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Athos, Lavra Δ46 : A "Studite" Menologion from the Third Quarter of the 11th Century

Articles

• Μητσάνη, Αγγελική
• ΜΗΤΣΑΝΗ, Αγγελική

The manuscript from Mount Athos, Lavra Δ46 is aMetaphrastian Menologion for the saints of the monthof September. It is illustrated with only one full pageminiature bearing the portrait of the first saint of themonth, Symeon Sty lite the Elder (f. 4v) in the simplestand conventional type of stylite saints which was developed in mid-Byzantine art. Further decoration includestwo pi-shaped headpieces and twenty two headbandsand decorated initial letters in flower petal style combined with birds or animals.The systematic comparative study of the Lavra menologion proved that it is associated with two Menologia ofa Metaphrastian edition of 1063: the manuscripts Moscow, gr. 9 and Sinai, gr. 500. Palaeographical and codicological similarities as well as those of the initial lettersand the decorative motifs of the headpieces, which werefound between the Lavra Δ46 and the Moscow and Sinai manuscripts, allow the dating of the Lavra manuscript to around 1063, since it was written by the samecopyist as that of the Moscow-Sinai edition. Further more, the above similarities indicate that the Lavra manuscript comes from the same scriptorium. However thedifferent type of illumination in the Moscow and Sinaimanuscripts in scenes of miracles and martyrdoms ofthe saints does not permit the conclusion that the LavraMenologion is a volume of the same edition as the Moscow and Sinai menologia.Consequently, the problem arises of locating the scriptorium. J. Anderson has formulated the seductive hypothesis that the Moscow and Sinai edition came fromthe Studite scriptorium. Since the Stoudite origin ofthese two manuscripts has been accepted, then the Lavra Δ46 must be considered a product of the same scriptorium of this distinguished Constantinopolitan monastery. This theory is supported by the similarities of theinitial characters of the Lavra codex with the entiregroup of manuscripts which also have been assigned tothe Stoudite monastery, since the poor state of preservation of the unique miniature of the Lavra Menologiondoes not permit sure stylistic comparisons.

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• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4674
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.1045