Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism: Papers from the Twenty-Eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 1994

by Bryer,Anthony

• ISBN13: 9780860785514
• ISBN10: 0860785513
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2017-01-05
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The papers in this volume derive from the 28th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, held for the Society for the promotion of Byzantine Studies at the Univesity of Birmingham in March 1994.Virtually from the time of their first foundation, the monastic communities of Mt Athos assumed a central position in the world of Orthodox Christianity. The spiritual, and political and economic influence of the Holy Mountain soon transcended the boundaries of the Byzantine empire within which it lay, to take on a supra-national importance and become one of the pillars of Orthodoxy after the fall of the empire. For the historian, the significance of Mt Athos is enhanced by the fact that its archives contain the most substanial body of Byzantine documentation to have survived the Middle Ages, and its libraries, treasuries and buildings have preserved much that has elsewhere been lost. These archives are now largely edited, and investigation of the art and archaeology is yielding substantial evidence. The papers in this volume, by an international set of scholars, embody the fruits of this research. Starting from Athos itself, they embrace the whole phenomenon of Byzantine monasticism, dealing with questions of asceticism, authority, community, economy, enlightenment, fortification, hesychasm, liturgy, manuscripts, music, patronage, scandal, spirituality, and women (to take an alphabetical sample). Together these papers provide a coherent and immediate view of scholarship in the field.

Table of Contents

St Athanasios the Athonite: traditionalist or innovator? Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia

Symeon the New Theologian (d.1022) and Byzantine monasticism

The origins of Athos

Byzantine monasteries in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (Synaxis, Mt Papikion, St John Prodromos Monastery), Ch. Bakirtzis

The Athonite monastic tradition in the 11th and early 12th centuries

Women and Mt Athos

Athos: a working community

The monastic economy and imperial patronage from the 10th to the 12th centuries

Patronage in Palaiologan Mt Athos

The buildings of Vatopedi and their patrons

'A safe and holy mountain': early Ottoman Athos

The libraries of Mt Athos: the case of Philotheou

Hesychasm and psalmody

The architectural development of the Athonite monastery

The 'Tzimikes' tower of the Great Lavra Monastery

Recent research into Athonite monastic architecture: 10th-16th centuries, Ploutarchos Theocharides

The painted psalms of Athos, Gunter Paulus Schiemenz

L'Athos, l'Orient et le Caucase au XIe siecle

L'Athos et les Roumains

Athos and the Enlightenment

Index

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