ScriptoriaSlavica

Medieval Slavic Manuscripts and Culture

Month: June 2012

Recent Acquisition on St. Clement of Rome

 

This week the Hilandar Research Library (HRL) and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (RCMSS) received a copy of Hieromonk Justyn Boiko’s La Figura di San Clemente Romano nella letturatura agiografica e liturgica manoscritta paleoslava: Studio storico-teologico (Dissertatio ad Doctoratum in Theologia et Scientiis Patristicis, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum).

Photo of the front cover of Yurii Boiko's dissertation on St. Clement of Rome

Father Justyn had requested for his research copies of the text of the Passion of St. Clement and the Encomium of St. Kliment of Ohrid to St. Clement of Rome from one of the Hilandar Monastery Slavic manuscripts by the scribe Averkii, HM.SMS.441. This is one of a set of manuscripts containing panegyrical texts (Serb панагирик или тржаставник; Russ торжественник; Bulg панегирик) that was commissioned by Hilandar Monastery and dated to 1623-1624.

Call for Papers: Sixth International Hilandar Conference

 

The Sixth International Hilandar Conference will be held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, July 19-21, 2013. The conference theme is Medieval Slavic Text and Image in the Cultures of Orthodoxy. We invite abstracts (not to exceed 500 words in length) of proposed presentations to be sent as Word.doc attachments to hilandar@osu.edu prior to February 1, 2013.

Image of a page from the manuscript entitled the Illumniated Life and Lament of Joseph the Beautiful (manuscript SPEC.OSU.HRL.SMS.15)

SPEC.OSU.HRL.SMS.15, The Illuminated Life and Lament of Joseph the Beautiful

A sub-committee of the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (RCMSS) Advisory Council will review all submissions. Further details will be announced in the next issue of Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage (CMH) and through this blog, various listservs, and other venues.

The conference will follow immediately after the conclusion of the 2013 Medieval Slavic Summer Institute (MSSI), which is scheduled for June 24-July 19. We look forward to introducing participants and guests to the recently renovated Thompson Library, the Jack and Jan Creighton Special Collections Reading Room, and the enhanced research, teaching, and preservation opportunities now at the disposal of the HRL.

Source: Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage 31 (June 2012): 1.

Image Source: From an original manuscript, SPEC.OSU.HRL.SMS.15, among the holdings of the HRL

 

A History of “Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage”

 

Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage (CMH), the biannual newsletter of the Hilandar Research Library (HRL) and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (RCMSS), is entering its 16th year of publication under the editorship of Helene Senecal, RCMSS Coordinator. Volume 31 has just been issued.

Image of the front page of newsletter Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage volume 1 (April 1997)

CMH vol. 1 (April 1997)

The inaugural volume of CMH, which outlined the history and structure of HRL/RCMSS, was published in April 1997 with the assistance of Lorraine Abraham (media editor), Dongsoo Jeon and M.A. Johnson (contributing editors), and R.J. Stansbury (technical consultant).

Image of the page 8 of newsletter Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage volume 3 (June 1998)

CMH vol. 3 (June 1998): 8

A “Selected Bibliography” of “theses, dissertations, books and articles made possible and/or enhanced by the primary and secondary source materials, especially manuscripts on microform, of the HRL or through the support of the RCMSS” debuted in volume 3. See also volumes 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 20, and 21.

From CMH 4, the names of donors who have contributed to the Hilandar Endowment and other named funds have been listed in the newsletter. The names of donors of “gifts in kind” have appeared in CMH since volume 6.

Image of page 6 of volume 5 (May 1999) of newsletter Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage

CMH vol. 5 (May 1999): 6

The recurring features, “Director’s Desk” by Predrag Matejic and “HRL Journal” – where CMH “asks researchers who have used the HRL in the past year, either in person or by mail, to describe their experiences and work,” first appeared as regular columns in volume 5. The design editor for this volume was John R. Wilson.

Image of the front page of newsletter Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage volume 6 (December 1999)

CMH vol. 6 (December 1999)

A series of interviews introducing readers to the members of the RCMSS Advisory Councils was initiated in CMH 6 with profiles of Daniel E. Collins and Edward Kasinec, and continued in volumes 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15-17. Volume 6 also reported on the first Medieval Slavic Summer Institute (MSSI) and set a precedent for a two-page photo spread of the MSSI activities and reactions from the participants.

Image of the front page of newsletter Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage volume 15 (May 2004)

CMH vol. 15 (May 2004)

“News Notes” appeared as a regular feature title in volume 15; earlier issues included the headlines “RCMSS/HRL in the News” (CMH 6), “In the News” (CMH 7, 13), and “RCMSS News Briefs” (CMH 10).

Volume 23 was the first to be published in color. Volumes 1-22 are archived online with color photos inserted in place of the black and white images that were printed.

Image of the page 8 of newsletter Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage volume 23 (June 2008)

CMH 23 (June 2008): 8

Back issues of Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage are available on the OSU Knowledge Bank and the RCMSS website.

 

 

 

 

Conference: “Saints and Holy Places in the Balkans”

 

An  international conference was held June 14-16, 2012, which was organized as part of the Encyclopaedia Slavica Sanctorum project by the Department of Cyrillo-Methodian Studies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Okhridski,” and the Institute of Literature of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Zograf Monastery, Mount Athos

Iskra Khristova-Shomova (Sofia) and Milan Mihaljević (Zagreb) presided over the plenary session of the conference “Saints and Holy Places in the Balkans,” where presentations were made by Ivan Dobrev (Sofia), Aleksei Pentkovskii (Moscow), Cynthia Vakareliyska (Eugene, Oregon), Elka Bakalova (Sofia), and Panaiot Karag’ozov (Sofia).

Panel topics focused on cults of saints in relation to history, images, hymnography, interfaith communication, ritual and culture in Bulgarian lands, and texts in the Balkans. Other panels included: Saints and Holy Places in Popular Culture, Hagiographic Texts and their Translations, Linguistic Features and Textual Versions of the Works Dedicated to Saints, the Martyr Saints, Hagiographic Texts on Women Saints; Hagiography and Culture;  and Cult, Commemoration, and Calendars: East and West.

Time was also given to project presentations and new books on hagiography. On the 16th there was discussion of the Encyclopaedia Slavica Sanctorum project and a demonstration of this electronic reference.

 

Image Source: Photo by Walt Craig, 1970

 

Research Project: Hagiotheca Preslavica

 

Image of folio 2 recto from the manuscript known as "Stanislav's Menaion"

“Stanislav’s Menaion,” f. 2r

Hagiotheca Preslavica is a project currently under development by a team of young Bulgarian medievalists. Its principal task is the preparation and publication (both digital and traditional) and research of “Stanislav’s Menaion” (chetii-minei), Ms. 1039 in the SS. Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian National Library in Sofia. The 14th-century manuscript contains hagiographical texts for the months of September-November. The text currently ends in the beginning of the Life of St. John Chrysostom (November 13); there are 370 extant folia.

It is hoped that this is the first step in the creation of a portal comprising digital images, analytical tools, and research of texts that evidence the influence of the Preslav literary circle.

 

Hagiotheca Preslavica Project Team Members:

Diana Atanassova, Sofia University – coordinator
Aneta Dimitrova, Sofia University
Irina Kuzidova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Lyubka Nenova, Southwestern University, Blagoevgrad
Cvetomira Danova, Cyrillo-Methodian Research Centre
Krassimir Popovsky, Bulgarian Orthodox Church

 

Source: Announcement courtesy of Diana Atanassova

Image Source: BNL.1039, f. 2r, color image courtesy of Hagiotheca Preslavica; black and white microfilm of manuscript available in the HRL

 

History of the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies

 

Image of folio 10 recto from the Hilandar Monastery Slavic Manuscript number 110, Gospel according to St. Matthew, dated to 1615

Gospel of St. Matthew, 1615

The Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (RCMSS) is an independent center of The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences and has been known under this name since 1984. RCMSS is affiliated with the College’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) and maintains particularly close ties as well as sharing space with the Hilandar Research Library (HRL).

RCMSS, together with HRL, developed as an outgrowth of the original Hilandar Research Project (1969-1984). RCMSS is a center dedicated to the promotion of medieval Slavic studies. It is the only such non-national based or oriented center in the United States, although it does tend to promote Cyrillic-based research. RCMSS strives to accomplish its goals through support of the preservation and access activities of the HRL, through the promotion of research, through the provision of stipends, of occasional research travel monies, funds for occasional acquisition and preservation, through publication support, and the sponsorship of lectures, workshops and entire conferences.

RCMSS has a modest endowment, the income from which is primarily used in providing small stipends to foster research in the HRL. RCMSS has helped many scholars come to OSU to utilize the resources found at HRL. RCMSS has fostered better international understanding by serving to bring together scholars to a neutral environment where their views can be shared in a non-confrontational manner.

 

Source: Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage 1 (April 1997): 1-2.

Image Source: Hilandar Monastery Slavic Manuscript 110, f. 10r. Photograph by Mateja and Predrag Matejic, 1971

 

Call for Papers: Polata Knigopisnaia, Volume 39

 

Polata Knigopisnaia publishes scholarly articles, editions, indexes, and bibliographical and review essays related to Early Slavic texts, manuscripts, and early printed books, and their historical and cultural contexts. This is a call for papers to appear in vol. 39. Authors considering submission are encouraged to contact an editor (see below) to discuss length and subject matter, and to obtain a style sheet.

Image of the front cover of the journal Polata knigopisnaia, volume 1.

 

The current editors of Polata Knigopisnaia adopted an editorial-board peer review system for contributions beginning with volume 38. All contributions that the editors consider to fit the scope and criteria of PK will be reviewed anonymously by two members of the editorial board.

 

Polata knigopisnaja: An informational bulletin devoted to the study of early Slavic books, texts and literatures was founded by William R. Veder (University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands) and Mario Capaldo (University of Rome, Italy) in 1978. They generously allowed all past issues accessible freely via the internet through the Hilandar Research Library and The Ohio State University Libraries (Columbus, Ohio). From its 2006 issue PK has been available exclusively on-line through the OSU Knowledge Bank.

 

Editors of Polata Knigopisnaia:
Cristiano Diddi, Università degli Studi di Salerno <crdiddi@unisa.it>
M.A. Johnson, The Ohio State University <johnson.60@osu.edu>
Robert Romanchuk, Florida State University <rromanchuk@fsu.edu>

 

Marginalia: Seven Stages of Intoxication

 

Different types of inscriptions are found in medieval manuscripts – Slavic and otherwise. The scribal colophon (the who-what-where-when and sometimes why or for whom) is usually located at the end of the manuscript in the hand of a scribe who copied the main text. It is often somehow set apart from the main text – perhaps physically on a separate page or written in smaller letters. It may be written in the scribe’s colloquial language, which also serves to distinguish it from the text. In the margins of manuscripts one may find glosses, corrections, rubrics, pen testings, communicative inscriptions (i.e., meaningful statements unrelated to the main text), penmanship exercises, and cryptograms.

Slavic manuscript No. 34 of St. Catherine’s Monastery, Mt. Sinai, is a 13th-century collection of patristic homilies, sayings, and lives of the holy fathers. There are pen testings, for example, on the inside back cover, and a Greek inscription on folia 42v-43r. On f. 36v is a later (communicative) inscription that describes the seven stages of intoxication:

 

black and white mage of the inscription in the margin on folio 36 verso of Sinai Slavic manuscript number 36

 

Translation: “Digion says: When a man sits down at a feast, he drinks a cup to health, and a second to merriment, and a third to repletion, and fourth to madness, and a fifth to a demonic state, and a sixth to a bitter death, and a seventh to eternal torture that will not end.”

Image source: Sinai.34, f. 36v – from microfilm in the HRL.