Legacies and entanglements religious identity, cultural tradition and political order in the Byzantine Sphere

ISSN 0259-0913\r\n\r\nGyörgy Geréby (Central European University, Vienna)\r\nOne Sword or Two? The Theology of the Byzantine Solution\r\nThe main issues in Byzantine political theology have a theological grounding. The vision of\r\nNovel 6 of Justinian offered a lasting formula for the relationship between the Emperor and the\r\nChurch, different from the Western foundational text, the Letter of Pope Gelasius to Emperor\r\nAnastasius. The persistence of the formula can be seen even at the end of the fourteenth\r\ncentury in the strange letter of Patriarch Anthony IV to the Grand Prince of Moscow, defending\r\nthe office of the emperor. In opposition to a large part of the scholarly literature, this essay\r\nattempts to offer reasons why the Byzantine emperor did not have a sacerdotal character and\r\nwhy he was no absolute ruler of the Church’s spiritual mission. Instead of the modern term\r\n“separation of powers”, the Byzantine idea was based on the division of offices and their\r\ninseparable conjugated role, implying a principled cooperation and symphony with\r\neschatological implications. Hence, the Western conflict about investiture and its central\r\nallegory of the “two swords” did not emerge in the Byzantine discourse, albeit the Western\r\ndebate was known in imperial circles. The two offices remained conjoined in the East.\r\nTherefore, there could be only one “sword”, as shown in the conflict between Emperor Michael\r\nVIII Palaiologos and Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos. The role of Melchizedek cannot be used\r\nto justify the priestly role of the emperor.\r\n\r\nDaniel Oltean (KU Leuven)\r\nGreek Palestinian Networks in Rome:\r\nMonks, Texts, and Customs on the Move after the Arab Conquest (7th–9th cent.)\r\nThe paper investigates the role of Palestinian monastic migration in shaping the religious\r\nidentity in Rome between the seventh and ninth centuries. It discusses persons, writings, and\r\ncustoms of Palestinian origin travelling to the West and significantly influencing the religious\r\nlife of the city. The paper argues that this movement created a mixed Latin-Greek religious\r\nidentity, including anti-Monothelite and anti-Iconoclast arguments promoted by Palestinian\r\nmonks, patristic and hagiographic texts from the East, and liturgical practices first used in\r\nPalestine.\r\n\r\nLinda Safran (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto)\r\nFrom Sinai to Southern Italy: The Symbolic Geography of Saint Catherine\r\nThis paper evaluates the evidence for the cult of Saint Catherine of Alexandria/Sinai in\r\nByzantine and post-Byzantine southern Italy as a way of interrogating Byzantium’s symbolic\r\ngeography. It considers the movement of people and books both eastward and westward;\r\nhagiotoponyms, onomastics, and literary evidence; Catherine’s relics and frescoed vita cycles\r\nin Italy; and architectural analogies between one of the saint’s cult sites in Italy and her basilica\r\non Mount Sinai.\r\n\r\nMircea Dulus (Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest)\r\nEugenios of Palermo’s Theory of Kingship:\r\nPolitical Legitimacy, Hierarchy and the Order of Society\r\nThis article explores Eugenios of Palermo’s theory of kingship as enclosed in his Poem XXI\r\n(ed. M. Gigante). Eugenios presents a theoretical framework which refrains from speaking of\r\nthe king’s divine rights or his ministry through the will of God. Instead, he proposes a theory of\r\nelective kingship in which he suggests that the earthly rulers are “appointed from among\r\nourselves to rule with our consent”. The analysis argues that this theory is unlikely to have\r\nbeen propagated during the reign of William I or William II as hitherto presumed in\r\nscholarship. Instead, it suggests that the poem was a propaganda tract meant to establish the\r\nlegitimacy of Tancred of Lecce’s claims to the Norman throne. It may have been prepared for\r\nTancred’s coronation or his heirs, Roger III or William III.\r\n\r\nMichele Trizio (University of Bari)\r\nThe Boundaries of Scholarly and Philosophical Life in Byzantium: A Sociological Approach\r\nTaking a cue from a recent paper that dismisses Byzantine philosophers as mere scholars\r\nincapable of producing innovations, this paper suggests that Byzantine intellectuals from the\r\neleventh to twelfth-century regarded scholarship as a spiritual endeavour that leads to a blessed\r\nlifestyle. An analysis of four significant figures in Byzantine intellectual life makes it clear that\r\nscholarship and paideia should not be disregarded as the token for a merely antiquarian interest\r\nin antiquity but rather as tools for achieving perfection in this life. This special status of\r\nperfection is often characterised as an intermediate between an upper and lower boundary, to\r\nbe identified with philosophy and rhetoric. Finally, the paper locates the self-representation\r\nstrategy of the Byzantine intellectuals within the broader picture of European intellectual life in\r\nthe Middle Ages.\r\n\r\nNunzio Bianchi (University of Bari)\r\nBetween Rhetorical and Practical Use in the Late Thirteenth-Century:\r\n\r\nPhotios’ Letter 11 in the Ms. Barocci 131\r\nIn the Ms. Oxford Bodl. Libr. Barocci 131, dated to the second half of the thirteenth century\r\nand copied by many scribes, is transcribed Photios’ letter 11, never collated so far. It is unclear\r\nwhy Photios’ letter was copied in Barocci 131. Still, it can be argued that it has been collected\r\nin this manuscript for possible rhetorical interests and practical use by officials and secretaries,\r\nsuch as Nikephoros Alyates, active in the Empire of Nicaea and the early Palaeologan\r\nchancery.\r\n\r\nChiara D’Agostini (University of Southern Denmark)\r\nReading the Ptolemaic Oikoumene in the Late Thirteenth-century Constantinople:\r\nbetween Science, Cultural Appropriation and Politics\r\nAt the end of the thirteenth century, the Byzantine polymath Maximos Planudes claimed to\r\nhave rediscovered the long-coveted text of Ptolemy’s Geography, a second century\r\ngeographical treatise meant to provide a scientific way to represent the world into maps. With\r\nthe sponsorship of the emperor Andronikos II, Planudes supervised an edition of the work and\r\ncelebrated it by penning five epigrams on the Geography. Beyond the substantial impact of this\r\nenterprise on the textual transmission of the work, Planudes’ approach to the Geography\r\nencapsulated in his epigrams can tell us more about the social, cultural and political context in\r\nwhich this treatise was received and engaged with. This paper looks specifically at this reading\r\nand use of the Geography with the objective to gain new insight into the symbolic function\r\nassumed by the Ptolemaic oikoumene in the early Palaiologan context. By underlining how this\r\nrenewed attention to geography was not merely the result of erudite interest, I will look at\r\ngeography as something functional to historically situated constructions of space and power.\r\nMy analysis will offer the possibility of tracing a distinctive late Byzantine approach to\r\ngeography by connecting the interest in spatiality to contemporary political concerns, leading\r\nto a fresher reading of the Palaiologan appropriation of the Geography.\r\n\r\nAntonio Rigo (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)\r\nMystical Intersections around 1300. Elijah’s Posture on Mount Carmel\r\nThe article deals with the body position used for prayer by Byzantine monks in the first half of\r\nthe 14th century, as witnessed by Gregory of Sinai and Gregory Palamas, was well known and\r\npractised in that same period by Jewish pietists and Muslim Sufis in Alexandria with a\r\ncommon awareness of the precedent represented by the episode of Elijah on Mount Carmel.\r\nThe parallel between these practices and their reinterpretations in the three religious milieus\r\nsuggests that we are dealing with some form of interaction, rather than with a chance\r\nconvergence. The direct relations between ?asidim and Egyptian Sufis are well attested, while\r\npositive testimonies about the relations with the Byzantine monks seem to be lacking.\r\n\r\nFlorin Leonte (Palacký University Olomouc)\r\nAddressing Power in Joseph Bryennios’ Epistolography: Metaphors and Figurative Discourse\r\nKnown as a prolific fifteenth-century Byzantine court preacher, Joseph Bryennios lived during\r\na period of upheaval in Byzantium’s political and ecclesiastical milieu. During his sojourn in\r\nCrete and shortly after his return to Constantinople in 1402, Bryennios used his rhetorical skills\r\nto become a close confidant to Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. This article investigates the\r\nmetaphoric language in Bryennios’ letters, by connecting it to differences in addressee status\r\nand changing social order. Evident in his epistolography is a transition from an exile seeking a\r\nhigher social standing to a well-placed figure within Constantinople’s scholarly circles. By\r\nexamining his use of visual analogies, the study uncovers how Bryennios constructed\r\nrelationships with high-ranking ecclesiastics and negotiated authority. These metaphors and\r\nrhetorical devices, embedded in his letters, not only signalled his evolving social standing but\r\nalso reinforced shared representations of power and friendship with his audience, fostering\r\ndeeper understanding and acceptance. Bryennios’ letters thus offer an insight into the interplay\r\nof language, rhetoric, and power during late Byzantium.\r\n\r\nMihai Tipau (Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest)\r\nFrom Byzantium to Phanar. The Relics of Saint Theophano the Empress\r\nFor more than a century and a half, it was assumed by Byzantine scholars that everything was\r\nwell-established about the relics of Saint Theophano the Empress. From the Church of the\r\nHoly Apostles in Constantinople, then to the adjacent Church of the All Saints and the\r\nMonastery of Saint Constantine, it was thought that the relics were translated in post-Byzantine\r\ntimes to the Church of Pammakaristos and then to the subsequent patriarchal cathedrals and\r\nfinally to the Saint George Church in Phanar where they lie today. However, thorough research\r\ninvolving a wide range of historical sources (Greek, Italian, French, Slavonic, and Arabic) –\r\nlittle known or neglected by previous studies, suggests otherwise. As most of the other relics\r\nkept in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George cannot be tracked down in Byzantine\r\nConstantinople (an exception is the Column of the Flagellation), it is possible that they were\r\nbrought to the city after 1453. The study follows the evidence related to the relics of Saint\r\nTheophano in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine times, uncovering a far more complex history\r\nthan hitherto suspected.\r\n\r\nRadu G. Paun (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris)\r\n« Pour que le Seigneur les reçoive dans Son royaume ». La mémoire des donateurs valaques et\r\nmoldaves au monastère athonite de Hilandar (ms. Hilandar 511)\r\nThe memorial books of the Athonite monasteries were only rarely approached by scholars, who\r\ngenerally paid little or no attention at all to the liturgical commemoration of the ktetors by the\r\nAthonite communities. The present essay deals with a memorial book kept in the library of\r\nHilandar monastery (ms. Hilandar 511, 17th-18th centuries). The analysis of this valuable\r\ndocument sheds light on the relations between the “great Serbian lavra” and the principalities\r\nof Wallachia and Moldavia and provides relevant clues for the study of the commemoration\r\npractices. The part under scrutiny (ff. 1r-v, 7r-v, 10v) is published in the Appendix (transcription\r\nand facsimile).