Middle Byzantium

This piece includes the entries 'John Italos', 'Eustratios of Nicaea', 'Nicholas of Methone' for Stephen Gersh's forthcoming 'Interpreting Proclus from Antiquity to the Renaissance'. This is only a draft; please refer to the original published version (http://www.cambridge.org/ar/academic/subjects/classical-studies/ancient-philosophy/interpreting-proclus-antiquity-renaissance)

The present paper investigates John Italos' Quaestio 92 and reaches two main conclusions: 1) Alike modern scholars, Italos was well aware of Plotinus's and Proclus' conflicting views on the status of matter; 2) Taking the cue from the disagreement among philosophers of all time on the status of matter, Italos defends that with respect to this and other sensitive issues one has to rely on the Church Fathers rather than the philosophers. In this respect this paper provides a different view than that on which most scholars agree after the text Italos' condemnation in the Synodikon of the Orthodox Church. Based on a philological study on this Italos text, the present paper concludes that Italos was well aware of the limits of philosophical survey with respect to revealed theological truths.

If the history of Patriarchal Chant at Istanbul was based on the medium of sound recordings, it would have to start with the Arhon Protopsaltes Iakovos Nafpliotis. He was the first Orthodox chanter, whose art was documented systematically, when the idea of creating a sound record by a needle writing on wax was quite new.

Playlist:

1) Divine Liturgy
1. Ton despotin, Echos Varys (IN)
2. Kyrie eleison, Echos Devteros (IN)
3. Georgios of Crete: DynamisTrisagion, "Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal" Echos Devteros (IN)
4. Gospel, Echos Tetartos (phthora nisabur) (IN)
5. Cherouvikon Οἱ τὰ χερουβὶμ μυστικῶς εἰκονίζοντες ("We who represent mystically the cherubim"), Echos Protos (KP)
6. Σε ὑμνούμεν ("With hymns"), Echos Plagios Tetartos (KP)
7. Ἄξιον ἐστίν ("Truly, it is right"), Echos Devteros (IN)

2) Stichera
8. Iakovos the Protopsaltes (transcr. by Georgios of Crete, Late Byzantine Notation & Chourmouzios the Archivist, Neobyzantine Notation): Long Doxastikon (Sticheron with Doxa) Ἀτενίσαι τὸ ὄμμα ("Looking in the eyes of heaven") (3rd Lenten Sunday, Triodion), Echos Plagios Tetartos (IN)
9. Doxastikon Ἀναστάσεως ἡμέρα ("On the day of resurrection") (Easter), Echos Plagios Protos (IN)
10. Doxastikon Σήμερον προέρχεται ("Today comes") (14 September, Exaltation of the Cross), Echos Plagios Devteros (KP)

3) Heirmoi
11. Χριστός γεννάται ("Christ is born") Slow Heirmos for the 1st Ode (Christmas Canon), Echos Protos (IN)
12. Konstantinos Pringos: Ἄξιον ἐστίν, Echos Plagios Protos (phthora atzem kiourdi) (Kostas Charalampopoulos)
15. Πάσαν τὴν ἐλπίδα μοῦ ("All my hope"), Slow Heirmos, 1st Ode (Akrostichon Theotokos), Echos Devteros (IN)
16. Petros Bereketes: Heirmos kalophonikos about the same ode, Echos Varys (KP)
[15. Troparion of Kassia (Doxastikon, Maundy Thursday), Echos Plagios Tetartos (KP)]

The historical development and modern transformations of the attitudes of Eastern Orthodox cultures and ecclesiastical elites to the problems and ethics of war display both significant analogies and dissimilarities to the respective Western Christian stances  They have received much less in-depth and comprehensive treatment than their Western Christian counterparts and their study is still being affected by the fact that a good of deal of the relevant late antique, medieval, and early modern material (Greek, Old Church Slavonic, Georgian, etc.) has been neither edited and published nor translated into modern Western European languages.
This state of evidence and research in the field of Eastern Orthodox ideology and theology of warfare makes the further historical and theological investigation of these extant sources an important and high-priority objective. One of the principal problems arising from the primary source criticism and analysis concerns the notions of a Christian just war theory and Christian military martyrdom in the Vita to St. Constantine–Cyril the Philosopher (826/7–869), the celebrated missionary to the Slavs. The legitimization of Christian just war theory and the potential martyr status of the Christian warrior ascribed to St. Constantine–Cyril can perhaps be best understood within the religio-political framework of his mission to the court of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil. The substantial impact and enduring after-life of these statements of St. Constantine–Cyril (venerated, along with his brother, St Methodius, in the Orthodox  Church as saints carrying the title “equal to the apostles” and declared by Pope John Paul II co-patron-saints of Europe) in the Orthodox Slavonic  world (and hence in European Christendom)  deserve a close and balanced assessment.

It would be incorrect to conclude that the strategic barrier of the mountains ensured the existence of the Bulgarian state for several decades between the end of 10th - the beginning of 11th centuries by itself. The sovereignty of Bulgaria was the outcome of many factors influencing the course of the historical process. However, it would also be untrue to claim that the mountainous areas did not play any role in the fact that Bulgaria retained its statehood for many years. The Bulgarians defending them undoubtedly hindered the progress of the Byzantine reconquest of the Balkans. The fact that the Bulgarians used these mountains as an obstacle to the Byzantine military activities was of great significance for the so long survival of the Comitopouloi state in the face of the Byzantine advance.

Ce huitième titre de la série MONNAIES BYZANTINES DÉCOUVERTES EN DOBROUDJA, initiée par l'auteur en 2010, présente, en deux volumes (vol. I – texte, bibliographie, tables) ; vol. II. – catalogue et planches en couleurs) la documentation actuelle, du point de vue archéologique et numismatique, concernant les rapports du territoire de la Dobroudja avec l'Empire byzantin pendant l'intervalle chronologique mentionné. Les trois chapitres du premier volume traîtent de : I. La situation politique. La Dobroudja de Nord aux XIe-XIIIe siècles (1092-1204). Les départements de Tulcea et Constanța ; II. Découvertes archéologiques et numismatiques en Dobroudja de Nord. Les départements de Tulcea et Constanța ; III. Considérations sur les émissions monétaires ayant circulé en Dobroudja de Nord aux XIe-XIIIe siècles (1092-1204. Chaque chapitre est suivi par un ample résumé en français.

Philipp Ammon - "Georgien zwischen Eigenstaatlichkeit und russischer Okkupation. Die Wurzel des russisch-georgischen Konflikts vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zum Ende der ersten georgischen Republik (1921)"
2015 Kitab-Verlag Klagenfurt - Wien
www.kitab-verlag.com
Office@kitab-verlag.com
ISBN 978-3-902878-45-8
Buchpräsentation in der Botschaft Georgiens zu Berlin
Begrüßung: Kulturattaché Dudana Mazmanishvili
Moderation: Ekkehard Maaß
Vortrag: Philipp Ammon
Dankeswort: Botschafter Georgiens in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Prof. Lado Chanturia
29.11.2016
Veröffentlicht am 02.12.2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXSoswMZhus)

„Buchvorstellung von Philipp Ammon in der georgischen Botschaft.
Am 29. November 2016 hat der junge Historiker Philipp Ammon den zahlreich erschienenen Gästen in der georgischen Botschaft sein äußerst spannendes Buch -"Georgien zwischen Eigenstaatlichkeit und russischer Okkupation" vorgestellt. Nach der Buchvorstellung gefolgt von Publikumsfragen hatten die Gäste die Gelegenheit georgische Köstlichkeiten zu probieren und sich über das Buch auszutauschen.“ (http://germany.mfa.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=GER&sec_id=243&info_id=39065)

Communication given at "Blood in Byzantium", 52nd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, April 2019.

Presented in an extended form to the East Mediterranean Postgraduate Forum, University of Birmingham, March 2019.