Sammeln - Präsentieren - Studieren - Überliefern:

Die Schriftauslegung altkirchlicher Autoren in alten Katenenhandschriften und neuen Datenbanken

Tagung in Wien, 23.-25. März 2023.

Das umfangreiche Schrifttum der altkirchlichen Autoren zur Schriftauslegung stellt – damals nicht anders als heute — die christliche Gesellschaft vor die Aufgabe, es zu erfassen und zu bewahren. Die Motivation dazu reicht von spirituellen Bedürfnissen bis hin zu wissenschaftlichem Interesse, damals wie heute. In der spätantik-frühbyzantinischen Zeit wurde dafür neben der direkten Abschrift einzelner Kommentare oder Texten wie Predigtsammlungen die Technik der Katenenhandschriften entwickelt; heute kommen zu gedruckten Büchern sowie Sammelwerken als Anthologien die neuen digitalen Möglichkeiten hinzu. Es stellen sich ähnliche Fragen: Was wird ausgewählt? Wie soll das Material erfasst und aufbereitet werden? Wieviel möchte man an zur Verfügung stehendem Wissen einbinden? Wie relevant sind die Autoren- bzw. Quellennachweise? Wie ist mit Differenzen, unterschiedlichen Meinungen, Häresien, kritischen Autoren umzugehen? Wie soll der Bibeltext präsentiert und hervorgehoben werden? Andere Varianten eingebunden werden? Sollte man alles technisch Machbare umsetzen?

Die Tagung befasst sich mit der byzantinischen Katenenüberlieferung, insbesondere zu den Psalmen, sowie auch mit den neuen technischen Möglichkeiten. Beiträge aus den Forschungsprojekten der Beteiligten, die alte und neue Perspektiven verbinden, sind willkommen.

Collecting – Presenting – Studying – Transmitting:

The Scriptural Interpretation of Early Church Authors in Old Manuscripts and New Databases

Conference in Vienna, 23-25 March 2023

The extensive literature of late antique Christian authors on the interpretation of Scripture confronts society – in past and in present – with the task of collecting and preserving it. The motivation for this ranges from spiritual needs to scientific interest, then as now. In Late Antiquity and Byzantine times, the technique of catena manuscripts was developed for this purpose, in addition to the direct copying of individual commentaries or texts such as collections of sermons; today, the new digital possibilities are added to printed works as well as collected anthologies. Similar questions arise: What is selected? How should the material be recorded and processed? How much of the available knowledge should be included? How relevant are the author and source references? How to deal with differences, divergent opinions, heresies, unorthodox authors? How should the biblical text be presented and emphasized? Are other variations to be included? Should everything technically feasible be implemented?

The conference deals with the byzantine catena tradition, especially with the Psalms, as well as with the new technical possibilities. Contributions from the research projects of the participants, combining old and new perspectives, are welcome.

List of participants who have accepted so far

Felix Albrecht: Der Ertrag der Catena Palestinensis für die Editio critica maior des griechischen Psalters.

Patrick Andrist: Towards a typology of Apocalypse manuscripts: witnesses with systematic commentaries as methodological test cases.

Cordula Bandt: Eusebius' Kommentare zu Ps 51-95 in direkter Überlieferung und in den Katenen.

Clark Bates: Emulating the Most Wise Bee: Using the Ps. Oecumenian Catena of Ephesians as a Case Study for Critical Editions of New Testament Catenae.

Astrid Breith: Die Catena aurea des Thomas von Aquin in einer mittel-hochdeutschen Übersetzung.

Mathieu Cassin: How to edit catena on Psalms? Manuscripts, Types, Authors and Texts.

Reinhart Ceulemans: The Lexeis of the Psalms and the Catena Tradition.

Barbara Crostini: How to deal with differences, divergent opinions, heresies, unorthodox authors. (working title)

Volker Henning Drecoll: Title to be announced.

Cinzia Grifoni: Commented editions of the Bible from Carolingian Europe: Features, Functions and Spread.

Tommaso Interi: Remarks on the Provisional Critical Text of Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms.

Agnès Lorrain: Der Römerbriefkommentar von Theodoret in der Katena Vaticana (Vat. gr. 762): von Quellen- zur Katenenedition und zurück.

Jacopo Marcon: Framing Pauline catenae: the process of selecting and organizing the scholia in selected manuscripts of the Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Romans.

Margherita Matera: A rediscovered witness to the Psalms: Codex Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Berol. graec. Qu. 58 (Rahlfs 1039).

Ugo Mondini: Manuele File (XIV sec.) e il contesto in cui scrisse la sua Metafrasi dei Salmi. (working title)

Georgi Parpulov: Catenae on the Biblical Odes.

Andrew Patton: The Multiplicity of Catenae and Critical Editions.

Emanuele Scieri: Reclassifying the multi-layered catena manuscripts on the Acts of the Apostles.

Annette von Stockhausen: Title to be announced.

Maria Tomadaki: The Catena Type XIV on the Psalms (CPG C27) and its Christological Aspects.

Giovanni Maria Vian: Atanasio, i Salmi e le catene.

Laurence Vianès: Title to be announced.

Barbara Villani: Exzerpieren und paraphrasieren: Beobachtungen zur Kürzungsmethode von Katenisten.

Claudio Zamagni: Die Katene zu Hiob des Nicetas von Heraklea.

Dimtrios Zaganas: Title to be announced.

Manuscript Catenae on the Psalms: Contexts of Production and Use in Byzantium

24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Venice and Padua, 22-27 August 2022

Tuesday, 23 August 2022, Venice, San Giobbe Aula 7A, 17:30 – 19:30, Session: TS43

Conveners: Uta Heil, Sebastiano Panteghini, Maria-Lucia Goiana

More than eighty Greek manuscript catenae on the Psalms, dating from the 9th to the 16th century, have come down to us. The main focus of scholarship on catenae has for a long time been the recovery of Bible commentaries which were lost in the direct tradition. In more recent decades, catenae have also come to be regarded as an object of intrinsic research interest and to be edited as such. In this vein, the present discussion group aims to explore through specific case studies aspects of the production and use of catenae and of their place in the intellectual history of Byzantium. At a textual level, of particular interest are topics such as the selection of the contents of a Psalm catena, the ways in which these were re-worked, and the forms in which the scribes and subsequent readers engaged with the text, for instance through corrections and annotations. A further pathway of investigation approaches catenae in their physical aspect, as manuscripts displaying a variety of formats, page layouts, writing materials, and types of script. In this sense, palaeographical and codicological elements will be approached with the aim of shedding new light on the copyists and readers of Psalm catenae.

Part 1

Martin Wallraff

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Catena Ante Litteram: Early Forms of Paratextuality in the Greek Manuscript Transmission of the Psalms

Felix Albrecht, Maria Tomadaki

Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen

Origen From the Catenae: Two Examples

Agnès Lorrain

Centre Paul Albert Février (Aix en Provence)

Choix et disposition des extraits: le commentaire de Théodoret sur Romains dans la chaîne Vaticanus CPG C 160

Panagiotis Manafis

University of Birmingham

Compilation Practices in New Testament Collections of Exegetical Excerpts

Part 2

Georgi Parpulov

Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen

An Unpublished Greek Commentary on the Psalter

Giovanni Maria Vian

Università La Sapienza di Roma

Il commento di Atanasio ai Salmi e la tradizione catenaria

Reinhart Ceulemans

KU Leuven

Hesychios Jagić With a Catena on Its Tail (CPG C 40.16)