Western Medieval Manuscripts : Akolouthia

Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript contains the <i>Akolouthia</i> for the feast of St George (23 April), hymns and other liturgical texts proper to the services of the Divine Office (those other than the main liturgy) for that day. The completion of its major part is recorded by a colophon on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(79);return false;'>f. 33r</a> by the hieromonachos (priest and monk) Kosmas Parasche, who copied important headings and a portion of the main text in an ornate hand, but appears not to have been the scribe responsible for copying the bulk of the manuscript.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>A few folios (<a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(87);return false;'>ff. 37-46</a>) on different paper and in the hand of another scribe were added to the end of the manuscript, containing <i>akolouthia</i> for another feast-day, that of St Eirene on 5 May. These were bound into the manuscript outside of the original right-hand endleaves. These endleaves were written on by another hand, adding some additional hymns to St George and other hymns drawn from the Pentekostarion, the liturgical book covering the services between Easter and Pentecost. Since this hand also annotated the additional leaves, this appears to have been done after these were inserted.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The colophon of Kosmas Parasche dates the manuscript's completion to 1642. However, the watermarks of papers in use in both the main body of the manuscript and the inserted folios would be more consistent with a date in the mid-16th century. It is therefore conceivable, albeit unlikely, that the date in the colophon is somehow erroneous.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>