Psaltiki Journal 04

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Psaltiki: the online journaVolume 4 (2012) www.psaltiki.org/journal/

INSIDEPsalmody and the Desert Fathers

j w |Psalmody

The Princess and Her Book: the

iconography, history and linguistics

of Urics tetraevangheliar (

1429). Oxford, Bodleian Library Ms.

Canonici Graeca 122 d -v |Byzantine Liturgical

Manuscripts

Mystagogy: Ecclesiastical History &

Mystical Contemplation

m |Liturgy

It is well that we are here:transfgurations and realizations

on the Holy Mountainj f d |Pascha on Mount Athos

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


2/49

Superb Digital & CD Releases from Psaltiki, IncHagios: Te Byzantine LiturgyInspiring Chan s of he Divine Li urgy of S

he Grea from XIII h- hrough XV h-cenByzan ine composers

Paraklesis: Hymns of SupplicationTe Small and Grea Canons of Supplica ion

he Mo her of God in Greek and English

Available at www.psaltiki.orgPsaltiki, Inc a nonprot dedicated to Byzantine Chant

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3/49


4/49Psaltiki: the online journal (4: 2012)

John E. Afendoulis It is well that

we are here:

Transfgurations

and Realizations on

the Holy Mountain

A Psaltiki Pascha on Mount

Athos Award Recipient

Elena Ene D-Vasilescu The Princess and

Her Book

Te Iconography, History,

and Linguistics of Urics

etraevangel, :

Bodleian Library Ms.

Canon. Gr. P : O J Editor: Rev. Dr. Konstantinos erzopoulos, email: [email protected]; EdiTomas Carrol. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 149161, Orlando, FL 32814. Psaltiki, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprot organthe 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 on this page and related pages of the Psaltiki Web Site, www.psaltiki.org) is protected by U.S. and international colaw 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: [email protected]

All Rights Reserved. Te copyright holders provide the content online as reference material for educational or cultupurposes. Te content is provided as is without any warranty whatsoever. Commercial use of the content is prohibexcept by express, written license.

For submission requests, contributors should supply three copies of their transcript. All transcripts should be doubspaced with generous margins. Footnotes and indented quotations should also be double spaced. Electronic subm

should be in the .rtf format with an accompanying .pdf. Te editors will consider all typescripts as quickly as possibAll musical examples, tables, images and diagrams should be written on separate sheets and identied by captionsgeneral matters of style and spelling contributors should consult the Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Pu3rd ed. by the Modern Language Association. Upon acceptance for publication, Psaltiki will request a short biogrof the author, as well as any contact information that the contributor wishes to be included with the article. Te Jourrequires contributors to obtain clearance for any copyright materials reproduced in their articles. Te fact that the Joappears primarily online, with a downloadable print version may further complicate the issue. When in doubt seekAll accepted articles will be archived within the Psaltiki site in their .html and .pdf forms. Articles must be submitEnglish, although they can also be simultaneously posted in Greek, German or Russian versions supplied by the a



PSALTIKIMISSION

Perpetuating the Psaltic HeritagePsaltiki, Inc. is a non-prot organization promoting the advancement and perpetuao the Psaltic Art, better known as Byzantine and post-Byzantine chant andHymnology.Psaltiki supports the chant heritage and tradition through the creative initiatingo educational projects, the development o various multimedia, online resources,publications, recordings, as well as nancial gifs in support o worthy projects, indischolars, researchers and musicians engaged in exemplary activities and endeavors

to Psaltikis purpose. ,

, .Just as we make known and signi y the thoughts o the soul through the words we express, so Lord wished the melody o the words to be a sign o the spiritual harmony o the soul, and orthat 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

Chant! :

: I A o , with great pleasure the Psaltiki Ministry o Chant released two recordingancient and practical chants. Both recordings are available as digital downloads or Compact Disa number o points, including Amazon and iTunes.

: presents hymns or the Liturgy o Saint Basilthe Great as preserved by Chourmouzios Chartophylax and his exegeses as ound

the Constantinople-Athens manuscripts o the Holy Sepulchre ( and completed in the year . Included are compositions attributed to Byzantine comand melodoi Xenos Korones, Joannes Koukouzeles, Joannes Damascenus, Joannes and Joannes Kladas, many o which are recorded here or the rst time!

e production o Hagios: Te Byzantine Liturgy CD was sponsored in memory o DrRobert (Charalambos) H Terss ( - ) by his loving wi e o years, Eu

Psaltiki, Inc. is grate ul or her support; may his memory be eternal!Playlist:

. Trisagion Mode II, Melos archaion



. Dynamis Mode II, Xenos (Xenophon) Korones (oruit circa - )

. Allelouiarion Mode I Plagal, Joannes Koukouzeles Papadopoulos (oruit circa - )

. Cherubikon Mode II Plagal, Joannes Damascenus (circa -circa )

. Hagios (Sanctus) Mode II, Joannes Glykys (oruit late th century)

. Amen Mode II, Joannes Glykys

. Amen Mode II, Joannes Glykys

. Se hymnoumen (We praise thee) Mode II, Joannes Glykys

. Aineite (Praise the Lord rom the heavensPsalm ) Mode I Tetraphonos, Joannes Klad(oruit circa )

: presents interpretations o the Small andGreat Canons o Supplication to the Mother o God in both Greek and English. eGreek versions were chanted rom the Anastasimatarion o Konstantinos Byzantios(Constantinople ). e text or the canons in English were taken rom the tranby the Holy Transguration Monastery, Boston MA. According to their melos the GCanon was musically adapted and arranged by P Elgohary and the Small Canon by Terzopoulos.

e production o theParaklesis: Hymns of Supplication CD was living sponsored Anastasia Chehak o Oklahoma City (o Anastasia Pure Skin Terapy , amlab.com)in memory o her great-grand ather, Nikolaos G Louizos ( - Decembermousikodidaskalos and Protopsaltis o Karlovassi on the Island o Samos.Psaltiki, Inc. is grate ul or her generousity and support!

www.psaltiki.org/cd/

Psaltiki Holy Week on Mount Athos Awarnounced

T R . D J E A was the recipient o

Psaltiki Holy Week on Mount Athos Award. You can read his reections on tPsaltic Pilgrimage in this issue o the Psaltiki Online Journal, It is well that where: transgurations and realizations on the Holy Mountain. We are now also

pleased to announce the commencement o the competition!is round o competition is sponored by theHelen Petriti-Stratigos Memorial Fund.e Right Reverend Abott Alexios and the athers at Xenophontos will once again be hosting the w

www.psaltiki.org/athos/www.psaltiki.org/stratigos/

MissionPsaltiki is dedicated toeducation, empowering, and connecting the next generationo chanters in America. We are dedicated to enriching and in orming the presenenvironment o psaltic culture in America in order to enhance and cultivate a spirit excellence worthy o this great musical inheritance and the spiritual benets it prov via the Orthodox liturgical li e, the arts and beyond.All projects are geared toward the advancement o the Psaltic Art, its application,

appreciation, preservation and perpetuation by ocusing on at least one o the ollowing core area



. Education,

. Visibility, and

. Psaltic Community.Established in the year and receiving (c)( ) classication in , Psaltiki, Inc. is presplenary rst phase. In this phase the organization looks toward oundational development and straplanning. Psaltiki is studying the prospects o providing educational services by utilizing the electmediums available today.

Today, Byzantine chant is a rapidly vanishing sacred art orm in America. Un ortunately, past geno chanters have not lef behind a new generation o pupils. For various reasons, the Church has ndeveloped a ormal educational system to ensure the continuation o our Byzantine chant heritageinadequate, piece-meal solutions have not resulted in the needed creation o a sustainable educatioplan that could be ruit ul in supplying the Church with a continuous, renewable source o persocarry on this all-important ministry and great spiritual heritage.It is not that the talent and desire do not exist. Whenever people o musical aptitude are exposed toByzantine chant, they are ofen ascinated and desire to explore. e aural tie with our ancient Chrisroots and this uniquely Orthodox art orm is spiritually uplifing and inspirational. Un ortunately,teachers are nowhere to be ound. In our seminaries instruction is aimed toward the practical,

unspecialized needs o preparing the clergy, who are not necessarily musically inclined. Due to nlinguistic, and geographic obstacles, schools o chant do not exist in America and have not been into the American Orthodox experience.Sel -help resources abounding on the Web usually assume a certain level o amiliarity and knowo the chant tradition and are not designed to produce chanters or provide a complete educationalexperience. Past attempts to transpose the chant corpus into Western Notation have ofen eitherover-simplied or distorted the melodies to the point where they are unrecognizable, awkward andun-inspired, ailing to bring about the desired results. In short, no viable means exists to successintroduce and train chanters and readers to serve the liturgical needs o the Church.At Psaltiki we believe it is time to re-order and re-imagine how one can learn this rich Orthodox liheritage. In harmony with the Book o Psalms o the Prophet-King David, the hymnographic andheritage o the Orthodox Church stands at the very center o its spiritual and liturgical li e. e Chhas always lived in a mystic link between earth and heaven using the Divine Services to raise the to the eternal reality o the heavenly Church triumphant. Her divine poetry and chant are importanpartners in this process o anagogyraising the hearts o the aith ul to the Lord. Along with tho the Churchs architecture, the oil lamps burning be ore the holy Icons, the vestments, readings scent o incense, the words o the divine hymnslogosand melodies o the sacred chantsmpoint the aith ul to the eternal reality which the earthly eye has not seen, nor ear heard (Isaiah Corinthians . ).

e story o our Orthodox hymnography is one at the heart o our liturgical li e, one richer and m

surprising than we have been told. Beginning with the earliest known Christian hymn written withancient Greek Hypolydian musical notation in a late third century papyrus ragment (OxyrhynchuNo. ), Orthodox chant notation continues to develop its unique orms. Soon afer the Iconoclperiod in the eighth century, new orms o Byzantine chant notation emerged with the compilatiothe Oktoechos hymnbook o Eight Modes by Saint John o Damascus. e musical tradition continto grow, providing the Church with master composers hundreds o years be ore the Classical mustradition even began in the West, including such notable gures as Romanos Melodus, Xenos KoroJoannes Glykys, Joannes Koukouzeles, and others. e chant tradition was passed down through thecenturies in the Church, both East and West (although it would take a different course in the West).

rough the work o the ree Teachers, Gregorios, Chourmouzios and Chrysanthos, in the



tradition nally reached its present notational orm, commonly re erred to as the New Method.For many Orthodox Christians in America, basic questions concerning the venerable art o Byzanliturgical chant abound: What is Byzantine chant, and where does it come rom? What purpose doserve, and how did it take on its present orm, style, and unique sound? How can I learn when I hateacher? While interest is on the rise, resources to learn this ancient art orm and assure its continuin America are inadequate. Psaltiki is dedicated to these needs.Psaltiki relies on volunteers and donations o money, materials and services to create and conduct projects.We look orward to your participation!www.psaltiki.org



CONTRIBUTORSJOHN WORTLEY (Psalmody and the Desert Fathers) was born andeducated in Britain where he studied under Joan Hussey and CyrilMango. Appointed Professor of Medieval History at the Universityof Manitoba in 1969, he developed a program of Byzantine studiesthere until his retirement in 2002, since when (as professor emeritushe continues to research and publish, latterly concentrating on the Apophthegmata Patrum. His pioneering work on the role of relics inByzantine society can now be conveniently consulted in Studies on Cult of Relics in Byzantium up to 1204 (Ashgate-Variorum 2009). Apriest of the Anglican Church since 1960 he continues to practice inassistant capacity.

ELENA ENE D-VASILESCU( e Princess and her Book: the iconography, history and linguisto Uricstetraevangheliar ( 1429). Ox ord, Bodleian Library Ms. Canonici Greaci 122) is a utoin Teology and Religion and a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Byzantine iconography, UniversiOxford. Her project at the History Faculty focuses on Aspects of art circulation along Via Ein the Middle Ages and is funded by the British Academy for the period 2011-2013. Her reteaching, and publications are centered on Byzantine texts (Patristics) and post-Byzantine icTey also focus on the connection between liturgical art and text and on Byzantine and EasteChristian monasticism and spirituality.

JOHN E AFENDOULIS(It is well that we are here: transgurations and realizations on the HMountain) is the parish priest at St John the Baptist Church, Salinas, Cali ornia and submitsreections on his Holy Week pilgrimage to Mount Athos as the 2011 recipient o the PH W M A A .



PSALMODY AND THEDESERT FATHERS

BY JOHN WORTLEY



While the earlyChristian monkswithdrew urther and urtherinto the desert wastes owhat is now Egypt theno Syria-Palestine, thereis no reason to imaginethat they withdrew intopro ound silence. Apart

rom the natural soundso the wind and the wild

animals that made the desert such a dangerous place(to say nothing o the bandits and the tribesmen whooccasionally harassed the monks) there would ofenbe the sound o human voices. It is unlikely that thesewould be singing the (apparently) ribald songs thatinvaded the ears o 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 [ ,] or thegreengrocers cell was in a notorious place. Brother,the elder said to him, since you so wish to lead agodly li e, how do you stay in this place? Are you notdisturbed now when you hear them singing thesesongs? [ ;]I tell you, abba, said the man; I have never beentroubled or scandalized. On hearing this, the eldersaid: Well, what are you thinking in your heart whenyou hear these [songs]? and he said: [I am thinking]that they are certainly going off to the Kingdom. N

But even in the desert there could be similar dis-tractions:

Some brothers visiting a holy elder living in a desertplace ound some children outside his monasteryminding [animals] and making inappropriateremarks [ .] Afer they hadrevealed theirlogismoito him and beneted romhis knowledge, they said to him: Abba, how do youtolerate these children and do not tell them not tobe boisterous? e elder said: ere are indeedsome days when I would like to tell them [that] butI rebuke mysel , saying: I I do not stand this little[disturbance], how am I to withstand severe temptationi it is unleashed upon me? For that reason I saynothing to them so I may be nourished in order to bear

References to the Apophthegmataare in the form of:name + number and ref. toPG for APalph; by the letter N+number to APanon; of which Franois-Nicolas Nau publisheditems - in his Histoires des solitaires gyptiens (ms. Coislin

, fols. ) inROC ( ) ( ) with a partialFrench translation and there is a complete French translation ofthe series without the Greek text by Dom Lucien Regnault, ofblessed memory,Les sentences des Pres du dsert: srie des anony-mes (Solesmes-Bellefontaine ); by chapter and item [XX.YY]to Guys edition of APsys.

the things that come upon me. N , .

e monks themselves were by no means silent.When they assembled and met together or worshithey sang aloud (notsotto voce.) It was an impositionwhen illness made it impossible or one to do so [ , Synkletika , CD, . .] obelieved their singing was the earthly representatiothe singing in heaven. An anchorite said:

Every day I behold the assembly o the spiritual orcewith the Lord o Glory in the midst o them, outshininthem all. When I become discouraged, I ascend toheaven and contemplate the wondrous beauty o theangels, the hymns that they unceasingly offer up toGod and their melodies. en am I buoyed up bythe sounds, their voices and their tune, so that I havea conception o that which is written: e heavensdeclare the glory o God (Ps . ) and I counteverything on earth as ashes and rubbish. (cf. Phil . )

[

. , , , , .] N

It was once revealed to Abba Antony in the dese ere is somebody in the city like you, a physicianby pro ession, who provides those in need with hisuperuous income and is singing thetrisagionwiththe angels o God all day long. Antony , B,A woman who has turned a monk away rom sin-ning sends him back To hear the choir o those hones singing [ ] N while another monk is urged toglori y God and offer up hymns to him, in ullmo the saying: Whether you eat or drink or whatsoyou do, do all to the glory o God [ Cor .

. . Another brother was instructed:When you rise rom your sleep your mouth willimmediately glori y God with its rst words, breakingout in hymn and psalms. For whatever the mindencounters rst thing, it grinds it like a mill all the daylong, whether it be wheat or tares. So always be the rsto throw in wheat be ore your enemy injects tares.

[ . ,

] S Cod. Sina gr. ] om Cod. Paris Coislin



, . , .]N. /

ere was singing at unerals [ ] N and probably at many other times, or an unnamedabba said:

I we do not pay attention also to God, we wander intopathless [wastes] but i we constantly pay attention,we sing to him unending hymns o thanksgiving[ ] and o the indescribable wonders o Godachieved on our behal , so that we might also accede tothe benets o eternity. .

By hymns the writer means psalms, or the psalmswere so central to the li e o monks that they coineda word, , that is still in use: Psalmody:the action, practice or art o singing psalms [OED].

ere were psalms specied to be sung at the hours o

worship [ . , lines - ] twelve at night and the same number again at dawn( , N . ). Macarius the Great said: esoul ought to gather her own considerations togetherin psalm-singing with sorrow or sin (,compunction) . or psalm-singing is highly ben-ecial,e.g.against accidie (It is necessary to scare thisspirit [o accidie] away, especially by prayer and psalm-

singing. . Synkletike S , Guy p. ;) agawrath ( Evagrius,Pract. , . ;) in repentancepenitent monk has many advantages: meditation,psalm-singing and manual labor these are the odations, APanon N . ) and or burning demN . . When a brother asked one o the aWhat is li e? he got this answer: A truth ul moa holy body, a pure heart, thoughts that do not wanoff to the world, psalm-singing with sorrow or sinliving inhesychiaand having nothing in mind otherthan the expectation o the Lord. .

It is possible however that there were those whowere less than enthusiastic about psalm-singing, othe great Evagrius also said: It is a great thing to pwithout distraction, but yet greater to sing without traction too [ Evagrius D . and Isaiah o Scete has t

Do not look down on the Psalms or they expel theunclean spirits rom the soul and install the HolySpirit. Remember David when he sang to the harp, howhe pacied Saul rom the unclean spirit. [ Sam .And Elisha too, who (when the people suffered severethirst while they were ghting with the sons o Moab)said: Bring me somebody who knows how to singto [] the harp. While he was singing, Elishaprayed: there came water and the people drank. [ Kgs

: ] .

It is clear rom the above that it is not enough mly to sing with the voice. One should sing with sorr

or sin and without distraction and, as the Psalmishimsel insists (cf. Ps . ) one msing with understanding ( & . ). is however does not appear to have beuniversal conviction, or we read o a brother who

said to [an unnamed ather]: Look, abba, I meditatebut there is no grie or sin in my heart or I do notknow what the phrase [I am repeating] means. [ eelder] said to him: Just meditate. I heard that AbbaPoemen and many o the athers uttered this saying: e snake-charmer does not know the orce [dynamis]o the words he speaks but the beast hears and knows:it is rendered obedient and subservient. at is how itis with us; even i we do not know the orce [dynamis]o the words we are saying, yet the demons hear andretreat in ear. N. / .

little light is shed on how the psalms were sunin a tale o Macarius the Great (the Egyptian) visiting two oreigners who came to live at Scete. Whearose rom sleep:

e older one merely said this to me: Do you wantus to offer the twelve psalms? Yes, I said and theyounger one sang ve psalms, six verses at a time with

Abbreviations used:

APalph Apophthegmata alphabetica Jean-Baptiste Cotel-ier (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 Pres, collec-

tion systmatique (Paris 1993, 2003, 2004), 3 Vols.;Sources Chrtiennes 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 lorient chrtien



an allelujah[ ]. With each verse [ ] a lampo re came out o his mouth and went up into theheavens. Likewise the older one too, when he openedhis mouth to sing, something like a rope o re cameout, stretching up to heaven. Macarius D- B,

.

It is difficult to be sure what exactly this meansabout the way the psalms were sung, but it leaves onein no doubt o the great value that was set on devoutpsalm-singing.

We may not however greatly err in supposing thatthe singing- (as opposed to the speaking-) voice wasused more widely than we have suggested so ar. Fol-lowing Dom Lucien Regnault, I have demonstratedelsewhere that, or the Desert Fathers, to meditate[] meant to recite and to reciteaudibly (un-lesssecret meditationis specied) a text that had beenmemorised. e text might be anything rom a single

verse over and over again to one or more entire bookso the Bible, o which the most requent would be thePsalter. Constrain yoursel to themeleto the psalms

or this protects you rom being captured by the en-emy says Isaiah o Scete. And melet,like psalmody,may very well have meant recitation in asinging voice(cantilena.) is is never expressly stated, but it seemsto be implied by a saying attributed to Abba Hyper-echios: Let there be a spiritual song [Ep. . ] in yourmouth and letmeletassuage the orce o the temp-tations you encounter. A good example o this is aheavy-laden traveller who dissipates the discom ort ohis journey with a song [asmati].

So it may be sa e to conclude that between the com-munalsynaxis, his private worship and the monksmelethe would be using his singing voice a great dealo the time. Now such is human nature that, whereverthere is singing, there will almost certainly be a ten-dency to elaborate and decorate the tunes in variousways. A simple drone will be inected, a monoto-nous chant be developed into a melody and a musical

tradition will evolve. But it is also human nature orsome to resist change. Evidence o such a resistanceamong the early monastic community certainly exists,

H krypt melet, N , . ,cf . , line and N ,. but especially Eulogius the Priest C- A, . .

How the Desert Fathers meditated, GRBS 46 (2006)315-328.

Isaiah / . ;cfOnce I saw a brother doingmeletinhis cell when a demon came and stood outside the cell. As long asthe brother continued hismelethe was unable to enter but oncethe brother desisted, in he went N , . .

Hyperechios . .

although how early it is difficult to say. e series oapophthegms o the Desert Fathers known as Anomous [ APanon] was probably constituted (togetherwith the Alphabetic series, [ APalph] to which it is anappendix) shortly be ore AD but there is everyreason to suspect that subsequent scribes added othmaterial rom time to time. e earliest completemanuscripts we possess are no older than the end othe tenth century. eir later pages contain some itemthat clearly post-date the all o Jerusalem in not a ew others that give rise to suspicion that themay be even later.

Already among the earlier material o APanonthereis A passage rom Gregory the eologian on hu-mility (it is in act a piece by Basil o Caesarea) includes this:

Let your deportment, your clothing, your walking,your down-sitting and your uprising, (cf.Ps . )your ood, your way o li e, the preparation o yourbed; your house and all the urnishings o yourhouse, be ashioned in a simple manner, likewiseyour psalm, your hymn and your good behaviourtowards your neighbour [ ]. Let these all be simple ratherthan ostentatious. Let there be no boasting in cleverlanguage, no excessively sweet sounds in the singing[ ,] no high-own, no weighty conversations

is plea or simplicity in singing is more thanechoed in a piece attributed to Abba Silvanus. Now

there was a very distinguished Abba Silvanus o wtwelve sayings are included in APalph. A contemporyo Sisoes, he had at least as many disciples, some whose names are known. He was a Palestinian wholived rst at Scete then moved to Sinaica andnally settled near Gaza. It is said that, in commonwith Sisoes and Pambo, his ace shone like Moses[Silvanus , Pambo ]. He was a ne counsellothe perplexed (N , , ). But o the tweratives o his deeds and words given under his nam APalph( C- C) and others in APanon(N /

N ) none contains anything resembling what his made to say in the passage about to be consideree suspicion must there ore remain either that this

some other Silvanus or that the author o this tale hborrowed the name o Silvanus to con er on whathas to say the authority o one o the original DesFathers. is is an abbreviated version o what Silvnus is made to say:

A brother questioned Abba Silvanus: What am I N ,cfBasil of Caesarea,De humilitate, PG : ,

.



to do, abba? How am I to acquire sorrow or sin[]? I am severely afflicted byaccidie, by sleepand by lethargy. When I rise rom sleeping I make veryheavy weather o the psalm singing. I cannot shake omy languor, nor can I recite a psalm without a tune[ ]. e elder replied:My child, in the rst place, to recite the psalms witha tune [ ] smackso pride, or it puts you in mind that you are singing

while your brother is not. Secondly, it hardens yourheart, insulating it against sorrow or sin. So i youwant to acquire sorrow or sin, leave singing aside[ ]. When you are standing in prayer, letyour mind study the meaning o the verse. Considerthat you are standing in the presence o the God whosearches the very heart and reins (Ps . ) [] inko the great athers, how simple they were; they knewneither tunes and tropes [ ] except or a ew psalms, and they werebrilliant luminaries in the world [] ey even raisedthe dead and per ormed mighty works, not withsinging and troping and tunes [

] but in prayer, with a broken andcontrite heart and with asting. [] As or singing, ithas brought many down to the lowest most parts othe earth; not only people in the world but prieststoo; it entrenched them in porneia and many passions.Singing is or worldlings, my son [ . , , ]; that is why people congregate in churches. Justthink how many ranks [o angels] there are in heaven,my boy, and it is not written o them that they sing withthe eight tones [ ] but that one rank unceasinglysings: Alleluia, another rank: Holy, holy, holy Lordo Sabaoth, another rank: Blessed be the glory o theLord rom this place and rom his house. So do you,my son, love the humility o Christ and watch overyoursel , keeping watch over your mind at the time oprayer and, wherever you go, do not display yoursel asone o ready wit and a teacher but be humble and Godwill grant you with sorrow or sin. N

In spite o the considerations mentioned above,Derwas Chitty accepted this passage as a genuinememory o Silvanus and as an interesting piece o evi-dence o growing tensions between Egyptian and Syr-ia-Palestinian monachism. ere appears to have beena gentle migration o monks rom west to east, moreespecially afer the rst devastation o Scete by the Ma-zices in - . e Egyptian deserts appear to havebeen in ested with brigands who did not hesitate topillage monasteries when the occasion arose, whereas

Cod. Sina , v b- ra PE . . . (olim . . ); Jin Lucien Regnault (trans.,)Les sentences des pres du dsert, sriedes anonymes, Solesmes-Bellefontaine , p. .

Derwas J. Chitty,Te Desert a City,Oxford , - .

Jerusalem had been constituted the Christian capi-tal o the Empire by Constantine and had since be

ound to possess the Holy Sepulchre and the mosto relics, the Wood o the True Cross. A remarkabnumber o monasteries sprang up in the adjacent Jdaean desert and, remarkable quickly, developed thown way o li e distinct rom the traditions o EWriting between and John Cassian compand contrasted the two.

For among them (viz., the Egyptians) these officeswhich we are taught to render to the Lord at separatehours and at intervals o time, with a reminder romthe convener, are celebrated continuously throughoutthe whole day, with the addition o work, and that otheir own ree will. For manual labour is incessantlypractised by them in their cells in such a way thatmeditation on the Psalms and the rest o the Scripturesis never entirely omitted. And as with it at everymoment they mingle suffrages and prayers, they spendthe whole day in those offices which we celebrate atxed times. [] For that which is continuously offeredis more than what is rendered at intervals o time; and

One has to be cautious: what John says depends onmemory of experiences at least thirty years earlier.



more acceptable as a ree gif than the duties which areper ormed by the compulsion o a rule []Inst. .

John goes on to say that in the East things havebecome much more ormal and regulated, or instancethe services of ierce, Sext, and None are ended withonly three Psalms and prayers each Inst . , tit., imply-ing that prayer is concentrated at those hours ratherthan continuous throughout the day. is was quitedifferent rom the li e o the earliest monks who maywell have prayed without ceasing to the extent thatthey made no distinction between hours o prayerand other times. us Abba Isidore, a rst-generationmonk and priest at Scete: For my part, when I wasyounger and staying in my cell, I had no [time] lim-its or synaxis [ ] or bothnight and day were synaxis. Abba Epiphanius (whobecame Bishop o Salamina in Cyprus in ) re-proved the higoumen o a monastery he had ounded

in Palestine saying: You are clearly decient in prayerat the other hours o the day, or the true monk mostunceasingly [] have prayer and psalmodyin his heart. Epiphanius BC . e higoumenhad reported the aith ul observance o the third, sixthand ninth hours o prayer by his monks. But Epipha-nius had received his monastic ormation rom AbbaHilarion and others o the Egyptian tradition, hencehis response: the monk must pray without ceasing[, uninterruptedly], as Paul said to thepeople o essaly.

us the tendency in Palestine seems to have beenor prayer to be concentrated at certain times andor this to becommon prayer, in which case it is not

difficult to imagine how the psalmody o which thatcommon prayer chiey consisted would becomeincreasingly sophisticated and possibly ( or some) anend in itsel rather than a means to the greater gloryo God. But while Silvanus obviously disapproves othis musical orescence, his main complaint is that theyoung person he is addressing appears to think thatone cannot pray without music,sous-entendu cannotpray other than at the times o common prayer (synax-is). One has to remember the young persons originalquestion: How can he acquire sorrow or sin? Silvanusanswer is ormal: by learning to pray atotherthan thetimes o common prayer with all its (musical) distrac-tions which clearly, in his old- ashioned mind, doconsiderably more harm than good.

Isidore CD, . . Tess. . .

The reader may wish to consult thefollowing titles for further reading:

Fryshov, Stig Simeon Ragnvald, La cence lhymnographie chex des anacrtes de lEgypte et du Sina du e au e sicles, inLHymnographie : ConfrencSaint-Serge, XLVIe Semaine dtudesLiturgiques (Roma ), - ; dloadable as a PDF athttp://mzh.mrezha.ru/lib/froyshov/ v a.pdf.

Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship Pagan and Christian Antiquity (Washing-ton D.C. 1983), Chapter 4, Unit 9.

D J W was born and educated in Britainwhere he studied under Joan Hussey and Cyril Mango. Appointed Professor of Medieval History at the Univerof Manitoba in , he developed a program of Byzastudies there until his retirement in , since when ( professor emeritus) he continues to research and publislatterly concentrating on the A PIn retirement he has held visiting fellowships at the Unsities of Belfast (Queens, twice) Princeton and DurhamHe has always maintained close ties with the Paris Byzantinists; it was at the instigation of R.P. Joseph Parame

that he began work on the R BB . His translation of John Skylitz H (Cambridge University Press

was made in close cooperation with Bernard Flusin and Jean-Claude Cheynet. His pioneering work on the rolerelics in Byzantine society can now be conveniently cosulted in S C R B

(Ashgate-Variorum ). He lives in W peg with his wife, Sylvia Scott Wortley the harpsichor A priest of the Anglican Church since he continu practice in an assistant capacity.


17/49



IT IS WELL THAT WE ARE HERE: TRANSFIGURATIONS ANREALIZATIONS ON THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

B Y J O H N E A F E N D O U L I S

NOTE : Photos used for the slideshow in the digital versions ofPsaltiki: the online journal can be viewed at the following URL http://ic.kr/s/aHsjCfArMs



We know not whether we werein heaven or on earth. For onearth there is no such splendoror such beauty, and we are ata loss how to describe it. Weknow only that God dwellsthere among men.

This is what the emissaries o

St. Vladimir, Prince o Kiev,reported afer searching or anacceptable religion or the rulerspeople and returning rom HagiaSophia in Constantinople in AD. And likewise, these wordsare the only words that I can useto describe my pilgrimage to theHoly Monastery o Xenophontoson the Holy Mount Athos, undedby Psaltiki, an organization with

a mission to educate, empower,and connect the next generationo chanters with tools or theadvancement o the liturgicalart o chanting in the OrthodoxChurch. I will be indebted to them

or the rest o my li e or providingthis scholarship to a Holy CrossSeminarian, and that they choseme, out o all my brothers, to go tothe Holy Mountain or Holy Weekand Pascha .

In trying to decide whetheror not to apply or the scholar-ship, my wi e and I concludedthat this would probably be theonly opportunity I might haveto go to the Holy Mountain orHoly Week; afer ordination mypriestly duties would prohibitsuch an absence. My bishop was

already talking o ordaining me tothe Holy Priesthood which wouldmean placement in a parish soonthereafer. With MetropolitanGerasimoss blessing I applied

or the scholarship. I rememberthat the announcement or theaward o the scholarship would beon November , , and. thatI must have checked my emailsat least times that day. I also

checked Psaltikis website or theannouncement. Nothing. By theend o the day, I told my wi eAdina that I was so very disap-pointed that I didnt receive thescholarship; I was sure the com-mittee ound a more worthy el-low seminarian. Two days later,though, I received an email rommy beloved personal riend, Dr.Grammenos Karanos, who wasthe interim Byzantine MusicPro essor at Holy Cross (lling in

or Photios Ketzetsis) congratu-lating me on being awarded thePsaltiki scholarship. I told him thatI was not awarded the scholarshipand that I was so disappointed. Heassured me, that I was the recipi-ent and he advised me to checkmy spam box. Sure enough, thenotication e-mail was there. Itwas official and I couldnt havebeen more pleased. (Be ore I getstarted in my memoirs with myremembrance o Holy Week onMount Athos, allow me this timeto say some thank yous: to mywi e Adinait was our rst (and Ipray our only) Pascha apart; to Fr.Konstantinos Terzopoulos and theentire Board o Psaltiki or mak-ing the scholarship available; andto my Metropolitan Gerasimos o

San Francisco, or allowing me tgo. I would also like to thank thetwo pro essors who wrote letterso recommendation, Fr. NicholaKastanas and Dr. Timothy PatitsaAnd lastly, thank you to all the thers o Xenophontos Monasterybut particularly the Abbot Alexioand Fathers eonas, Joseph,Bessarion, Paisios and Daniel.)

Fr. Konstantinos was the mostkind and gracious person whoguided me through the benets

o the scholarship. I had beento Mount Athos seven times be-ore but never to Xenophontos

Monastery. Everything was paidor but the real value o the sch

arship is not monetary but that itmade a stay at one o the monasteries during their most busy timo year possible. In , I hadmoved to Greece or two years ain those two years I had tried toget to the Holy Mountain or HoWeek and Pascha. In order to givequal opportunity to all guests,each monastery limits the stay oeach pilgrim. I you want to go Holy Week, you must move rommonastery to monastery. Combinthat with the long services, andit becomes almost impossible oone to stay on e Garden o



the Panagia the entire week. eFathers o the monastery treatedme so well. Fr. Konstantinos, notknowing the extent o my u-ency in Modern Greek, told methat two o the Fathers, Zosimasand Jeremias, were English speak-ing. Afer they realized that myModern Greek was very good theylef me on my own, because theywere under obedience to help withthe non-Greek speaking pilgrimsin addition to their normal duties.Both o Fathers had attended Holy

Cross Seminary and they had sentback greetings to their ellow class-mates, many who have becomepro essors at Holy Cross.

e Fathers at this monasterybalance the services so that theyare neither too long nor too short.

eir trapeza and hours o eat-ing are neither too strict nor toolax. ey kept a strict ast, but

they always made sure that I hadenough to eat, and that includedsnacks. My wonder ul hosts wereFrs. eonas and Joseph. ey metme at thearchandorikion and weremost gracious. Fr. Joseph alwaysdirected me during the servicesand positioned me in astasidi (the chairs alone the walls) or theservices when I was not serving.When not serving as a deacon, mystasidi was on the lef (north side)o the church directly oppositethe icon o the Mother o God.

is icon was originally rom theMonastery o Vatopedi. How ithappened to come to Xenophontosmonastery was by an act and mira-cle o the Mother o God.

One day the Fathers oVatopedi saw that the monasterysicon was missing rom the church.

e icon is massive (maybe or eet tall) and they set out to nd

out where it was. ey discoveredit in the Church o Xenophontosmonastery. ey thought thatsomeone stole it and so the athebrought others rom Vatopedi anreturned the icon to its monasteryBut then again the icon was ounmissing, and again the icon wasreturned. When the miracle hap-pened a third time, the Fatherso Vatopedi realized that it wasthe will o the Mother o Godthat the icon should remain atXenophontos Monastery. On the

east o the Icon, the Fathers oVatopedi come to Xenophontos tcelebrate jointly.

It was Holy Week. I knew theservices would be long and I wobe tired because I didnt expectto get much sleep, but I was soexcited to be there the servicesseemed to y by. e rst day wasa little tiring. e boat Axion Estin


22/49



nature.At the beginning o Holy Week,

I stayed quietly in mystasidi, say-ing my prayer rope and enjoy-ing the chanting o the Fathers.Occasionally Fr. Daniel, one othe chanters o the Lef Choir,invited me over to chant an oc-casional hymn. e Abbot o thecommunity, Alexios, has a wonder-

ul voice. I have never heard thetroparion o the hymn o Cassianechanted so wonder ully. Likewise,Fr. Seraphim, the protopsaltis o thecommunity also chanted the samehymn in the Presanctied. (AbbotAlexios gave allowed me to recordthe church services. My wi e lent

me her iPod, and thank God, Ihave most o the services recorded.My only challenge is editing them.Once I gure out how to accom-plish this task, I hope to revise thispaper with audio selections.)

Since I was a deacon, Fr.Joseph, thetypikaris, asked me onHoly ursday i I wanted to serve.I elt so very grate ul to God. Inever thought I would have madeit to the Holy Mountain or HolyWeek and now I wasbeing asked to serve!Xenophontos has onlyone hierodeacon, Fr.Bessarion, who is an ex-tremely patient and lov-ing brother o the com-munity. His instructionswere invaluable and Istood in awe and com-punction when I realizedwhere I was during thismost holy o weeks inour ecclesiastical year.

Pascha day wasmost amazing, and verytiring. To the best omy recollection, I thinkwe started reading theActs o the Apostles

around p.m., then on to thecanon around a.m., and intothe Resurrection Gospel and thetriumphant chanting o Christosanesti. As I was serving, I heard theglorious Paschal hymn chanted inEnglish and Fr. Joseph turned tome and wondered i I recognizedit and i it was a good translation.

e Paschal Liturgy andtrapeza ended sometime around a.m.We had sh soup, sh, eta, anda paschal egg, o course. What a

east!!! I really was too excited tolie down, but I orced mysel andafer a ew hours, upon rising, I sawFr. Efhymios walking down thecorridor. He asked me i I wanted

a cup o coffee. He was an elderlymonk who normally resides at theXenophontos Skete, but becauseo health reasons, has been at themonastery or some time. He isa wonder ul, jolly monk with abeauti ul smile and he radiateswith the love o our Savior. In hiscell he offered me Greek coffee andkourambiedes (cookies) that someo the pilgrims had brought him

or the Feast. He had asked me

about Fr. Ephraims monasteries iAmerica and i I had been to anythem. He also recounted memorio when he rst arrived at the HMountain and how the brethrenstruggled in those years.

Later that day toward eve-ning, we celebrated the Agape vepers with the Resurrection Gosperead in different languages.

at evening I nally met with Fr.Zosimas who had been a Master Divinity graduate o our belovedHoly Cross Greek Orthodox Scho eology. We spoke or quitesome time and he told me storieshis coming to the Holy Mountainand various obedience duties tha

he had had while at XenophontosMonastery.As St. Peter said to our

Savior on the east o the HolyTransguration, It is good or uto be here. I elt the exactly thatwhile on the Holy Mountain. Itwas so good to be there. It was mlast semester at Holy Cross and Ihad an extremely hectic workloa

ere was also talk about ordaininme in the summer and being as-



signed to a parish. Spending HolyWeek at Xenophontos Monasterywas one o the most spirituallyrewarding events in my li e and Iowe it all to Fr. Konstantinos andthe wonder ul staff o Psaltiki.May God bless them or offeringthis scholarship to a Holy Crossseminarian and may God bless allthose who donate their time andmonetary support or making thisonce-in-a-li etime scholarshipavailable or a seminarian o ourbeloved school, Holy Cross GreekOrthodox School o eology. Youwill always be in my prayers.

Te Rev John E Afendoulis is parish priest at St John the Baptist ChurchSalinas, California and submitsthese reections on his Holy Week pilgrimage to Mount Athos as the

recipient of the Psaltiki HolyWeek on Mount Athos Award.



THE PRINCESS AND HER BOO , , ,

. . . *

E L E N A E N E D VA S I L E S C U

Oxford: Bodleian Ms.Canon. Graeci. , fol. r

; rs page of heGospel of Mathew



According to Ralph Cleminson,MS. Canon. Graeci. , or theGospel manuscript (etraevang-heliar ) written and illuminated in

in Neam Monastery, Roma-nia by the monk Gavril Uric, wasbought by the University of Oxfordin from the heirs of MatteoLuigi Canonici ( - c. / ). Canonici was a Jesuit who livedin Venice. His collection consist-ing of manuscripts, whichCleminson describes as beingmostly in Latin and Italian, butwith a substantial number of Greekand Hebrew items, included alsove Slavonic manuscripts: twoCroatian glogolitic miscellanies, the

famous Moldavian Gospel writtenby Gavrilo of Neamu, a RussianGospel codex and MS Canon. Lit.

Gavriil (Gabriel) Uric, the scribemonk from Neam Monastery, was theson of the uricar Paisie. Tis is Gavriilsfather monastic name, and it seems thathe was a local boyar because the Prince ofthe country chose him as a scribe in hischancellery. Later he took monastic vowin the same monastery where his son wasto follow him.Documente privind istoriaRomniei (sic), ed. by Petre Panaitescu,Damian P. Bogdan, Francis Pall et. al.,Bucharest, , vol. , caption of Fig. showing the rst page of the Mark Gospelfrom the etraevangheliar of Neam; thereis no number indicated on the page, but itis no. [ ]. Uricar is a scribe or caligraf. InOld Romanian Uric is a type of a specialdocument, usually a donation decree (andcomes from Slavonic, since the Slavonicwas the language of the Orthodox Churchin Romania during the Middle Ages untillate seventeenth century).

Ralph Cleminson, A Union cata-logue of Cyrillic manuscripts in British andIrish collections, School of Slavonic andEast European Studies, University of Lon-don, , pp. - ; No. . Cleminsonrefers to the MS. Canon. Graeci. asGospels. Moldavian. .

, a eenth-century Serbianmiscellany, and were all purchasedby the Bodleian Library at the sametime. Dr. Barker-Beneld from theabove mentioned Library says thatmost o these manuscripts werebought by the library,but not all . Cleminson and also J. D. A. Barni-cot show that the original text ofthis etraevangel was Old Slavonicof the Bulgarian recension. TeGreek text was added only later.

e date o Canonicis death was

a matter o controversy (especiallyi it took place in or in

or ), but the latest conclu-sion on the matter points towardsSeptember ..

Cleminson , Inaugural publishedlecture Te Serbian Manuscript Heritagein the British Isles, University of Ports-mouth, November, , p. .

E-mail correspondence of No- vember with Dr. Bruce Barker-Ben-eld.

R. Cleminson, A Union catalogueof Cyrillic manuscripts in British and Irishcollections, London , no. , pp, -

. Cleminson refers to this document asGospels. Moldavian. .

J. D. A. Barnicot,Te Slavonic MSS in the Bodleian, vol. , no. , ,entry , S. C. , p. [S. C. meansSummary Catalogue]. Tis list of Slavon-ic manuscripts in Cyrillic and Glagoliticcharacters reproduced, with some addi-tional notes and references, a previousone compiled by Dr. Craster [no precisedate offered, but only the note that it waswritten some years ago during work on theSummary Catalogue of Western MSS].Te date and Sirku notations refers to thedescription of the manuscripts done by P.A. Sirku in hisZametki o slavyannskikh irusskikh rukopisyakh. All this informationis given by Barnicot inTe Slavonic MSS,p. .

Irma Merolle inLabate Mat-teo Luigi Canonici e la sua biblioteca: i

In the journal Magazin istor-ic [Historical Magazine] LajosDemny conrms that the Gospewritten by Uric arrived in Ox oraround the middle o the nine-teenth century rom Venice andthat it was obtained rom the antquarian Johan Pericinotti (sic). G. Popescu Vlcea agrees with theven though he cannot explain hthe manuscript reached Venice.Here is how he mentions the codBrought in the nineteenth centufrom the antiquarian J. Pericinotti(sic) rom Venice or the Bodle-ian Library. e circumstancesin which the manuscript arrivedmanoscritti Canonici e Canonici-Soranz

delle biblioteche orentine, Institutum His-toricum, Rome, and Soc. Iesu &BibilotMediceo-Laurenziana, Florence velops that debate and speaks about othaspects of Canonicis life and work. Tisa catalogue in Italian of Canonici manucripts now held in Florentine libraries.Te main authors involved in the debateregarding Matthaei Aloisii (Matteo LuigCanonicis date of death are G. A. Mos-chini,Della letteratura veneziana dela se XVlll no a nostri giorni, vols. - (

), Venice, vol. , p. ; C. Sommgel,Bibliotque de la Compagnie de Jsu,Brussels, Paris , vol. , pp. -& A. De Backer,Bibliothque des crivai de la C. De J., lV, Lige, , p. ; Dizzionario bio-bibliograco dei bibliotcari e biblioli italiani dal sec. XlV al X,Florence , p. , and V. Rossi, biblioteca manoscritta del senatore JacoSoranzo, inIl libro e la stampa, vol. , no

- , Florence , p. . Moschiniments and information from the Museocivico Correr, Venice, Ms. Cicogna, indicate the date of Matteo Luigis deathas some time in September . Merseems to agree with them, and I also ntheir arguments convincing.

Lajos (Ludovic) Demny, n-ceputurile miniaturisticii romne, Magazin istoric [Historical Magazine], No (

, p. .

* A shorter version of this paper was presented to the Center for the Study of the Book, University of Oxford, in Decemb; yet another version was published inRomanoslavica (University of Bucharest ) under the title New Aspects Regard

etraevangelia Written by the Monk Gavril Uric in Neam Monastery in . I am very grateful for the help provided by Barker-Beneld and the staff in the Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library.



rom Moldavia to Venice are notknown.

On this issue mile urdeanuhypothesised, It is not impossiblethat it was brought from Moldaviato Venice by some Rumanian exileor by numerous Greeks or Arme-nians who roamed through theDanubian Pricipalities through-out the centuries. Nicolae Iorgawrote about the Romanians livingin Venice and Sirarpie der Ner-sessian mentioned an Armenianmanuscript, copied and illuminatedin Moldavia, which reached thelibrary of the Mekhtarite monks inVeniceshe did not know when.

urdeanue based his view on thesefacts and sources, but I considerthat, in regard to Urics manuscript,

Achet au XlX-e sicle de chezlantiquare J. Pericinotti de Venise, pourla Biblioteque Bodleienne. On ignore lescirconstances qui ont fait parvenir le man-uscript de Moldavie a Venise. GheorghePopescu-Vlcea,La Miniature Roumaine,

Meridiane, Bucharest, , p. ; mytranslation. mile urdeanu, Te Oldest

Illuminated Moldavian Manuscript,Slavonic and East European Review, Lon-don, XXlX, , p. ; I keep his spellingof Romanians as Rumanians.

Nicolae Iorga,Ospiti romeni inVenezia ( - ), Bucharest, .

Sirarpie der Nersessian, Man-uscrits armniens illustrs des Xlle, Xllleet XlVe sicles de la Bibliothque des Pres Mkhtaristes de Venise, Paris, , no. .

they are not substantial enoughto constitute a proof for its way toVenice. Actually, as I will show fur-

ther, today research has managed touncover a Romanian document of, which can attest with a high-

er probability the circumstancesin which the manuscript reachedVenice.

With regard to its itinerary toOxford, urdeanu affirms that inthe rst half of the th century []it was still in the ownership of thePericinotti (sic) amily at Venice. Actually, the correct name of theheirs of Canonici family is Per-issinotti. Following the death ofMatteo Luigi Canonici his collecti-ons passed to his brother GiuseppeCanonici, who in turn died in .Giuseppes property then passed totheir nephews Giovanni Perissinottiand Girolamo Cardina, who divi-

urdeanu, Te Oldest, p. .

ded it up with Perissinotti takingthe manuscripts. As shown abovemost of these manuscripts were

bought from Perissinotti in by the Bodleian Library. Te ne-gotiation was carried out throughMr. Scott, Vice Consul at Venicethe price was Louis dor, wch is about , ready moneyobtained mostly as a loan from th

rustees of the Radcliffe LibraryOxford. Te Curators minutes ofthe time mention only the name Mr. Scott, but not that of Perissi-notti, who is only mentined as thowner of the manuscript collecton. However, the contemporary

Merolle,Labate Matteo LuigiCanonici, p. .

Bodley Curators. Minutes .Library Records d. , fols. v- v. particular record of the amount, see theminutes of April, ( v) in whinitial price is discussed ( Louis or Sterlings,) and of June (in which the nal amount is stated to

Te th Century Church of NeamMonastery, beautiful example ofMoldavian architecture

Te dona ion ac from he h of February hrough which Alexandru cel Bun [ he Kind] gives

Cpriana Monas ery and some villages o his wife,Marina



list of manuscripts in Italian, whi-ch preceded or accompanied thecollection, contains the followingheading: Collection of old manus-cripts assembled by Senior AbateMatteo Luigi Canonici, Venice, aformer Jesuit, le through his willto Mr Giuseppe Canonici, his bro-ther, and inherited by Mr GiovanniPerissinotti.

. .

Urics manuscript is importantor the historian o Romanianculture because it is one o theoldest monuments o minor artexecuted in Moldavia; its originthere ore requires to be explainedas precisely as possible. In Ro-mania itself the iconography of themanuscript was the aspect whichhas received the most attention.Studies on Urics Gospel have beenmade as early as the nineteenthcentury , very intensely in thetwentieth, in both Romania andabroad. Even when Urics Gospelwas in Venice it drew the atten-

tion of specialists, as for example P.Solari. Generally speaking, in ad-Louis dors, a er the negociations doneby? the Vice Consul at Venice, Mr. Scott.Te application for the money by the Vi-ce-Chancellor of the University of Oxfordto the rustees was discussed on April

( v). Collezione di Codici antichi

fatta dal fu Sigr Abate Matteo Luigi Ca-nonici, Veneto, Ex-gesuita, e lasciata con

estamento del fu Sigr Giuseppe Canonici

di Lui Fratello ed erede al Sigr GiovanniPerissinotti; Library Records e. , fol.r; my translation.

urdeanu, Te Oldest Manu-script, p. .

I. I. Sreznevskii,Sviedieniia izamietki o maloizviestnykh I neizvestnyh pamjatnikah pisma, vol. , No. , StPetersburg, , reproduced in:SbornikORJaS, X , , pp. - ; I. Dobrowsk,Institutiones linguae slavicae dialecti veteris,Vienna, , p. XV.

P. Solari,Pominak knieskij,

dition to Cleminson, Demny andurdeanu, among the research-

ers who have described and com-mented on this mediaeval manu-script are G. Bal, D. P. Bogdan, I.Bogdan, I. Bianu, V. Drgu, N.Venice, , pp. - .

urdeanu, in addition to TeOldest Manuscript see also Les lettersslaves en Moldavie: le moine Gabriel dumonastre de Neamu, inRevues destudes Slaves, XXVll, .

N. Iorga and G. Bal,Histoire delart roumaine ancient , Paris, , p. ;in the book there is a colour reproductionof a leaf from the Ms.. ; plate facing p.

. Tis information is mentioned alsoin oneLetter about Bodleian manuscripts, XX, Canon. gr.(sic) . Tere are two moresuch letters in the Bodleian containingbibliography regarding the ManuscriptCanon. Gr. ; I have mentioned the re-spective bibliography (Bianu and Nersensi-an) in the article [Actually these letters inthe Bodleian are three brief notes].

D. P. Bogdan,Paleograaromno-slav (tratat i album)[Roma-nian-Slavic Palaeography]( reatise andalbume), Direcia General a Arhive-lor Statului, Bucureti ; Quelquestmoignages des liens roumano-grecs sousla rgne dtienne le Grand, prince deMoldavie, in:Bulletin V , nos. - , Associ-

ation internationale dtudes du Sud-EstEuropen, . I. Bogdan, Evangheliile dela Hu-

mor i Vorone din i , in Analele Academiei Romne. Memoriile Seciuniiistorice, s. ll, t. XXlX, Bucharest, .

I. Bianu,Presentation to the rstCongress of Byzantinology , Bucharest, ;at the respective congress Bianu presentedthe reproductions in colour of the mostimportant ornaments in the manuscriptwhich we have included here (there is amention about it in urdeanu, Te Oldest

Illuminated MS, p. ). Reproductionsof images from the manuscript were pub-lished in Evanghelia slavo-greac scrisn mnstirea Neamului din Moldovade Gavriil Monahul la [Te Slavon-ic-Greek Gospel written in Neam Mon-astery in Moldavia by Gavril the Monk in

], inDocumente de art romneascdin manuscripte vechi [Documents of Ro-manian Art in Ancient Manuscripts], vol.

, Bucharest, , pp. - . V. Drgu (illustrations P. Lupan),

Pictura mural din Moldova. Sec. XV-XVl ,

Iorga, E. Lzrescu, G. Mihil, J. Milin, G. U. Mircea, M.A.Musicescu, S. der Nersessian, C. Nicolescu, G. Oprescu, P. P. Panaitescu, S. Petrescu, S. Pucariu, P. A. Syrcu, P. J.Bucureti, .

N. Iorga, La guration desvanglistes dans lart roumain et lcolchypriote-valaque, inBuletinul comisiunmonumentelor istorice, XXVL, fasc. , charest, , pp. - and the works fmentioned.

E. Lzrescu, rei manuscrimoldoveneti de la Muzeul de Art alRepublicii Populare Romne, in:Cultu-ra moldoveneasc n timpul lui tefan ce Mare, Bucharest, , pp. - mention about the on p. ).

G. Mihil, Manuscrisele luiGavriil Uric de la Neam i nsemntatelor lologic, in:Studii de lingvistic si lologie, imioara, , pp. - .

J. Milin, Din istoricul cercetmanuscriselor slavo-romne, in:Studii deslavistic, imioara, , pp. - , ecially pages , , , .

G. U. Mircea , Contribution la vie et louvre de Gavriil Uric,Revues detudes Sud-Est Europennes, vol. Vl, no. Bucharest, .

M. A. Musicescu (illustrationUlea),Vorone , Bucharest, .

S. der Nersessian, wo SlavParallels of the Greek etraevangelia: P, in:Te Art Bulletin, t. IX,

, nr . C. Nicolescu, Miniatura i

ornamentul crii manuscrise din rileRomne. Sec. XlV-XVlll , Introd. by M.H.Maxy, Catalogue of an Exhibition in theNational Museum of Arts, Bucharest,July-September .

Istoria artelor plastice nRomnia, ed. by G. Oprescu (ed.), vol.

Bucharest, , pp. - . P. Panaitescu & D. Bogdan, FPall et. al. (eds),Documente privind istorRomniei (sic), vol. , Bucharest,

S. Petrescu,Odoarele de la Neami Secu [Te treasures from Neam andSecu], Bucharest, .

S. Pucariu,Istoria literaturiiromne. Epoca veche[Te History of Romanian Literature. Te Ancient Epoch], Sib

. P. A. Syrku, Zametki o slavy

skikh i russkikh rukopisyakh v Bodleia



afaik, . urdeanu, S. Ulea, and F. Uspenski. In literature thereare references to Mihai Berzas con-tribution on the manuscript, but sofar the research has not found outin which publication his contribu-tion were made.

As an example of the treatmentthis manuscript has received we canshow that, in his bookPaleograaromno-slav [Romanian-SlavonicPalaeography], D. P. Bogdan men-tions either the Uric Gospel or itsauthor together with its work morethan times in the pages, com-prising the treatise part o the book(the other part o the book, whichBogdan calls albume, has pag-

es).Ion Bianu presented the Tetrae- vangelia to the rst Congress oLibrary v Oksforde,Iyvestija Otdelenijarusskogo jazyka I slovesnosti, vol. Vll, Book

, St. Petersburg , pp. - . P. J. afaik,Geschichte der ser-

bishen Literatur , Prague , pp. - ;he quotes Solaris, but acknowledges thatsince , when the latests work was writ-ten in Venice, the Gospel was boughtby the Bodleian Library. urdeanu men-

tions both these researchers in footnote of his Te Oldest Illuminated Manuscript, p. .

urdeanu, Te Oldest Illumi-nated Manuscript, pp. - , andalso Les letters slaves en Moldavie: lemoine Gabriel du monastre de Neamu,in:Revues des tudes Slaves, XXVll ;Miniatura bulgar i nceputurile min-iaturii romneti,Buletinul Institutuluiromn din Soa, no. l, Bucharest , p.

- . S. Ulea, Gavril Uric, primul art-

ist romn cunoscut, in:Studii i cercetride istoria artei (SCIA), Arta plastic Se-ries, vol. Xl, no. , Bucharest , pp. -

, and Gavril Uric. Studiu paleograc, vol. XXVlll, idem, ; Gavril Ieromona-hul, autorul frescelor de la Blneti, in:Cultura moldoveneasc n vremea lui tefancel Mare, Bucharest .

F. B. Uspenski, O nekotoryhslavjanskich i poslavjanski psannych ru-kopisjach, chranjaichsju u Londone i Ox-forde, in:urnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveenija, CC (LL ?) ), pp. - .

Byzantinology which took placein Bucharest in . He showedcolour reproductions o the mostimportant ornaments in the manu-script, which I have also includedin this article (Bianus presentationis mentioned in one o Turdeanusarticles). Additionally, the respec-tive images were published in hisstudy Evanghelia slavo-greacscris n mnstirea Neamului dinMoldova de Gavriil Monahul la

[Slavonic-Greek Gospel writ-ten in Neam Monastery in Molda- via by Gavril the Monk in ].

MS. Canon. Gr. in the Bodle-ian has also been mentioned brieyin many books and catalogues. For

example J. D. A. Barnicot describesit in the catalogueTe Slavonic MSSin the Bodleian as being written inSlavonic o the Bulgarian recensionand Greek. , Sirku I, no. . Gheorghe Popescu-Vlcea men-tions it in his books, and SextilPucariu, in hisIstoria literaturiiromne has a re erence to it and re-produces our plates rom the man-

urdeanu, Te Oldest Illuminat-ed MS, p. J. D. A. Barnicot,Te Slavonic

MSS in the Bodleian, vol. , no. , ,entry , S. C. , p. [S. C. meansSummary Catalogue]. Tis list of Slavon-ic manuscripts in Cyrillic and Glagoliticcharacters reproduced, with some addi-tional notes and references, a previousone compiled by Dr. Craster [no precisedate offered, but only the note that it waswritten some years ago during work on theSummary Catalogue of Western MSS].

Te date and Sirku notations refers to thedescription of the manuscripts done by P.A. Sirku in hisZametki o slavyannskikh irusskikh rukopisyakh. All this informationis given by Barnicot inTe Slavonic MSS,p. .

G. Popescu-Vlcea, Miniaturaromneasc, Bucharest , plate , andp. , and in its French translation , Laminiature roumaine, and also inCrile populare miniate i ornate [Popular booksilluminated and decorated], Bucharest,

.

uscript. Also, Evangelina Smirn va mentions vangile moldave moine Gavriil Uric ( ), OxBodleian Library, Cod. Canon. g

.; she also re ers to an articby S. Ulea about the monk GavriUric. In his catalogue o Gos-pel manuscripts Kurt Aland listsMs. Canon. Gr. among othedocuments rom the Bodleian. Hdescribes it shortly in terms o laguages, size, and number o pages. Studi Medievali, Serie Terza,contains the ollowing re erence C Moldavian illumination.Slavonic and Greek gospels writtin at the monastery o Netzyn [sic] (Cod. Canon. Gr. )

Nicolescu re ers to the manuscrias ollows: Written on parchmethe Slavonic text on a ull-page,the Greek translation (sic!) on themargins. Coloured rich decorativheadpieces ormed by interlinkeand intertwined circles precedethe beginning o each Gospel. portraits o the our evangelistson the ull page, writing in rono their desks, stand out rom thgolden background, surrounded b vegetal rames. Popescu-Vlcea

Pucariu,Istoria literaturiiromne. Epoca veche, p. ? [the page facithe title page], Plate of St. Evangelist Lcolour, p. ? [the page facing p. ] Tbeginning of Matthews Gospel, colourlatest repeats itself in black and white.

E. Smirnova, Un manuscritillustr indit du premiere tiers du XV-esicle, in:Byzantine East, Latin West. Art-Historical Studies in honor of Kurt

Weitzmann, ed. by C. Moss and K. KiefPrinceton, , pp. , . In fooof her article S. Uleas works Gavril Uprimul artist roman cunoscut is men-tioned.

K. Aland,Kurzgefasste Liste deGriechischen der handschri en des Nev

estaments, Berlin, New York, , p.entry .

Studi Medievali, Serie erza, voV, no. , , p. , entry C.

C. Nicolescu, Miniatura i orna-mentul crii manuscrise, Entry , p.



mentions: Tetraevangelia o .Bodleian Library Ox ord (Cod.Can. Graeci ), Figs. - . Parch-ment. Written in Slavonic, with aGreek text on the margin. Fron-tispieces [worked] in interlaces: ff.

r, r, r, r. e miniatures the evangelists: Matthew, . v;Mark, . v; Luke, . v; John,

. v. en he describes eachimage o the evangelists and repro-duces them, as well as the Epilogueo Urics Gospel. He acknowledgesas the source or his reproductiono the images Bianus Evangheliaslavo-greac. K. Sp. Staikos repro-duces in colour and describes thegures o St John the Evangelist

and o St Luke o Stiri [Figs. in his book] rom the Slavonicmanuscript Gospel, written bythe copyist Gavril in (Canon.gr. , ols. v, v). Byz-antinische Zeitschri , , re ersto the iconography o the Greekmanuscripts in Moldavia underMetropolitan Makarios and in thiscontext Turdeanus article eOldest Illuminated Moldavian MS-Canon Gr. is mentioned. e journal also re ers to the style othe characters o the Greek text onthe Urics manuscript.

my trans. etraevangile de . Bibli-

otque Bodlienne, Oxford (Cod. Can.Graeci ) Fig. - , Parchemin. Ecrit enslavon, avec texte grec en marge. Fron-tispice en entrelacs: ff. r, r, r, r.

Miniatures: les vanglistes: , f.v; , f. v; , f. v; ,f. v. Popescu-Vlcea,La miniatureroumaine, p. . Te gures of the Evange-lists are reproduced in his book on pp. [- ]; the pages have not been numberedby the author. Some of them also containdetails from the gures, and on p. thereare the captions of the images.

K. Sp. Staikos,Te great librariei,pp. (Figs. ), - (captions).

Byzantinische Zeitschri , Stutt-gart, , vol. XLX, p.

. ..

Turdeanu considers the Tetrae- vangel o Neam as one o themost remarkable manuscripts inthe entire Slavic literature o theMiddle Ages, and today it is stillone o the Bodleian Librarys mostprecious acquisitions. Der Nerses-sian, who mentions Urics manu-script in Ox ord in the context oa discussion about the collectionParisinus Graecus , considersit as one o the most important[manuscripts] written during thereign o Alexander the Kind.

It initially had leaves, andthis is noted in some o the bibli-

ography, as or example in HenryO. Coxs catalogue. However, ifone counts the blank page from thebeginning, the two pages with thetranslations of the colophon, andthe last page which is blank, then

leaves can be counted; Chris-tian Jensen and Martin Kauffmanncount . Teir reckoning is trueif a hand-written note in Italian,now glued on the inside front cover,is not taken into consideration. Te

urdeanu, La broderie religieuseen Roumanie. Les pitaphisi moldaves auXV et XVl-e sicles, in:Cercetri literare, vol. , Bucharest, , p. , footnote ;my translation.

Der Nersessian , wo SlavonicParallels, pp. - ; my translation.

H. O. Cox, Bodleian LibraryQuarto Catalogues. Greek Manuscripts (reprinted with corrections from theedition of ), Bodleian Library, Oxford

, cat. l, part ll, col. . (Te originaltitle of the catalogue was:Catalogi codicummanuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars prima recensionem codicum Grae-corum continuens, Confecit Henricus O.Coxe, A. M., Hypo-Bibliothecarus, Oxonii:E ypographeo Academico, MDCCCLIV).

C. Jensen and M. Kauffmann, AContinental Shelf. Books across Europe fromPtolemy to Don Quixote. An exhibition tomark the re-opening of the Bodleian Exhi-bition Room, Oxford , catalogue entry

, p. .

note mentions shortly some of thcharacteristics of the manuscriptand of its language, stating that itis written in a traditional idiom oRussian language (as close to Rsian as the uscan dialect is to thspoken in Venice).

Te size of Ms. Canon. Grae-ci. is x cm ( urdean x mm (Jensen & Kauffman). I have measured it myself

Levangelio in lingua Illiricafu scritto in Moldovalachia per ordinedella principessa Moglie di Alessandrolanno , Marzo, da un certo Gabriele Monaco, glio di Urih (sic) in unconvento appartenente alla Germania(sic). Eli carratteri sono di una eccelentperfezione, pero nell espresione moltodifferenti, quasi in ogni riga, cosicche npu, esser intlligible, che da pi praticdella Lingua Russa, e della istoria dellegelio; e la differenza consiste nell idiomcome differenze , Lidioma toscano daVeneziano. Visono le stesse parole, manonespress lingualmente. Lortograa mostioltissi luoghi differente, da qudipende la differente pronunzia. p.e useune predana siot. Nell vangelio scrittusio une predana sut. Te text translates Te Evangel in the Illyrian language wwritten in Moldovlahia on the orders of

Princess Marina, the wife of Alexander [ ], March, be a certain the Monk, the son of Uric, in a conventbelonging to Germany (sic). Its characters[letters] are well [clearly] drawn; however their expression is very different withregard to their meaning in such a man-ner that they can be understood only bysomeone who knows the Russian langu very well; the difference [between Rusand the language of this Gospel Iliricconsists in the idiom. Te difference is thsame as the difference between the os

and Venetian idioms. In both there are tsame words, but they are not expressedin the same way from the phonetic poinof view. In many situations, the orthogrphy of some languages is different and depends on the pronunciation, i.e. on thdialect. Te dialect of this Evangel is traditional []?; page glued on the versothe rst cover. Unknown author, probabCanonici himself or a librarian (?). Tetranslation here was made by Dr. MariaCiuc, with essential corrections made Prof. Peter Mackridge.



and found that the covers are xcm, the width of the pages about

. cm, with some little differencesfrom page to page depending onthe angle of opening and how muchof the page goes under the binding.

Cleminsons description of themanuscript made in the A Unioncatalogue of Cyrillic manuscripts re-

ers to the documents pages, as ol-lows: i+ +i leaves, oliated (i), ( ),

, ( - ). Earlier paginationo ff. : - (rectos only), ( -

), , ( - ), - , ( - ), ,( - ), - ( - ), , ( - ),

- ; on ff. v- iv, - ; on ff.v- , - ; and on ff. v- ,

- . In my correspondence with

Dr. Barker-Beneld it is stated thatStandard Bodleian practice in foli-ating does not distinguish betweenoriginal and later leaves; so underour system there are leaves [...]of which fols. - are originalparchment leaves, fols. and are(early?) blank parchment yleaves,and fols. - are later paper in-serts. Te present calf leather covers were added in the nineteenthcentury. Te marks of the previousbinding are still visible across thepages. Tey indicated that probablythe book previously had what wasthe usual silver Gospel covers in theMiddle Ages.

In theBodleian Library QuartoCatalogues: Greek Manuscripts,compiled by Cox, Ms is intro-duced as Codex Illyricus membra-naceus, in olio, ff. , anno

Cleminson, A Union catalogue ofCyrillic manuscripts, p. .

Barker-Beneld, correspondencefrom December .

Discussion with Dr. Barker-Ben-eld on December , when I gave alecture in the New Bodleian Library onthe Ms. Canon. Gr. for the Centre for theStudy of the Book, University of Oxfordand Romanian Cultural Institute, Londonbranch (which nancially supported thelecture).

[sic!], written by manu Gabrieliscuiusdem monachi in Moldaviaexaratus. One o its descriptionssays, in the words o Jensen andKauffmann, that e BulgarianChurch Slavonic text is written inuncial script: each Gospel beginswith a decorated headpiece, goldtitle, and decorated initial. epericopes, or liturgical readings,are marked in the text, and theirappointed days are given in themargins.

e text o the colophon o Ms.Canon. Gr. on ol. r says the

ollowing:(a) y ()

/ ( )() () ()() ()/ () () () / ,p () / ()

, /X(pcto)- cc

paa, oaoae cca o, / , cpc ( )c( )a apa (), p ko/ apa aa, c(i)aOypkoa, e cca H eko / acp.

Cox, Bodleian Library QuartoCatalogue, cat. l, part ll, col. . When Ilast checked this catalogue, in Nov. , I

noticed that the words Illyricus and cui-usdem have been crossed out by someoneshandwriting (the librarians?)

Jensen and Kauffmann, A Conti-nental Shelf , p. . Tey base their de-scription on Cox, Bodleian Library QuartoCatalogues, cat. l, part ll, col. ; ur-deanu, Te Oldest Illuminated MoldavianManuscript, pp. - , and Cleminson, A Union catalogue of Cyrillic manuscriptsin British and Irish collections. In this exhi-bition of in the Bodleian Library MsCanon. Gr. was entry .

is translates:With the blessing o theFather, the teaching o theSon, and the ullment (per-

ection) o the Holy Spiritthis Four Gospel book waswritten during [the reign] othe devoted Orthodox rulingPrince Alexandru Voievode,the Master o all the land oMoldo-Vlachia, and o hiswi e Marina. eir love orthe word o Christ madethem ask or this writing tobe done. In the year (i.e

); nished on the th oMarch, by the hand o Ga-briel, the son o Uric, in themonastery o Neamu.

Two translations o the colophwith the Old Slavonic text aboveone in Italian and one in French,were inserted at the back on themanuscript; there are no indica-tions as who made these transla-tions and inserted them betweenthe covers o the Gospel.

Popescu-Vlcea also includesa French translation o the col-ophon in his above-mentionedwork, and by comparing his textwith the other one at the back othe etraevangeliar one can noticesome differences between thesetwo translations written at differetimes, Popescu-Vlceas being thmost recent.

. . .

As mentioned above, Ion Bianreproduces ten images rom

the manuscript and describes theaccurately saying, that on our lios there are reproductions o thopening pages o the our Gospeach o them with two headings

A translation of monk Gavrilsnote in Slavonic was made by urdeanuTe Oldest Illuminated Moldavian Manuscript, p. . But the translation hermy own.



colour, one or the Slav text, whichis the main one, and another one,smaller, or the Greek text [Figs. a,

b, c, d]. On other our olios theaces o the Evangelists are repro-

duced [Figs. a, b, c, d]. A oliohas secondary ornamentation andinitials on it [Fig. ], and the nal

olio has the epilogue o the textcontaining valuable data regard-ing its origins [Fig. ]. O a specialimportance are the portraits o theEvangelists, both or the variegatedand rich borders and or the archi-tectural moti s [which surroundthem], but especially or the man-ner in which the artist treats thegures o the writers.

Turdeanu is also one o thespecialists who describe in detailthe decorations o the Ms. Canon.Gr. . His meticulous descriptiondeserves reproduction here: eminiatures represent the portraitso the our evangelists, each on a

ull page. e ornament consists olarge geometrical decorative head-pieces which precede each gospel.

e analysis o these themes en-ables us to establish certain inter-esting acts about the origin o theminiature painting and decorationsin Moldavian manuscripts. eevangelists are represented sittingat their work-table, in ront o anarchitectural scene. eir arrange-ment aims at a deliberate sym-metry: Matthew, with head bent,seems lost in thought, Mark andLuke are writing, John looks atten-tively into distance. Matthew is old,Mark and Luke are middle-aged,John has white hair and beard.Matthew is sitting in a large round-backed chair beside a low tablewith writing implements and with

Bianu (ed.), Evanghelia slavo-greac scris n mnstirea Neamuluidin Moldova de Gavriil Monahul la ,p. ; my translation. Te reproductionsalso from Bianus work, pp. - .

a higher desk, on which is un oldedthe parchment with the gospeltext: Mark and Luke are sitting onslightly sloping backless benchesand holding on their knees theparchment book or roll on whichthey are writing; John is also sittingin a broad round-backed chair, be-side a marble pedestal which sup-port a desk with a closed book. eevangelists heads are circled withhaloes; beneath their eet they havea little podium; their clothing con-sists o chiton and himation. eirexpressions are lively, their statureis lofy, the draperies o their cloth-ing are rich. An interesting detail:the Apostle Luke wears a tonsure.

e architectural themes whichdecorate the background o theminiatures are antastic. A portico

ormed o columns can be seenin the portrait o Matthew, abovewhich rises a little church and ourtowers. In the portrait o Mark oneobserves a palace in ront o whichthere is a large baldachino support-ed on our thin porphyry columns.Again a palace o a stranger type,but one not unknown to Byzan-tine miniature, occupies the back-ground o Lukes portrait, while thepalace which appears in Johns is oa orm not met with elsewhere.

In the end of his thoroughdescription he concludes that thedecoration should be read, at leastpartially, through a Byzantine key:Te model of the OxfordGospels was certainly borrowed direct romByzantium, the place rom whichthe Metropolitans o Moldavia atthis period came. eepitaphios o the Metropolitan Macarius in

regarding which I shall re erbelowhas not only a Byzantinemodel; its very inscription is inGreek. Greek too is the inscription

urdeanu, Te Oldest Illuminat-ed Manuscript, pp. - .

o the stole o Alexander the Gobut, as Iorga has shown, the namo the Prince is quoted in its Ru-manian orm Alexandru, not in itsGreek orm Alexandros.

urdeanu draws attention to thfact that this type of representa-tion of the evangelists is not founeither in Serbian or in Bulgarianminiature, where, in the rare casewhere such portraits are depictedtheir representation is in the forof small medallions enclosed in abroad band of ornament. He hasproblems in nding the source ofthis type, as he has also in ndinthe origin of the vignettes. Teyconsist in interlinked circles in v

ous arrangements, loosely or cloconnected, with decorative detail some cut by diagonals. urdeaconcludes that the frontispieces blong to a broader tradition, alreadnoticeable in the manuscript copby Gavriil in Omiliile Sf.Grigorie de Nazianz cu comentarIui Nichita al Heracleii ( ) [TeHomilies of St Gregory the Nazinus, with commentaries by Nikitof Heraklea], and which was welrepresented in Serbia. He points to an aspect of Ms. Canon. Gr. which might surprise any researcer: even though written originallin Old Slavonic of the Bulgarianrecension, in its iconography themanuscript has more similaritieswith Serbian rather than Bulgariincunabula: Vignettes, some idetical, other similar, have been fouin Byzantine and Serbian manu-scripts. On the other hand, it hasso far been impossible to establisany interesting parallel with Bulg

Ibid., p. .Ibid .Omiliile Sf. Grigorie de Nazian

cu comentariile Iui Nichita al Heracleii ( ) [Te Homilies of St Gregory theNazianus, with commentaries by NikitaHeraklea],



ian art. Tis, in fact, should notbe a surprise since, in general, thearts of the time especially thearchitecture reect the Serbianinuence in addition to that moreobvious Byzantine, and urdeanuemphasises that in his article. I havementioned elsewhere the inuencefrom the Serbian kingdom of thefourteenth to eenth centuriesmanifested in Romanian arts. Per-haps the correct statement wouldbe in this context to affirm a Byzan-tine inuence manifested in Serbia,and then spread to the RomanianPrincipalities.

Jensen and Kauffmann also ex-plain the manuscripts iconography

as being painted in the Byzantinestyle. Furthermore, they affirmthat this is to be expected since theprincipalities to the North o theDanube were in the area o Byzan-tine inuence: Moldavia (which joined Walachia to orm the state oRomania in ) was an indepen-dent principality at this period; butByzantine inuence continued inall types o artistic production, andis evident here in the Evangelistportrait preceding each Gospel. Iorga and Bal also speak of Byz-antine inuence on the culture ofRomanian principalities in gener-al. Iorga even mentions once Con-stantinopleen passant and with noproo s as the place where GavriilUric would have been educated,

urdeanu, Te Oldest Illuminat-

ed Manuscript, pp. . (Ibid ur ). E. Ene D-Vasilescu,Inspirationand innovation: orthodox art in Roma-nian lands in the fourteenth and eenthcenturies, Proceedings of the st Interna-tional Congress of Byzantine Studies, vol. ,Aldershote/London , pp. - .

Jensen and Kauffmann, A Conti-nental Shelf , catalogue entry (classiedas Slavonic Gospel, Neamtu, Moldavia,

), p. . Iorga and Bal,Histoire de lart

roumaine ancient , p. .

even though he does this only onceand never repeats the idea. In awork written shortly a er the abovestatement was made Iorga tempershis affirmation and says that itcan only be suggested that monkGavriil could have learnt the skillsin miniature and ms illumination inByzantium: One should thereforestate Byzance as a source, withoutbeen able to be more precise thanthat.

Vasile Drgu re ers to the artis-tic works o that time in Moldova(embroideries included, becausethe painters made the cartoons-patterns or them), in the ollowingterms: Starting rom iconographic

schemes o Byzantine tradition,the Moldavian painters [] haveproven a real maturity in theirconception o the closed architec-ture orms, which are balancedand calm, in which the internaltensions allow themselves to becontrolled by a restrained solem-nity. All these qualities are to be

ound in the Tetraevangel o Prin-cess Marina, the work o one o themost important Romanian paint-ers o the Middle Age, Gavril Uric,monk and illuminator rom NeamMonastery. e son o a courtcalligrapher, Gavril was himselskilled in the technique, the proobeing the twelve manuscripts lefby him. Among them, the Tetrae- vangel accomplished in on theorder o the Princess is a veritablemasterwork, pointing to an artisticpersonality o undoubted original-ity. It is interesting to notice that,

Iorga, In jurul pomenirii luiAlexandru cel Bun, Analele AcademieiRomane, Mem. Secia Istorie, Series lll, vol.

, Bucharest, - , p. . It faut donc retenir comme source

Byzance, sans pouvoir prciser . Iorga,Lesartes mineurs en Roumanie, Bucharest

, pp. - ; my translation, his empha-sis.

even though the objects underdiscussion are illuminated worksthe conception behind the imagesis rather one o a monumentalpainter. Covering in its entiretythe guard page (the page preced-ing each o the our gospels),

Psaltiki Journal 04

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