Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Gregory of Nyssa and Anastasios of Sinai

Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript, probably copied between the mid-11th and mid-12th centuries, contains a series of texts by the patristic theologians <i>Gregory of Nyssa and Anastasios of Sinai</i>. Most of the manuscript is occupied by the works of Gregory, mainly homilies and theological treatises, but also including his Life of St Alexios. Also present are the sequence of three homilies on the creation of humanity by Anastasios.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The manuscript is of quite high quality, with gilded headings and painted ornament with notably heavy use of blue paint. The decorative headpieces include one on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(129);return false;'>f. 62r</a> incorporating two drawings of animals.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The Life of Alexios was not part of the original content of this manuscript. It was copied by a different scribe, with a different ruling pattern and ornament in a different style. This text ends with a shorter than usual quire, suggesting that it was copied on its own for the purpose of expanding this manuscript, rather than being reused material from another manuscript. It is unclear how long after the manuscript's original production it was added, since its script has similar features to that of the main body, allowing for the possibility that its introduction was an early afterthought, but the plausible chronological range for both hands is long enough that it could equally have been copied as much as a century later.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>While some of the minor coloured initial letters used to highlight the beginning of sections of text in this supplementary section are written in red ink as was usual, others are in blue, a combination common in western manuscripts but rare in Greek one. Another unusual feature is that besides the typical decorative scheme of headpiece and initials, at the end of this text on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(42);return false;'>f. 19v</a> is an image of a cockerel, which is not a normal form of ornament in such manuscripts.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>