Legacies and entanglements religious identity, cultural tradition and political order in the Byzantine Sphere von Nunzio Bianchi, Mircea Dulus
Etudes Byzantines et Post-Byzantines

Kategorie: Bücher
Seiten / Format: 319 S.; Broschiert
Erscheinungsjahr: 2023
Verlag: Heidelberg, Herlo
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN: 378553
Auflage / Bände: Nouvelle Serie tome V (XI) 2023

ISSN 0259-0913

György Geréby (Central European University, Vienna)
One Sword or Two? The Theology of the Byzantine Solution
The main issues in Byzantine political theology have a theological grounding. The vision of
Novel 6 of Justinian offered a lasting formula for the relationship between the Emperor and the
Church, different from the Western foundational text, the Letter of Pope Gelasius to Emperor
Anastasius. The persistence of the formula can be seen even at the end of the fourteenth
century in the strange letter of Patriarch Anthony IV to the Grand Prince of Moscow, defending
the office of the emperor. In opposition to a large part of the scholarly literature, this essay
attempts to offer reasons why the Byzantine emperor did not have a sacerdotal character and
why he was no absolute ruler of the Church's spiritual mission. Instead of the modern term
"separation of powers", the Byzantine idea was based on the division of offices and their
inseparable conjugated role, implying a principled cooperation and symphony with
eschatological implications. Hence, the Western conflict about investiture and its central
allegory of the "two swords" did not emerge in the Byzantine discourse, albeit the Western
debate was known in imperial circles. The two offices remained conjoined in the East.
Therefore, there could be only one "sword", as shown in the conflict between Emperor Michael
VIII Palaiologos and Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos. The role of Melchizedek cannot be used
to justify the priestly role of the emperor.

Daniel Oltean (KU Leuven)
Greek Palestinian Networks in Rome:
Monks, Texts, and Customs on the Move after the Arab Conquest (7th–9th cent.)
The paper investigates the role of Palestinian monastic migration in shaping the religious
identity in Rome between the seventh and ninth centuries. It discusses persons, writings, and
customs of Palestinian origin travelling to the West and significantly influencing the religious
life of the city. The paper argues that this movement created a mixed Latin-Greek religious
identity, including anti-Monothelite and anti-Iconoclast arguments promoted by Palestinian
monks, patristic and hagiographic texts from the East, and liturgical practices first used in
Palestine.

Linda Safran (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto)
From Sinai to Southern Italy: The Symbolic Geography of Saint Catherine
This paper evaluates the evidence for the cult of Saint Catherine of Alexandria/Sinai in
Byzantine and post-Byzantine southern Italy as a way of interrogating Byzantium's symbolic
geography. It considers the movement of people and books both eastward and westward;
hagiotoponyms, onomastics, and literary evidence; Catherine's relics and frescoed vita cycles
in Italy; and architectural analogies between one of the saint's cult sites in Italy and her basilica
on Mount Sinai.

Mircea Dulus (Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest)
Eugenios of Palermo's Theory of Kingship:
Political Legitimacy, Hierarchy and the Order of Society
This article explores Eugenios of Palermo's theory of kingship as enclosed in his Poem XXI
(ed. M. Gigante). Eugenios presents a theoretical framework which refrains from speaking of
the king's divine rights or his ministry through the will of God. Instead, he proposes a theory of
elective kingship in which he suggests that the earthly rulers are "appointed from among
ourselves to rule with our consent". The analysis argues that this theory is unlikely to have
been propagated during the reign of William I or William II as hitherto presumed in
scholarship. Instead, it suggests that the poem was a propaganda tract meant to establish the
legitimacy of Tancred of Lecce's claims to the Norman throne. It may have been prepared for
Tancred's coronation or his heirs, Roger III or William III.

Michele Trizio (University of Bari)
The Boundaries of Scholarly and Philosophical Life in Byzantium: A Sociological Approach
Taking a cue from a recent paper that dismisses Byzantine philosophers as mere scholars
incapable of producing innovations, this paper suggests that Byzantine intellectuals from the
eleventh to twelfth-century regarded scholarship as a spiritual endeavour that leads to a blessed
lifestyle. An analysis of four significant figures in Byzantine intellectual life makes it clear that
scholarship and paideia should not be disregarded as the token for a merely antiquarian interest
in antiquity but rather as tools for achieving perfection in this life. This special status of
perfection is often characterised as an intermediate between an upper and lower boundary, to
be identified with philosophy and rhetoric. Finally, the paper locates the self-representation
strategy of the Byzantine intellectuals within the broader picture of European intellectual life in
the Middle Ages.

Nunzio Bianchi (University of Bari)
Between Rhetorical and Practical Use in the Late Thirteenth-Century:

Photios' Letter 11 in the Ms. Barocci 131
In the Ms. Oxford Bodl. Libr. Barocci 131, dated to the second half of the thirteenth century
and copied by many scribes, is transcribed Photios' letter 11, never collated so far. It is unclear
why Photios' letter was copied in Barocci 131. Still, it can be argued that it has been collected
in this manuscript for possible rhetorical interests and practical use by officials and secretaries,
such as Nikephoros Alyates, active in the Empire of Nicaea and the early Palaeologan
chancery.

Chiara D'Agostini (University of Southern Denmark)
Reading the Ptolemaic Oikoumene in the Late Thirteenth-century Constantinople:
between Science, Cultural Appropriation and Politics
At the end of the thirteenth century, the Byzantine polymath Maximos Planudes claimed to
have rediscovered the long-coveted text of Ptolemy's Geography, a second century
geographical treatise meant to provide a scientific way to represent the world into maps. With
the sponsorship of the emperor Andronikos II, Planudes supervised an edition of the work and
celebrated it by penning five epigrams on the Geography. Beyond the substantial impact of this
enterprise on the textual transmission of the work, Planudes' approach to the Geography
encapsulated in his epigrams can tell us more about the social, cultural and political context in
which this treatise was received and engaged with. This paper looks specifically at this reading
and use of the Geography with the objective to gain new insight into the symbolic function
assumed by the Ptolemaic oikoumene in the early Palaiologan context. By underlining how this
renewed attention to geography was not merely the result of erudite interest, I will look at
geography as something functional to historically situated constructions of space and power.
My analysis will offer the possibility of tracing a distinctive late Byzantine approach to
geography by connecting the interest in spatiality to contemporary political concerns, leading
to a fresher reading of the Palaiologan appropriation of the Geography.

Antonio Rigo (Ca' Foscari University of Venice)
Mystical Intersections around 1300. Elijah's Posture on Mount Carmel
The article deals with the body position used for prayer by Byzantine monks in the first half of
the 14th century, as witnessed by Gregory of Sinai and Gregory Palamas, was well known and
practised in that same period by Jewish pietists and Muslim Sufis in Alexandria with a
common awareness of the precedent represented by the episode of Elijah on Mount Carmel.
The parallel between these practices and their reinterpretations in the three religious milieus
suggests that we are dealing with some form of interaction, rather than with a chance
convergence. The direct relations between ?asidim and Egyptian Sufis are well attested, while
positive testimonies about the relations with the Byzantine monks seem to be lacking.

Florin Leonte (Palacký University Olomouc)
Addressing Power in Joseph Bryennios' Epistolography: Metaphors and Figurative Discourse
Known as a prolific fifteenth-century Byzantine court preacher, Joseph Bryennios lived during
a period of upheaval in Byzantium's political and ecclesiastical milieu. During his sojourn in
Crete and shortly after his return to Constantinople in 1402, Bryennios used his rhetorical skills
to become a close confidant to Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. This article investigates the
metaphoric language in Bryennios' letters, by connecting it to differences in addressee status
and changing social order. Evident in his epistolography is a transition from an exile seeking a
higher social standing to a well-placed figure within Constantinople's scholarly circles. By
examining his use of visual analogies, the study uncovers how Bryennios constructed
relationships with high-ranking ecclesiastics and negotiated authority. These metaphors and
rhetorical devices, embedded in his letters, not only signalled his evolving social standing but
also reinforced shared representations of power and friendship with his audience, fostering
deeper understanding and acceptance. Bryennios' letters thus offer an insight into the interplay
of language, rhetoric, and power during late Byzantium.

Mihai Tipau (Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest)
From Byzantium to Phanar. The Relics of Saint Theophano the Empress
For more than a century and a half, it was assumed by Byzantine scholars that everything was
well-established about the relics of Saint Theophano the Empress. From the Church of the
Holy Apostles in Constantinople, then to the adjacent Church of the All Saints and the
Monastery of Saint Constantine, it was thought that the relics were translated in post-Byzantine
times to the Church of Pammakaristos and then to the subsequent patriarchal cathedrals and
finally to the Saint George Church in Phanar where they lie today. However, thorough research
involving a wide range of historical sources (Greek, Italian, French, Slavonic, and Arabic) –
little known or neglected by previous studies, suggests otherwise. As most of the other relics
kept in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George cannot be tracked down in Byzantine
Constantinople (an exception is the Column of the Flagellation), it is possible that they were
brought to the city after 1453. The study follows the evidence related to the relics of Saint
Theophano in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine times, uncovering a far more complex history
than hitherto suspected.

Radu G. Paun (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris)
« Pour que le Seigneur les reçoive dans Son royaume ». La mémoire des donateurs valaques et
moldaves au monastère athonite de Hilandar (ms. Hilandar 511)
The memorial books of the Athonite monasteries were only rarely approached by scholars, who
generally paid little or no attention at all to the liturgical commemoration of the ktetors by the
Athonite communities. The present essay deals with a memorial book kept in the library of
Hilandar monastery (ms. Hilandar 511, 17th-18th centuries). The analysis of this valuable
document sheds light on the relations between the "great Serbian lavra" and the principalities
of Wallachia and Moldavia and provides relevant clues for the study of the commemoration
practices. The part under scrutiny (ff. 1r-v, 7r-v, 10v) is published in the Appendix (transcription
and facsimile).

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