that we now have opinions regarding Ms. Canon. Gr. 122 from the most qualified specialists in the world. Nevertheless, the discussion on it is not closed. On the contrary, if the manuscript is mounted on the Bodleian Library’s website it will be available for ongoing comparisons and analyses against other Gospel manuscripts. •

124 Ulea, “Gavril Uric. Studiu paleografic…”

bibliography Aland, K., Kurzgefasste Liste der Griechischen der handschriften des Neven Testaments, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1994 Алексеев, А. А. et al. (eds.), Евангелие от Иоанна в славянской традиции, Saint-Petersburg, 1998, pp. 15-16 American Library Color Slide Company, Early Christian and Byzantine art: 200 AD-1400 AD, American Library Color Slide, Co. New York, 1970 Anderson, J. C., An examination of two twelfth-century centers of Byzantine manuscript production, dissertation, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 2 vols., 1976 Barnicot, J. D. A., The Slavonic MSS in the Bodleian, vol. 1, no. 2, 1938 Berza, M. et al. (eds.), Documenta Romaniae historica: Moldova, Bucharest, 1971-cont., vol. 1, no. 21, pp. 13-156 Bianu, I., “Evanghelia slavo-greacă scrisă în mânăstirea Neamţului din Moldova de Gavril Monahul la 1429 [Slavonic-Greek Gospel written in Neamţ Monastery in Moldavia by Gavril the Monk in 1429]”, in Documente de artă românească din manuscripte vechi [Documents of Romanian Art in Ancient Manuscripts], Bucharest, 1922 Bianu, I., Presentation to the first Congress of Byzantinology, Bucharest, 1924 Bogdan, D. P., Paleografia românoslavă [Romanian-Slavic Palaeography](Treatise and albume), Direcţia Generală a Arhivelor Statului, Bucureşti, 1978 Bogdan, D. P., “Quelques témoignages des liens roumano-grecs sous la règne d’Ėtienne le Grand, prince de Moldavie”, in Bulletin V, nos. 1-2, Association internationale d’Ėtudes du Sud-Est Européen, 1967 Bogdan, I., “Evangheliile dela Humor şi Voroneţ din 1473 şi 1550”, in Analele Academiei Române. Memoriile Secţiunii istorice, s. ll, t. XXlX, Bucharest, 1907 Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

Buchthal, H., and Belting, H., Patronage in thirteenth-century Constantinople: An atelier of late Byzantine book illumination and calligraphy, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies Washington, D.C., Trustees for Harvard University, 1978 Corrigan, K. A., The ninth century Byzantine marginal psalters: Moscow, Historical Museum cod. 129, Mt. Athos, Pantokrator 61, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale gr. 20, 1985 Cleminson, R., The Anne Pennington Catalogue: A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts in British and Irish collections, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, London, 1988, 242-244: cat. 158, with bibliogr. leminson, R., Inaugural published lecture “The Serbian Manuscript Heritage in the British Isles”, University of Portsmouth, 2002 Спасова, М., “Оксфордското евангелие от 1429 г. и въпросът за кодификацията на славянския евангелски превод при Патриарх Евтимий Търновски”, in: Културните текстове на миналото: Носители, символи, идеи, 4 vols., Sofia, 2005, vol. 4, 240-25 2 Costea, C., “Une nouvelle replique slavonne du Paris gr. 74: seven decades after”, in Series Byzantina, vol. 1, Warsaw, 2003 Cox, H. O., Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues. Greek Manuscripts (reprinted with corrections from the edition of 1853), Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1969, cat. l, part ll, col. (The original title of the catalogue was: Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars prima recensionem codicum Graecorum continuens, Confecit Henricus O. Coxe, A. M., Hypo-Bibliothecarus, Oxonii: E Typographeo Academico, MDCCCLIV) Demény, L., “Începuturile miniaturisticii române”, Magazin istoric, No 1 (46), 1971 Der Nersessian, S., “Two Slavonic Par-

allels of the Greek Tetraevangelia:

The Art Bulletin, v. 9, nr 3, 1927 Paris 74”,

Der Nersessian, S., Manuscrits arméniens illustrés des Xlle, Xllle et XlVe siècles de la Bibliothèque des Pères Mékhitharistes de Venise, Foreward by Gabriel Millet, E. de Boccard, Paris, 1936, no. 143 Deletant, D. J., “Slavonic Letters in Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania from the Tenth to the Seventeenth Centuries”, Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 58, 1980, pp. 1-21 Dioscorides, P., & Pierpont Morgan Library, De materia medica, Davis Art Slides, Worcester, Mass. 1981 Dobrowský, I., Institutiones linguae slavicae dialecti veteris, Vienna, (publisher ?), 1822 Drăguţ, V., (illustrations P. Lupan), Pictura murală din Moldova. Sec. XV-XVl, Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1982 Corrigan, K. A.The ninth century Byzantine marginal psalters: Moscow, Historical Museum cod. 129, Mt. Athos, Pantokrator 61, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale gr. 20, 1985 De Wald, E. T., A. M. Friend, and K. Weitzmann, & Princeton University, The Illustrations in the manuscripts of the Septuagint, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1941 Elian, A., “Elemente de paleografie greco-română”, in Documente privind istoria României: Introducere, 2 vols., Bucharest, vol. 1, 1956, pp. 357-386 Ene D-Vasilescu, E., “New Aspects Regarding the Tetraevangelia Written by the Monk Gavril Uric in Neamţ Monastery in 1429, Bodleian Library MS. Canon. Graeci. 122”, Romanoslavica 46 (2010), pp. 83-114 Garzaniti, M., Die altslavische Version der Evangelien: Forschungsgeschichte und zeitgenössische Forschung (Co-logne, 2001), pp. 386-387 Gerstinger, H., & Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. Die Wiener Genesis: Fabenlichtdruckfaksimile der griechistchen bilderbibel aus dem 6. jahrhundert n. chr., cod. vindob. 45

theol. graec. 31, herausgegeben und erläutert von Hans Gerstinger, Dr. B. Filser, Wien, 1931 Яцимирский, А. И., Григорий Цамблак: Очерк его жизни, административной и книжной деятельности , Saint-Petersburg, 1904, pp. 306-430 Iorga N. and G. Balş, Histoire de l’art roumaine ancient, E. de Boccard, Paris, [publ. ?], 1922 Iorga, N., “La figuration des évangélistes dans l’art roumain et l’école chypriote-valaque”, in Buletinul comisiunii monumentelor istorice, XXVL, fasc. 75, Bucharest, 1933 Iorga, N., Ospiţi romeni in Venezia (1570-1610), [Monitorul oficial şi imprimeriile statului. Imprimeria naţională], Bucharest, 1932 Jensen C. and M. Kauffmann, A Continental Shelf. Books across Europe from Ptolemy to Don Quixote. An exhibition to mark the re-opening of the Bodleian Exhibition Room, Bosch & Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1994 Laurent, V., “Aux origines de l’Église moldave: Le métropolite Jérémie et l’évêque Joseph”, Revue des études byzantines vol. 5, 1947, pp. 158-170 Lăzărescu, E., “Trei manuscrise moldoveneşti de la Muzeul de Artă al Republicii Populare Române”, in Cultura moldovenească în timpul lui Ştefan cel Mare, Bucharest, 1958, pp. 541-547 (the mention about Uric’s Gospel is on p. 552). Levit, S. M., A descriptive study of Byzantine book-art, 1924 Lowden, J., Illuminated prophet books: A study of Byzantine manuscripts of the major and minor prophets, Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1988 Merolle, I., L’abate Matteo Luigi Canonici e la sua biblioteca: i manoscritti Canonici e Canonici-Soranzo delle biblioteche fiorentine, Institutum Historicum, Rome, and Soc. Iesu &Bibiloteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Florence, 1958 Mihăilă, G., “Manuscrisele lui Gavril Uric de la Neamţ şi însemnătatea Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

lor filologică”, in Studii de lingvistică si filologie, Facla Publishing House, Timişoara, 1981 Milin, J.,“Din istoricul cercetării manuscriselor slavo-române”, in Studii de slavistică, Mirton Publishing House, Timişoara, 1998 Milin, J., Din vechile relaţii culturale sârbo-române, Eurostampa, Timişoara, 2000 Mircea, G. U.,“Contribution à la vie et à l’ouvre de Gavril Uric”, Revues des Études Sud-Est Européennes, Vl, 4, Bucharest, 1968 Mullen R., S. Crisp and D. C. Parker, The Gospel According to John in the Byzantine Tradition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2009. Musicescu, M. A., (illustration S. Ulea), Voroneţ, Ėditions Meridiane, Bucharest, 1971 Nelson, R. S., Theodore Hagiopetrites: A late Byzantine scribe and illuminator, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, 1991 Nestle, E., K. Aland (eds.), The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, 27th edition, 1993 Nicolescu, C., Miniatura şi ornamentul cărţii manuscrise din Ţările Române. Sec. XlV-XVlll, Introd. by M. H. Maxy, Catalogue of an Exhibition in the National Museum of Arts, Bucharest, July-September, 1964 Oprescu, G. (ed.), Istoria artelor plastice în România, Meridiane, Bucharest, vol. 1, 1964 Паскаль, А. Д., Источники по истории славяно-молдавской книжности XV-XVI вв., по материалам хранилищ Москвы и Ленинграда, Ph. D. dissertation, Moscow, 1990, pp. 50-107 (Ch. II); on-line at www.bessarabia.ru/pascal.htm Panaitescu, P., D. Bogdan, F. Pall et. al. (eds), Documente privind istoria Romîniei (sic), Editura Academiei, Bucharest, vol. 1, 1956 Parker, D. C., An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts, Cambridge University

Press, 2008 Patriarchikon Hidryma Paterikōn Meletōn & S. M. Pelekanidēs, The treasures of Mount Athos: Illuminated manuscripts, miniaturesheadpieces-initial letters, Ekdotike Athenon, Athens, 1974 Pelin, V., “Aspects inedits dans les manuscrits de Gavril Uric”, Bulletin AIESEE 31 (2001), pp. 25-32 Petrescu, S., Odoarele de la Neamţ şi Secu, Bucharest, 1911 Popescu-Vâlcea, G., Miniatura românească, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1981 Popescu-Vâlcea, G., Cărţile populare miniate şi ornate, Meridiane, Bucharest, 1989 Puşcariu, S., Istoria literaturii române. Epoca veche, Krafft & Drotleff, Sibiu, 1930 Šafařik, P. J., Geschichte der serbishen Literatur, Prague, 1865 Smirnova, E., “Un manuscrit illustré inédit du premiere tiers du XV-e siècle”, in C. Moss and K. Kiefer (eds.), Byzantine East, Latin West. Art-Historical Studies in honor of Kurt Weitzmann, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1995 Solarić, P., Pominak knižeskij,Venice, 1810 Sreznevskii, I. I., Sviedieniia i zamietki o maloizviestnykh I neizvestnyh pamjatnikah pis’ma, St Petersburg, The Academy of Science, vol. 28, No. 1, 1875, St Petersburg, reproduced in Sbornik ORJaS, X , 1876 Syrku, P. A., “Zametki o slavyannskikh i russkikh rukopisyakh v Bodleian Library v Oksforde”, Iyvestija Otdelenija russkogo jazyka I slovesnosti, vol. Vll, Book 4, St. Petersburg, 1902 Studi Medievali, Serie Terza, vol. V, no. 1, 1964 Three letters about Bodleian manuscripts, XX, Canon. gr.(sic) 122, Bodleian Library, Oxford Tsamakda, V. The illustrated chronicle of Ioannes Skylitzes in Madrid, Alexandros, Leiden, 2002 Турилов, А. А., “Критерии определения славяно46

молдавских рукописей XV-XVI вв.”, Хризограф, vol. 2, 2005, pp. 144-167 Турилов, А. А., “Гавриил”, in Православная энциклопедия, Moscow, 2000-cont., vol. X, pp. 207-209, with bibli-ogr.; on-line at www.pravenc.ru/text/161279.html Turdeanu, Ė., “Métropolite Anastase Crimca et son oeuvre littéraire et artistique (1608-1629)”, in Études de littérature roumaine et d’écrits slaves et grecs des Principautés Roumaines, Leiden, 1985 Turdeanu, Ė., “The Oldest Illuminated Moldavian MS-Canon Gr. 122”, The Slavonic and East European Review, London, XXlX, 1951 Turdeanu, Ė., “Les letters slaves en Moldavie: le moine Gabriel du monastère de Neamţu”, in Revues des des études slaves, XXVll, no. l, 1951, pp. 270-276; repr. with addenda in, id., Études de littérature, 86-97, pp. 434-436 Turdeanu, Ė., “Miniatura bulgară şi începuturile miniaturii româneşti,” Buletinul Institutului român din Sofia, Bucharest, 1942 Ulea, S., “Gavril Uric. Studiu paleografic”, Studii şi cercetări de istoria artei, Bucharest, 1981, vol. XXVlll. Ulea, S., “Gavril Uric, primul artist român cunoscut”, in SCIA, ‘Arta plastică’ Series, vol. Xl, no. 2, Bucharest, 1964 Ulea, S., “Gavril Ieromonahul, autorul frescelor de la Bălăneşti”, in Cultura moldovenească în vremea lui Ştefan cel Mare, Bucharest, 1964 Uspenski, F., “O nekotoryh slavjanskich i poslavjanski psannych rukopisjach, chranjaščichsju u Londone i Oxforde”, Žurnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveščenija, CC, 1878. Walter, C. Pictures as language: How the Byzantines exploited them, Pindar, London, 2000 Weitzmann, K., Byzantine liturgical psalters and Gospels, Variorum Reprints, London,1980 Weitzmann, K., Greek mythology in Byzantine art. Princeton University Press Princeton, 1984 Weitzmann, K., Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

The ode pictures of the aristocratic Psalter recension, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington, D.C., 1976 Weitzmann, K., and G. Galavaris, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: The illuminated Greek manuscripts, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1990 Weitzmann, K., M. Bernabò, and R. Tarasconi, The Byzantine Octateuchs, Dept. of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1999 Weitzmann, K. J., The miniatures of the Sacra parallela, Parisinus Graecus 923, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1979 Willoughby, H. R., A bibliographical index to New Testament cycle in East Christian art, 1932

ELENA ENE D-VASILESCU is a Tutor in Theology and Religion and a PostDoctoral Researcher in Byzantine iconography, University of Oxford. Her project at the History Faculty focuses on “Aspects of art circulation along Via Egnatia in the Middle Ages” and is funded by the British Academy for the period 2011-2013. Her research, teaching, and publications are centered on Byzantine texts (Patristics) and post-Byzantine icons. They also focus on the connection between liturgical art and text and on Byzantine and Eastern Christian monasticism and spirituality.

Psaltiki: the online journal

Spons ors

A N A S TA S I A DI A B ETI C PUR E SK I N THER A P Y ® w w w.a ml a b .c o m v o i c e o fd i a b e te s .o r g

Superb CDs of Byzantine Chant Available at www.psaltiki.org

™

PSALTIKI.ORG PERPETUATING THE PSALTIC HERITAGE

www.psaltiki.org

ABOUT US

www.psaltiki.org/aboutUs.html

PROJECTS

www.psaltiki.org/projects.html

THE ONLINE JOURNAL

www.psaltiki.org/journal/ issuu.com/psaltikijournal

BOARD

www.psaltiki.org/board.html

WAYS TO SUPPORT