Sokol Çunga

[Archival documents through the instruments of research: the instrumenta sutudiorum as means for evidencing, serving and fulfilling the legal obligations of the archives. The case of the Central State Archive of Albania.]

Aparati informativo-shkencor i fondit arkivor që ruhet në AQSh ka filluar të hartohet më 1963, pas shkëputjes së AQSh nga Ministria e Punëve të Brendshme, dhe vijon deri më sot. Pjesë e këtij aparati janë inventarët, skedarët, katalogu sistematik, skedari sistematik, katalogu tematik, katalogu gjeografik, katalogu emëror, katalogu lëndor, llojet e ndryshme të udhërrëfyesve, historiku i fondkrijuesit dhe historiku i fondit. Duke shfletuar të vetmen metodë pune të arkivistikës në Shqipëri, “Praktika arkivore në Shqipëri”, lehtësisht konstatohet se metoda e përgatitjes së aparatit informativo-shkencor është shpjeguar qartë, pavarësisht mangësive që paraqet për shkak të mungesës së përditësimit. Ndërkohë, përvoja e studimit dhe e punës me mjetet e kërkimit në AQSh vë në dukje menjëherë faktin se normat e manualit nuk janë zbatuar në çdo rast, se mjetet e kërkimit shpesh ndjekin metoda selektive, dhe se pasaktësitë e titujve të njësive të ruajtes reflektohen edhe në mjetet e kërkimit, duke ulur efikasitetin e këtyre të fundit. Një tjetër pengesë në shërbimin që duhet të ofrojnë mjetet e kërkimit është ideologjia e kohës në të cilën janë hartuar ato. Tema si homoseksualiteti apo vetëidentifikimi gjinor, diferencimi gjinor dhe diferencimi racor, të drejtat e njeriut, drejtësia sociale, jo vetëm që nuk përfshihen në katalogët tematikë apo lëndore. Këto tema hulumtimi, gjithmonë e më tepër në vëmendje të studiuesve të sotshëm nuk parashikohen as në tekstin bazë të metodës së punës arkivore, për shkak të mungesës së përditësimit të këtij teksti, çka do të thotë se nuk kemi ende një projekt konkret për t’i përfshirë në të ardhmen e afërt.
Qëllimi i kësaj kumtese është të ndërtojë një historik të shkurtër të punës me mjetet kërkimore në AQSh, të shqyrtojë arritjet dhe të metat e kësaj pune, si dhe të parashtrojë sugjerime për hartimin dhe përmirësimin e aparatit informativo-shkencor në të ardhmen.

Among the fonts of the Central State Archive, one of them is the collection of the “Monastery of the Saint John the Vladimir” (no. 138). These documents bear testimony, mainly, to the pastoral activity of the monastery, but also of its economical activity. The biggest part of the documents (10 registers), contain information about: the incomes and expenses of the monastery, its properties, buying and selling of properties, the names of those that were baptized, married or had their funeral service effectuated by the vicar of the monastery. Some of the documents contain chronics, as it is that about the travel of one of the abbots of the monastery to the Holy Land, chronics from the life of different hieromonachs who have served in the monastery, or copies of earlier chronics regarding the history of the monastery. These documents date from the middle of the 17th century, to the years ’30 of the 20th century.
It is of much interest to follow, through these documents, a part of the daily life of the monastery. The gifts dedicated quite often to the monastery, the preference of the Christians of the region for receiving the sacraments from the priests of this monastery, the systematic way in which is kept the inventory of the properties of the monastery, also the fact that the monastery was administered by a commission whose chair was the Metropolitan of Durres, show that the Monastery of St. John the Vladimir was frequently in the center of the attention for the local Christians.

The Central State Archive of Albania houses a byzantine manuscript, presented in this article for the first time. This manuscript has been separated in two pieces at an unknown time, probably before becoming part of the CSA collection and, mistakenly, each piece has been catalogued as a separated mss. The shelf number for them is Central State Archive, Fund “Kodikët e Shqipërisë”, Folder 14 and Folder 31 (or also called codex of Berat no. 14, and codex of Berat no. 31. In this article they will be referred as A and B, respectively). According to the codicological observations, the quires of the manuscript have been confused and placed in an irregular order. Following the numbers of the quires, while paying attention to the continuity of the text, the proper order of the quires would be as follows: quires 1 - 6: missing; 78 (B, ff. 41 – 48); 88 (B, ff. 49 – 56); 98 (B, ff. 57 – 64); 108 (B, ff. 65 – 72); 118 (B, ff. 73 – 80); 128 (B, ff. 81 – 88); 138 (B, ff. 89 – 96); 146 (B, ff. 97 – 102); 158 (B, ff. 1 – 8); 168 (B, ff. 9 – 16); 178 (B, ff. 17 – 24); 188 (B, ff. 25 – 32); 198 (B, ff. 33 – 40); 208 (A, ff. 1 – 8); 218 (A, ff. 9 – 16); 228 (A, ff. 17 – 24); 238 (A, ff. 25 – 32); 248( A, ff. 33 – 40); 256 (A, ff. 41 – 46); 268 (A, ff. 47 – 54); 278 (A, ff. 55 – 62); 288 (A, ff. 63 – 70); 298 (A, ff. 71 – 78); 308 (A, ff. 79 – 86); 318 (A, ff. 87 – 94); 327 (A, ff. 96 – 102); 338 (A, ff. 103 – 110); 3416(A, ff. 111 – 126); 353 (A, ff. 127 – 129); 368 (A, ff. 130 – 137); 378 (A, ff. 138 – 145). The numbers have been written in greek on the recto side, positioned on the upper-right corner of each first folio of the quire. The parchment is of a low quality, often it does not respect the overall dimensions of the manuscript, measuring 223 x 170 mm, it has many holes or it has been sewed in a rudimental way where cracks appear on the parchment. The total number of the folios is 252 (150 for A, 102 for B). There is no trace of the old binding, while each of the volumes has been restored and rebound at the CSA in 1972. The placement of the folios in the quire follows the Gregory rule. The text ir written in one column with 33-37 lines per page. The ruling pattern is similar to 20AI I,2a according to Leroy, I,2e according to Lake or it could be described as 12↔34 according to the Tselika’s model, noting that the horizontal lines do not respect any imaginary vertical border. The entire text of this manuscript has been written in minuscule Greek by two anonymous scribes and it is similar to the Regio type of writing18. Brown and black colour has been used for the text, while crimson is mainly used for the titles. The initial letters at the begining of each text are bigger than the others, simply decorated, as well as the headpices before the titles or at the end of the sections. On the titles the presence of yellow wash is noted. On the 36th quire of the manuscript (A part), between ff. 130r-137v can be seen the presence of a palimpsest. The scriptio inferior can be read with difficulty under UV light. The text is written in two columns with 36 lines (based on ff. 131v and 132r which are more visible). The writing dates on the 10th century and is similar to Anastasius type. From what can be read with simple means on our hands, the text corresponds to “Λόγος περὶ ψευδοπροφητῶν, καὶ ψευδοδασκάλων, καὶ ἀθέων αἰρετικῶν, καὶ περὶ σημείων τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου” (or De pseudoprohpetis et falsis doctoribus) from St. John the Chrysostom. On ff. 131r-v we can clearly read what corresponds to PG 557-558, starting from “[Εἴ τις ἔρχεται] πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ ταύτην τὴν διδαχὴν οὐ φέρει...”, ending with “...Παύλος ἡ θεόφθογγος λύρα...”. Judging by the abovementioned observations, this byzantine manuscript coming at the CSA from Berat has been produced in Southern Italy in the second half of the 13th century, probably at the Terra d’Otranto area, well known for the large production of palimpsests in that time.