| Περίληψη: | Mt Athos, Μονὴ Παντοκράτορος 120 (= Lambros 1154) is a composite manuscript book of three independent units, all written on paper. Folios 1r–32v date to the 15th century and contain three Discourses by Anastasios Sinaites; 1 folios 33r–52v date to the 18th century and preserve an anonymous late Byzantine epistolary manual titled Χαρακτῆρες ἐπιστολῶν διάφοροι, with 38 texts but its end missing; 2 and folios 53r–84v were written in the 16th(?) century by a dedicated but not very learned scribe. 3 It is this third part, which interests us here, as it contains a fragmented (both its end and beginning are missing), but intriguing collection of texts, almost all of which remain unpublished and have thus attracted virtually no attention in modern scholarship. Here is a list of the contents of folios 53r–84v (the ms. is abbreviated as P and, for all citations, the awkward grammar and orthography of the scribe are retained; corrections and notes to the text are placed in square brackets):
f. 53r–4r:
The end of an unedited set of brief Questions and Answers, eight of which are preserved; their subject is theological in content, and rudimentary in nature: e.g. “– How many are the gates to Paradise? – Seven: (1) baptism; (2) repentance; (3) charity …” etc. or “– Who hymned God before the angels were created? – The Ages”. The first two couplets paraphrase lines 577–86 from the popular homily On Christ’s Incarnation by Severianos of Gabala (CPG 4204; BHG 1910k), usually attributed to Ioannes Chrysostomos in Byzantine mss. 4
Inc.: ἐρώτησις: Πῶς λαμβάνεται ὁ Χριστὸς πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν; Des.: Ἀπόκρισις: αἱ [sic] αἰῶνες.
ff. 54r–61v:
An epistolary manual, titled Ἔκδωσες 5 [i.e.ἐκδόσεις] διάφορες συντεθέντες [sic] ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ πηξίδι [πυξίδι], marked as a new section by a decorative divider. The manual contains the following texts:
54r–5r: Εἰς φίλον ἐγκάρδιον. Inc.: Πέποιθα ἐν θεῷ μου. Des.: ἐπαγωγῆς χαλεπῆς ἀνώτερον.
The first few lines of this letter are preserved in a slightly revised form also within another 12th-century epistolary manual that cites the beginnings and abbreviated texts of 24 letters, all anonymously transmitted and without titles. That manual, collectively titled Ἀρχαί τινων διαφόρων ἐπιστολῶν, was copied in the mid-13th-century Florence, BML, Plut. gr. 59.12, ff. 187r–8v, at the end of Michael Choniates’ works and before letters by Theophylact Hephaistos, 148bishop of Ochrid. The alternative version of our letter has been edited in F. Kolovou, Michaelis Choniatae epistulae (Berlin 2001) 289, 46–9 (Kolovou was not aware of P).
55r–6r: ἑτέρα ἐπιστολή. Inc.: Εἶδεν [sic] ἄρα ποθούντων καὶ ποθουμένων. Des.: ἀκίνδυνος ἅμα καὶ ἀπερίτρεπτος.
56r–7r: ἑτέρα ἐπιστολή. Inc.: Εἴδαμεν [sic] ὅτι φύσει φιλάνθρωπος εἴη. Des.: σοφίας ἁπάσης ἀκραιφνὲς καταγώγιον.
57r–8r: ἑτέρα ἐπιστολή. Inc.: Εἰ καὶ πολὺς [διῴχετο χρόνος. Des.: δοκιμώτατόν τε καὶ ἀκίβδηλον.
58r–8v: ἑτέρα ἐπιστολή. Inc.: Ἰδοὺ δὴ τί καλὸν ἢ τί τερπνὸν. 6 Des.: εὐρωστίαν καὶ πολυζωΐαν.
58v–9v: ἑτέρα ἐπιστολή καὶ αὕτη· ἀπὸ πνευματικὸν [sic] εἰς ἕτερον πνευματικόν. Inc.: Ποθεινὴ ἡμῖν ἡ παρὰ σοῦ σταλεῖσα. Des.: ἅμα ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι.
59v–60r: ἑτέρα ἔκδωσις [sic] πάνυ ὠφέλιμος. Inc.: Τῆς κατὰ θεὸν ἀγάπης περιφανέστατε. Des.: παρὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ δεξιάς.
60r–60v: Ἄλλον καὶ πάνυ ὡραῖον. Inc.: Συντόμως ἐπελάθου ὁ τὰ πάντα ἀλάθητος. Des.: καὶ ἀγαπῶν καὶ ἀποστρεφόμενος.
9 60v–61v: Ἀπὸ πνευματικὸν [sic] εἰς ἀρχιἐρέαν. Inc.: Οὐ δύναμαι κατέχειν ἐμ᾽αὐτὸν. Des.: εὔθυμον, ὑγιῆ καὶ πολυχρόνιον.
ff. 61v–84r: A collection of unattributed, but eponymously addressed letters, collectively designated as ἐπιστολαί, but not clearly indicated as a new section in the ms. The titles of the letters are as follows:
61v–9r: Τῷ καίσαρι κυρῷ Νικηφόρῳ τῷ Βριἐνίῳ [Βρυεννίῳ]. Inc.: Κἂν τῶν ἐπιστολῶν οἱ τύποι τὸ πλήσμιον φεύγωσιν. Des.: παρὰ θεοῦ κομιεῖ τὴν ἀντίδωσιν [ἀντίδοσιν].
69r–74v: Τῇ βασιλίσσῃ μοναχῇ κυρᾷ Εἰρήνῃ. Inc.: Δέσποινά μου ἁγία. Des.: τὴν ἀσάλευτον βασιλείαν χαρίσαιτο. 7
74v–6v: Tῷ σεβαστῷ κυρῷ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ Κομνηνῷ. Inc.: Σπάνια μὲν τὰ καλὰ, πλήσμια δὲ τὰ κακὰ. Des.: τὸν αὐτὸν διὰ πάντων δοξάζοντα.
76v–7r: Τῷ αὐτῷ. Inc.: ἐπὶ τῶν γυμνικῶν ἀγώνων, οἱ τὸν πένταθλον. Des.: ἡ μετὰ θεοῦ καθ᾽ ἡσυχίαν ἀδολεσχία.
77r–8r: Τῷ αὐτῷ. Inc.: Εἶτα Πηνελώπη [Πηνελόπη] μὲν ἡ καλὴ. Des.: Ἔρρωσο καὶ ῥύεις παντοίας βλάβης.
78r–9v: Τῷ καίσαρι Βριενίῳ [Βρυεννίῳ]. Inc.: Ἰδ᾽ού με καὶ ὁ ποθεινὸς παρέβλεψεν ἥλιος. Des.: μονώτιν [μονώτην] ἕλκων διαγωγόν.
79v–82r: Τῷ αὐτῷ ἐπιστείλαντι ἀπὸ Λαοδικίας [Λαοδικείας]. Inc.: Τίνας μὲν ἄλλους καὶ οἵους ἡ κατὰ Φρυγίαν φέρει. Des.: διὰ τῆς τῶν μικρῶν ἀφαιρέσεως.
82r–3r: Τῷ σεβαστῷ κυρῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ Παλαιολόγου μονάσαντι. Inc.: Σεβαστόν σου τὸ γένος, σεβαστόν σου καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα. Des.: οὐδέποτε δὲ ἐκπληρούμενον. This same letter, yet without title, is preserved also in Vienna, ÖNB, Phil. gr. 321 (13th c., 2/2), f. 51v, as the last text in a small letter collection falsely attributed to Michael Psellos and copied by (most probably) Manuel Holobolos 8 —the entire collection has been edited in Papaioannou, Psellus, Epistulae, letters Π 541–9 (pp. 972–9). 9
83r–4r: Τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ πατριάρχῃ κυρῷ Μιχαὴλ, ἢ ἑτέρῳ πατριάρχῃ. Inc.: ἐξέτηξέ με ὁ ζῆλος σου θειότατε. Des.: καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως· εἶτα τὸ, καὶ τό.
149f. 84r-v: A poem, titled Εἰς τὸν [sic] ἐν Βλαχέρναις νεουργηθὲν οἴκημα παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως κυροῦἸωάννου etc. (for the full title see below); only 16 verses of this poem are preserved as the text is interrupted by the loss of the remainder of the manuscript. Like the previous cluster of eponymously addressed letters, this poem too is not marked as a new section. |
