Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism: Papers from the Twenty-Eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 1994 / Edition 1

by Anthony Bryer, Mary Cunningham

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780860785514
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/19/1996
Series:	Publications of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Anthony Bryer, Mary Cunningham

Table of Contents

Contents: St Athanasios the Athonite: traditionalist or innovator? Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia; Symeon the New Theologian (d.1022) and Byzantine monasticism, John A. McGuckin; The origins of Athos, Rosemary Morris; 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, Dirk Krausmüller; Women and Mt Athos, Alice-Mary Talbot; Athos: a working community, Archimandrite Ephrem Lash; The monastic economy and imperial patronage from the 10th to the 12th centuries, Alan Harvey; Patronage in Palaiologan Mt Athos, Nikolaos Oikonomides; The buildings of Vatopedi and their patrons, Stavros B. Mamaloukos; ’A safe and holy mountain’: early Ottoman Athos, Elizabeth A. Zachariadou; The libraries of Mt Athos: the case of Philotheou, Robert W. Allison; Hesychasm and psalmody, Alexander Lingas; The architectural development of the Athonite monastery, Peter Burridge; The ’Tzimikes’ tower of the Great Lavra Monastery, Sotiris Voyadjis; Recent research into Athonite monastic architecture: 10th-16th centuries, Ploutarchos Theocharides; The painted psalms of Athos, Günter Paulus Schiemenz; L’Athos, l’Orient et le Caucase au XIe siècle, Bernadette Martin-Hisard; L’Athos et les Roumains, Virgil Cândea; Athos and the Enlightenment, Paschalis M. Kitromilides; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'For the student of Athos in particular and of Eastern Christian spirituality and monasticism more generally, this book is a most welcome addition to a large and growing bibliography.' Religious Studies Review, Vol. 24, No. 3 'the articles by Ware, Morris, and Krausmüller will prove to be crucial to our proper understanding of the early history of Mount Athos, and those by Oikonomides, Zachariadou, Allison, and Cândea will prove equally important for the late and post-Byzantine periods.' Speculum

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