Beschreibung:

A COMPENDIUM OF EXEGETICAL TEXTS, in Greek, manuscript on paper [Greece, 17th century] A rare manuscript of Greek exegetical works from the 17th century, including a near-contemporary exegesis of Church ritual composed by the renowned theologian Meletios Syrigos (c.1585-c.1663) at the behest of the Grecophile reformer Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (1605-81). 148 x 102mm. iii + 164 leaves: 1-118, 126, 13-208, 216, apparently complete, 17-24 lines written in at least three different hands, some catchwords survive, rubrics and headings in red (first text dampstained, faded and on occasion almost illegible, some smudging and staining throughout, some wormholes, a few leaves stuck together, edges frayed, final gathering loose). Contemporary leather binding. Content: The first text begins with Mark 8:34: Όστις θέλει οπίσω μου ακολουθείν, απαρνησάσθω εαυτόν και αράτω τον σταυρόν αυτού, και ακολουθείτω μοι’, likely an exegesis on the Gospels, ff.1-87v; blank ff.88-94v; MELETIOS SYRIGOS (c.1585-c.1663), ‘Συνοπτική εξήγισις της θείας και ιεράς λειτουργίας παρά του εν διδασκάλοις κυρίου Μελετίου Συρίγου θεολόγου[…]’ or ‘A brief exegesis on the liturgy’, produced at the request of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow ff.95-139v; further exegetical texts ff.143-163. Meletius Syrigos was a philosophy professor in Constantinople, exarch of the ecumenical patriarch and religious adviser to the Moldavian Prince Basil Lupul (see J. Pargoire, ‘Meletios Syrigos, sa vie et ses oeuvres Echos d’Orient’ (Constantinople, 1909), vol. XII, nos. 74, 76, 78, and 79). At the very start of his activity as a reformer, Patriarch Nikon submitted to Patriarch Paisios of Constantinople a long list of perplexing points concerning ritual. He received a comprehensive reply written by Meletios, in which he clearly expressed the view that only central and essential matters of faith required uniformity and unity, while diversity and differences in the ecclesiastical ceremonies and in the formal aspects of the liturgy were perfectly tolerable, and indeed historically inevitable. Provenance: (1) The ‘Holy monk Maximos’: contemporary inscription on upper board. (2) Modern ink stamp throughout: ‘ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ / ΑΡΓΥΡΗ ΠΑΥΛΟΥ ΠΕΤΡΙΔΗ / ΑΓΙΟΓΡΑΦΟΥ – ΠΡΟΣΩΠΟΓΡΑΦΟΥ / ΨΗΦΩΘΕΤΗ’. (3) In the collections at the Château de Chacenay in the Aube département of France. For the castle, see Abbé Charles Lalore, Les sires et les barons de Chacenay, 1885. Please note this lot is the property of a private individual.