Miscellanea praesertim Patrum Graecorum

Title

(EN) A collection of miscellaneous texts, particularly Greek patristic works.

Creator

The texts included in the collections were copied by two different hands; for the folia 86-179, the copyist has been identified as the priest Niketas Korogonas (second half of the 16th century). This individual appears to have been active in Crete, in Candia, at the end of the 16th century as a priest and a notary: here he wrote a mandate for Gabriel Seviros, the ‘exiled’ bishop of Philadelphia (based in Venice), on 19 September 1587 (Tsiknakis, “Gabriele Seviros”, 87).

Subject

Greek patristic literature; donatio Constantini; Biblical exegesis; interreligious polemics; anti-islamic dialogue; dialogue of the monk Euthymius.

Abstract

This miscellaneous book contains the following works:
1. Gregory of Nissa, Dialogus de anima et resurrectione (τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Γρηγορίου ἐπισκόπου Νύσσης περὶ ψυχῆς ἀνθρώπου, ὁ λεγόμενος λόγος τὰ μακρίνια , f. 1r-85r). At f. 111v- 113r some blank space is found, then writing resumes. According to Feron et Battaglini (Codices manuscripti ottoboniani Bibliothecae Vaticanae, Città del Vaticano 1893, p. 174) the text of Anastasius Sinaita ends, then follow some excerpta on the soul, the state of body and soul during sleeping... Different texts/extracts are apparently separated by blank spaces (see f. 112v) and each extract begins with a red initial.
2. Anastasius Sinaita, Homiliae de creatione hominis – extracts (ἀναστασίου πρεσβυτέρου ἐν τῷ Σινᾶ ὄρει περὶ τοῦ κατ᾽εἰκόνα καὶ καθ᾽ὁμοίωσιν τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑπὸ θεοῦ κατασκευῆς, f. 86r-113r).
3. Donatio Constantini Syluestro papa [BHG 1634e-1634eb] (τὸ παρὰ τοῦ ἰσαποστόλου ἁγίου Κωνσταντίνου γεγονὸς ἔγγραφον θέσπισμα πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον σίλβεστρον τὸν τότε πάπαν τῆς ρώμης, f. 113r-119r).
4. Commentary and exegesis of the Song of Songs by Solomon (ἆσμα ἀσμάτων ὧ ἐστί τῷ σολομόντι, f. 119r-141v). According to Santo Lucà (“La fine inedita del comment di Nilo d’Ancira al Cantico dei Cantici”, Augustinianum 22/3 [1982], 365-403) the author (not mentioned in the manuscript title) is the monk Nilus of Ancyra (4th-5th c.)
5. John Chrysostom, De incomprehensibili natura Dei homiliae [CPG 4318, Aldama 245] (τοῦ χρυσοστόμου, περὶ τοῦ ἀκαταλήπτον εἶναι τὴν θείαν φύσιν ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τῆς περιεχούσης τοὺς περὶ ἀκαταλήπτου λόγους, f. 142r-146v).
6. Gregory of Nyssa, Testimonia adversus Iudaeos [CPG 3221] (τίτολος ι᾽ κατὰ ἑβραίων ἐκ τῆς λεγομένης εἶναι τοῦ Νήσσης βίβλου τῆς προσαγορευμένης θεογνωσίας…, f. 146v-162v).
7. Dialogue on the Faith of the Monk Euthymius with a Saracen Philosoper in the City of Melitene (διάλλεξις τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν εὐθυμίου τοῦ μεγάλου κατὰ σαρακινοῦ φιλοσόφου περὶ πίστεως γενομένη ἐν τῇ πόλει μελιτηνῆς, f. 163r-176r).
8. Index apostolorum ex Hyppolito et Dorotheo, that is, series of short notices devoted to each one of the apostles (ἱππολύτου ἐπισκόπου ῥώμης καὶ δωροθέου ἐπισκόπου τύρου καὶ ἱερομάρτυρος περὶ τῶν μαθητῶν τοῦ κυ…, f. 176v-179r).
According to Pinakes, the ff. 142-162 (nos. 5-6) are drawn from the Panoplia dogmatica by Euthymius Zigabenus, ed. J.P. Migne, Patrologia graeca, vols. 128-131: see also RAP G11348 (https://apps.unive.it/project/rap/visualizza/g11348)

Publisher

-

Date

16th-17th century

Type

Composite miscellaneous book

Format

Manuscript book on paper

Identifier

Ott. gr. 333

Source

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

Language

Greek

Rights

Images copyright Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (digital reproduction available online – see below)

Provenance

fol. a: ex codicis Johannis Angeli ducis ab Altaemps, ex Graeco manuscripto. Addition of a partial index: d. Gregorii Epi Nysseni De anima / Anastasii sinaitae de eo quod homo ad simulitudine Dei factus sit / Expositio in cantica canticorum / euthymii contra saracenos disputatio and of the sigla R. 4. 6 (apparently by another hand).

Description

(Physical description) Composite manuscript book on paper, 179 folia; modern red leather cover decorated on front and back with a thin golden geometric frame; on the spine papal emblem of Pius IX (1846-1878), shelfmark Ott. gr. 333 and floral decoration, no recognizable emblem of any librarian cardinal.

(Size) 20,6 x 14,3 (cm, height x width); 179 folia

Given the identity of the copyist, it is possible that the ff. 86-179 were copied in Crete in the second half of the 16th century and then came to Italy (possibly through Venice?), ending up in Rome in the 17th century. Indeed, according to the annotation in f. a, in the first half of the 17th century the manuscript as a whole was part of Giovanni Angelo d’Altemps’ library.
Giovanni Angelo d’Altemps (1586–1620), Duke of Gallese, was a scholar and bibliophile. He took advantage of the enormous library already assembled by his grandfather, Cardinal Marco Sittico d’Altemps, and enriched it by purchasing on 16 August 1611 for 13,000 gold scudi the library of Cardinal Marcello Cervini, who was later elected to the papal throne under the name Pope Marcellus II (1555). Cervini left this library as a gift to Cardinal Sirleto (1514-1585), who enriched it with Greek manuscripts. It then passed to Cardinal Ascanio Colonna (1560-1608) and, upon his death, was put up for sale and purchased by Altemps. However, Altemps had to give up a hundred of the most valuable codices to Pope Paul V (r. 1605-1621); after his death, his heirs sold the most valuable ones to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, later Pope Alexander VIII (r. 1689-1691). These codices were finally purchased by Benedict XIV (r. 1740-1758) for the Vatican Library, where they are now part of the Ottoboniano collection.

Has Version

Editions (of individual texts):
Anastasius Sinaita, Sermones duo in constitutionem hominis secundum imaginem Dei necnon opuscula adversus monotheletas, ed. K.-H. Uthemann, Turnhout: Brepols 1985.
Gregorii Nysseni, De anima et resurrectione, ed. A. Spira, Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2014.
S. Lucà, “La fine inedita del commento di Nilo d'Ancira al Cantico dei Cantici”, Augustinianum 22 (1982), 365-403
E. Trapp, “Die Dialexis des Mönches Euthymios mit einem Sarazenen”, Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 20 (1971), 111-131.

Secondary Literature:
L. Andriollo, “Writing and Reading Anti-Islamic Polemics in Byzantium: The Dialogue on the Faith of the Monk Euthymios with a Saracen Philosopher (Twelfth Century)”, in L. Andriollo, L. D’Amelia (ed.), Byzantium and Its Neighbours: Religious Self and Otherness in Dialogue, 51-92, Venezia 2024.
P. Andrist, “Pour un répertoire des manuscrits de polémique anti-judaïque”, Byzantion 70/1 (2000), 270-306
E. Feron and F. Battaglini, Codices manuscripti ottoboniani Bibliothecae Vaticanae, Città del Vaticano 1893
P. Franchi De’ Cavalieri, Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum graecorum Bibliothecae Vaticanae, Bruxelles 1899
E. Gamillscheg, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800-1600. 3. Teil: Handschriften aus Bibliotheken Roms mit dem Vatikan. A. Verzeichnis der Kopisten, unter Mitarbeit von D. Harlfinger und P. Eleuteri, Wien 1997.
G. Mercati, Note per la storia di alcune biblioteche romane nei secc. XVI-XIX, Città del Vaticano 1952, pp. 26, 62, 97, 174
K.G. Tsiknakis, “Gabriele Seviros a Creta negli anni 1587-1587”, in Gavriil Seviros, arcivescovo di Filadelfia a Venezia, e la sua epoca, a cura di D.G. Apostolopulos, 71-95Venezia 2004.

Pinakes; Numéro diktyon: 65576

BAV Ott. gr. 333

Author of the Catalogation

Luisa Andriollo

Item