Session 1: Introduction to Byzantine Literature and Art Devoted to
Saints and Holy (Wo)Men
Saints and Holy (Wo)Men
in Byzantine Literature and Art
Dr. Christodoulos PAPAVARNAVAS
(Austrian Academy of Sciences)
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
The Agenda for the Day
• Terms and Concepts
• Course Outline
• Bibliographical Tools
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Terms and Concepts
• Byzantium
• Literature
• Hagiographical Literature (‘Hagiography’):
 Holiness/Sanctity
 Hagiographical Genres
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Byzantium
The City at Bosphorus
• Byzantion (7th cent. BC – 330 AD)
• Constantinople (330 – 1453)*
* 330: foundation of Constantinople (324: the reign of Emperor
Constantine the Great and the new capital of the Roman Empire)
• Istanbul (since 1453 – today)*
*1453: Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Byzantium
The Three Components of Byzantium
• Culture and Language: Greek
• Polity/Governmental System: Roman
• Religion: Christian
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Literature
Literariness – Literary Dimensions / Literary Nuance
• This is NOT about the content / subject matter of a text!
• Literariness is to be found in the way the content is presented in a text:
 Style/Diction (e.g., linguistic and rhetorical means, choice of words,
different nuances in the meaning of words, tenses, etc.)
 Narrative techniques (e.g., motifs, topoi, flash back, etc.)
 Structure (i.e., text as a complex and multi-layered system; as a good
construction that gradually builds to a big climax.)
Note: Historiographical sources can also contain literariness.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Hagiographical Literature (‘Hagiography’)
• ‘Hagiography’(Gr. hagios = saint, graphein = to write) – (cf. Louth)
 Term: Research invention of the 19th century
 Content: Biographies of holy men and women
 Purpose: Guidance of the audience to a pious lifestyle
• Holiness/Sanctity (cf. Louth)
 “Living holy men” vs. “dead saints” (by Claudia Rapp, cf. Peter Brown)
 Intercessors: miracles before and after death
 The veneration of holy persons and the cult of saints (relics)
The Cult of Saints Project: http://cultofsaints.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2
• Hagiographical Genres and Their Use in the Current Research (cf. Louth)
 Acts of the Martyrs (Passions; Martyrdom accounts)
 Saints’ Lives (various categories, cf. Louth)
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Hagiographical Literature (‘Hagiography’)
Framed by Objects of Byzantine Art
 Manuscript illustrations
 Icons
 Wall paintings
 Further cult objects
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Course Outline
1. (25.02.2020): Introduction to Byzantine Literature and Art
Devoted to Saints and Holy (Wo)Men
• Terms and Concepts
• Course Outline
• Bibliographical Tools
2. (10.03.2020): Sanctity through Martyrdom: Male & Female Martyrs
• The Passion of Polykarpos (BHG 1556-1560)
• The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (BHG 1482)
3. (24.03.2020): The World of the Desert: Male and Female Hermits
• The Life of Antony (BHG 140)
• The Life of Mary of Egypt (BHG 1042)
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Course Outline
4. (07.04.2020): The Life on Pillars and in Monasteries: Ascetics,
Monks and Nuns
• The Life of Daniel the Stylite, i.e., the Pillar Saint (BHG 489)
• The Life of Irene of Chrysobalanton (BHG 952)
5. (21.04.2020): Secret Holiness: Cross-Dressing Nuns and Holy Fools
• The Life of Mary/Marinos (no BHG no.)
• The Life of Symeon Salos, i.e., the Fool (BHG 1677)
6. (05.05.2020): Imperial Sanctity: Holy Emperors and Empresses
• The Life of Constantine the Great (BHG 361x)
• Recapitulation
7. (19.05.2020): First Exam Meeting
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Martyrdom
Scenes from the Martyrdom of
Eudoxios, Romylos, Zenon and
Makarios of Melitene,
Metaphrastic Menologion, 11th
century (cod. Add. 11870, fol. 67r,
British Library, London)
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Martyrdom
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–
1904), “The Christian Martyrs'
Last Prayer”, The Walters Art
Museum in Baltimore,
Maryland, USA
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
The Desert Hermits
Michelangelo, “The Torment of
Saint Anthony” (ca. 1487–1488),
Kimbell Art Museum, Texas, USA
Russian icon of Saint Mary of Egypt,
surrounded by scenes from her life
(17th century, Beliy Gorod).
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Ascetics on Pillars and in Monasteries
Daniel the Stylite, Menologion of Basil
II (ca. 1000 AD) Vat. gr. 1613, fol. 237
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Holy Fools
The Entry of Saint Symeon
Salos into the City of Emesa,
in H. Lietzmann, Byzantinische
Legenden, Jena 1911, 1, 63
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Imperial Sanctity
Helena finding the True Cross,
Italian manuscript, c. 825
Mosaics in the Hagia Sophia, Emperor
Constantine I with a model of the city
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
• The Bollandists (Société des Bollandistes; their name after Jean Bolland,
1596–1665): a group of scholars, who since ca. 400 years focus on
hagiographical texts and the cult of saints (especially, manuscripts and
editions).
 Acta Sanctorum
 BHG and BHG Novum
 Synaxarion of Constantinople
 Analecta Bollandiana
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
Acta Sanctorum (= AASS):
An Anthology of Greek and Latin hagiographical
texts, which were edited here for the first time and
organized according to the church calendar.
AASS, 1st Volume, 1643
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
BHG and BHG Novum:
Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca,
edited by the Bollandists
(e.g., François Halkin).
This is a catalogue of Greek
hagiographical writings,
arranged alphabetically by saint.
Each text or textual version has
a different identification number.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
Synaxarion of Constantinople
(‘Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanum’):
It is a liturgical book (dating from
the 10th century) written at
imperial command (Emperor
Constantine VII Porphyrogennitos).
It is organized
according to the church calendar
and contains a brief hagiographical
narrative for each feast day.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
Analecta Bollandiana – A Journal of Critical Hagiography (= AB):
An authoritative academic journal dealing exclusively with hagiographical topics,
edited and published since 1882 by the Société des Bollandistes in Brussels.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
Patrologia Graeca (= PG):
A collection of Greek and Latin texts,
edited by Jacques Paul Migne (1800–1875);
Greek texts are usually accompanied by Latin
translation.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
Bibliotheca Sanctorum (= BiblSS):
It is an encyclopedia of saints containing
over 30,000 lemmata on saints and biblical figures
(i.e., from the Old and New Testament).
It provides information on
saints and their cult.
Edition: Città Nuova, Rome.
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SAINTS AND HOLY (WO)MEN IN BYZANTINE LITERATURE AND ART
Bibliographical Tools
The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography:
A two-volume work edited by
Stephanos Efthymiadis.
Volume one (2011) presents a
chronological overview of Byzantine
hagiography in the first part, and in the
second part the hagiographical production
of the Byzantine periphery and the
Christian Orient.
Volume two (2014) is
divided into three sections:
1. Genres, Varieties and Forms,
2. Hagiography as Literature and
3. Hagiography and Society.