Ilias C . Nesseris

The present contribution aims to shed light on aspects of the life and work
of Michael Mitylenaios, a little-known scholar of the second half of the 11th century. The culmination of his career was his ascent to the metropolitan throne of Thessalonike (1071–1079), but prior to that Mitylenaios had been a maistor of the rhetors, which makes him the first known person to hold this teaching post. There is also little doubt that he can be identified with a friend and correspondent of Michael Psellos, the unnamed metropolitan of Thessalonike and former maistor of the rhetors, to whom the latter addressed three of his letters. His only surviving work is transmitted by a single manuscript, cod. Oxon. Barocci 196, which can be safely dated to the author’s own lifetime. It belongs to the literary genre of metaphrasis, the
reworking of an earlier hagiographical work (in this case the pseudo-Athanasian Narratio de cruce seu imagine Berytensi, which has come down to us in five separate versions transmitted by more than one hundred manuscript witnesses). In what follows, a detailed analysis of the work is offered, with special emphasis on the author’s reworking techniques.

The numerous Byzantine and Post-Byzantine euchologia may some times transmit along with the Eucharistic liturgies other sacramental rites and the ‘occasional’ prayers – that were primarily concerned with a large array of different necessities and instances in the everyday life of the communities in which they were used – a small number of prayers that are commonly attributed to various Church Fathers, especially to Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. In stark contrast to the ‘occasional’ prayers the latter, usually penitential in character, do not address a communal need, but a strictly personal one. This is denoted not only by the obvious use of the first person singular throughout their text, but also by the lack of any mediation, which in the case of ‘occasional’ prayers is performed by the local priest or bishop. The aim of the present paper is firstly to give a brief overview of the state of
research in this field and consequently address the issue of authorship for a number of these first-person prayers, mainly exorcisms, while also tackling the matter of their function, interpretation and contextualization within a liturgical as much as a literary framework.

Cod. Vat. gr. 394 [Diktyon 67025] is a parchment codex that contains the Heavenly Ladder of St John Climacus, lavishly illustrated with miniatures of exquisite art, and a number of minor other works usually transmitted with it. It was copied almost certainly in Constantinople towards the end of the eleventh century by the scribe Konstantinos [RGK III, no. 371]. The production of the manuscript is obviously associated with the environment of the monastic community of Lo[u]phadion –which can likely be identified with the monastery of the Forerunner near the Gate of St Romanos that had been founded by Nikolaos III Grammatikos before his ascension to the patriarchal throne– for it has been shown that the latter is depicted in one of the miniatures. At some point in the early twelfth century a bifolium was added at the end of the manuscript (current folia 215-216), which contains two small treatises that have hitherto garnered no attention at all. It is notable that Vat. gr. 394 serves as codex unicus for both works. The first on f. 215r-v is ascribed to “Nikolaos, the God-loving deacon and maistor of the rhetors” (Νικολάου τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς διακόνου καὶ μαΐστωρος τῶν ῥητόρων) and focuses on the tripartite division of the soul, whereas the second, following on ff. 215v-216r, deals with the topic of the five properties of the soul. It is argued that the author of these two treatises should not be identified with either Nikolaos Kataphloron or Nikolaos Hagiotheodorites, both of whom held the office of the maistor of the rhetors in the second half of the twelfth century, but rather with Nikolaos Mouzalon. The latter is proposed as a much more likely candidate not only on the grounds that almost certainly he too served as a maistor of the rhetors at a point in his teaching career –evidence for this fact is brought forth in the present paper–, but also because of his close connection to his patron Nikolaos III Grammatikos.

Παρ’ όλο που η σύγχρονη έρευνα έχει δώσει μεγάλη προσοχή στην μελέτη της ποιητικής παραγωγής των Βυζαντινών, και πιο συγκεκριμένα στον χώρο της επιγραμματοποιΐας, εντούτοις προκύπτουν ενίοτε νέα ευρήματα. ο κώδ. ΕΒΕ 1907, ένα εγχειρίδιο ζωγραφικής που αντεγράφη από τον ἐλάχιστο Ἐφραὶμ για λογαριασμό του ἁγίου διδασκάλου κὺρ Αὐγέρι το 1696 και δωρήθηκε από τον Καλαρρυτινό αγιογράφο Χριστόδουλο Zoύκη στην ιερά Μονή Βυλίζης το 1815, παραδίδει μία, άγνωστη εν πολλοίς, συλλογή επιγραμμάτων.
Με την παρούσα ανακοίνωση δίδουμε μία συνοπτική περιγραφή του κώδικος και ένα σχεδιάγραμμα της ιστορίας του καθώς και μία αναλυτική παρουσίαση των περιεχομένων του, ήτοι της ἑρμηνείας ζωγραφικής και των επί μέρους τμημάτων της. Σκοπός της παρούσας συμβολής είναι να παρουσιάσουμε σε μία πρόδρομη μορφή το περιεχόμενο των επιγραμμάτων, τρία εκ των οποίων ανήκουν σε γνωστούς λογίους του δωδεκάτου αιώνος (τον Νικόλαο Καλλικλή, τον Θεόδωρο Πρόδρομο και τον Νικηφόρο Χρυσοβέργη), ενώ ευρίσκεται στο στάδιο της επεξεργασίας η σχολιασμένη κριτική τους έκδοση.

Εξετάζεται το ζήτημα μίας επιλογής του Φώντα Κονδύλη στην ελληνική μετάφραση του έργου του Σκώτου συγγραφέα Archibald Cronin «Τα Κλειδιά της Βασιλείας». Ο μεταφραστής αντικατέστησε την αναφορά του συγγραφέα στα αθλήματα «fives» και «racquets», στα οποία επεδίδετο ως μαθητής με ιδιαίτερη επιτυχία ο Άνσελμος Μίλυ (ένας εκ των βασικών χαρα-κτήρων του έργου) με τους όρους «τέννις» και «μπάσκετ» αντιστοίχως σε μία όμως εποχή (1887) που το τελευταίο δεν είχε ακόμη επινοηθεί.