Volumen 85 Fasciculus I 2019

ORIENTALIA
CHRISTIANA
PERIODICA
COMMENTARII DE RE ORIENTALI AETATIS CHRISTIANAE
S A C R A E T P R O FA N A E D I T I C U R A E T O P E R E
PONTIFICII INSTITUTI ORIENTALIUM STUDIORUM

E X T R A C T A

PONTIFICIUM INSTITUTUM ORIENTALIUM STUDIORUM

PIAZZA S. MARIA MAGGIORE, 7
ROMA

Nr. 1 / 2019

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This periodical began publication in 1935. Two fascicles are issued each
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Edited by Philippe Luisier (Editor), e-mail: luisier@pontificio-orientale.

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SUMMARIUM

ARTICULI
Predrag Bukovec, Die vielen Einsetzungsberichte von Addai und
Mari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-22

Lisa D. Maugans Driver, Pastoral Physicians and Communal Health

in Late Antique Antioch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23-44

Enrico Cattaneo, S.J., Eunomio e gli Anomei nel Commento a Isaia

di Basilio di Cesarea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45-75
Ayda Kaplan, Reclassement des planches datées de l’Album de Hatch
à la lumière des nouvelles théories sur le développement des
écritures syriaques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77-111

Daniel Galadza, Liturgy at the Great Lavra of St. Sabas from its
Beginnings to the First Crusade: A Preliminary Survey . . . . . . . . . 113-138

István Baán, The Metropolitanate of Turkia. A historical fact or a

Gordian knot of historical writing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139-166

A. Nikiforova, The Consecration of Holy Myron in the Near East: A

Reconstruction Attempt of the Greek-Melkite Rite (with the Edition
of Sinai Greek NF/ E 55 + Fragment E sine numero, A.D. 1156) . . . 167-216

ANIMADVERSIO

A. Sidarus, Textes hermétiques dans des sommes théologiques copto-

arabes médiévales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217-225

RECENSIONES

L’apport des Assomptionnistes français aux études byzantines. Une

approche critique. Actes du colloque de Bucarest, 25-27 septembre
2014. Édités sous la direction de Marie-Hélène BLANCHET et Ionuž-
Alexandru TUDORIE (V. Ruggieri) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227-231

Les exégètes syriaques, Patrimoine Syriaque. Actes du colloque XIII,

textes réunis par Mgr. Paul Féghali (Dahlia Khay Azeez) . . . . . . . . 231-233

‫ ﻧﴩ أﻋامﻟﻪ وﻧﻘﻞ ﻧﺼﻮﺻﻪ اﻹﻧﻜﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ‬،‫ أﻋامل اﳌﺆمتﺮ اﻟﺜﺎﻟﺚ ﻋﴩ‬.‫ اﻟﱰاث اﻟﴪﻳﺎين‬،‫اﳌﻔﴪون اﻟﴪﻳﺎن‬
ّ
،2015 ‫ ﻟﺒﻨﺎن‬،‫ أﻧﻄﻠﻴﺎس‬،‫ ﻣﺮﻛﺰ اﻟﺪراﺳﺎت واﻷﺑﺤﺎث اﳌﴩﻗﻴّﺔ‬،‫واﻟﻔﺮﻧﺴﻴﺔ اﳌﻮﻧﺴﻨﻴﻮر ﺑﻮﻟﺲ اﻟﻔﻐﺎﱄ‬
(Dahlia Khay Azeez) .259 ‫ص‬ 231-233

GALADZA, Daniel, Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem (V. Ruggie-

ri) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233-236

Handboek oosters christendom, onder redactie van Herman TEULE en

Alfons BRÜNING met medewerking van Leo van LEIJSEN (G. Ruyssen) 236-241

THIBAUT DE MAISIÈRES, Marie – NAJM, Simon, Chrétiens d’Orient – Mon

Amour (G. Ruyssen) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236-241
ISIDORE DE PÉLUSE, Lettres. Tome III. Lettres 1701-2000. Texte critique,
traduction et notes Pierre ÉVIEUX †, avec la collaboration de Nicolas
VINEL. Sources Chrétiennes 586 (Ph. Luisier) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241-243

KOSSEVA, Diana – TOTEV, Konstantin, Kamennata plastika ot sredno-

vekovnata bãlgarska stolica Tãrnovo (1185-1393) / Stone Plastic in
Bulgaria’s Medieval Capital Turnovo (1185-1393) (T. L. Lechintan) . 243-247

NASRALLAH, Joseph † – HADDAD, Rachid, Histoire du Mouvement littéraire

dans l’Église melchite du Ve au XIXe siècle. Vol. I. Période byzantine
451-634 (Ph. Luisier) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247-250

SCERRI, Hector, The Gentle Breeze from the Peripheries: The Evolving
Role of Episcopal Conferences. Foreword by Ladislas Örsy (E. G.
Farrugia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250-253

SLESINSKI, Robert F., The Holy Mysteries: Celebrating Christ’s Sacra-

mental Presence (E. G. Farrugia). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253-255

SLESINSKI, Robert F., Holy Tradition: An Essay in Reparation (E. G.

Farrugia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253-255

VOSSEL, Vincent van, The Anaphoras of the Church of the East accord-
ing to the Mar Esha‘ya Manuscript, Text, Translation, Interpretation
(‫( )اﻟﻨﻮاﻓري اﳌﴩﻗﻴﺔ ﺑﺤﺴﺐ ﻣﺨﻄﻮط ﻣﺎر أﺷﻌﻴﺎ اﻟﻨﺼﻮص واﻟﺘﺤﺎﻟﻴﻞ‬Dahlia Khay Azeez) 255-256

VOSSEL, Vincent van, Le Dieu du silence. Patrimoine des couvents en

Irak. Reconstruire un passé ou construire un monde nouveau?, Pa-
trimoine Oriental Commun (V. Ruggieri) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256-257

SCRIPTA AD NOS MISSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

ISSN 0030-5375
 Alexandra Nikiforova

The Consecration of Holy Myron in the Near East:

A Reconstruction Attempt of the Greek-Melkite Rite
(with the Edition of Sinai Greek NF/ E 55
+ Fragment E sine numero, A.D. 1156)1

By the end of the 4th century, not only had a traditional prebaptismal
anointing begun to spread in the region of Antioch and the Syriac Near
East, but so too had a newer “second” anointing performed after the bap-
tism. The postbaptismal anointing is already mentioned by the canonical
collection from the “Council of Laodicea in Phrygia” (inter 325 and 382,2
canon 48).3 For this chrismation, the celebrants used a perfumed oil, often
named “myron” (μύρον),4 but also called “oil” (ἔλαιον), or “chrism” (χρῖ-
σμα).5 This perfumed oil needed to be available to all those who baptized

1 This project “The Consecration of Holy Myron in the Near East” was carried out un-

der the supervision of PD Dr. Heinzgerd Brakmann at the Seminar für Liturgiewissenschaft
of Bonn University (2016-2017) and financed by the Catholic Academic Exchange Service
(KAAD). First results were presented during the 23th International Congress of Byzantine
Studies in Belgrade (“The Chrism Consecration Ceremony: Constantinople vs Near East,”
Aug. 25, 2016) and the 6th International Congress of the Society of Oriental Liturgy (SOL) in
Echmiadzin (“Sinai E 55: Towards the Reconstruction of the Greek-Melkite Myron Liturgy
in the Near East,” Sept. 14, 2016). This study has been conducted in complete ignorance that
Victoria Panteri, a former Bonn doctoral candidate in liturgical studies (2008/09), was about
to publish a monograph on the same subject: Β. Παντέρη, Ο καθαγιασμός του αγίου μύρου στα
πρεσβυγενή Πατριαρχεία της Ανατολής (Αθήνα 2017). A review of this book is intended. Ι wish
to sincerely thank Father Ugo Zanetti (Chevetogne) for his insightful feedback, the librarian
of St. Catherine’s monastery Father Justin, and the proofreader of this article Nathan Chase
(University of Notre Dame).
2 E. Olshausen, “Laodicea,” LThK 6 (1997) 647-648.
3 “... ὅτι δεῖ τοὺς φωτιζομένους μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα χρίεσθαι χρίσματι ἐπουρανίῳ καὶ μετόχους

εἶναι τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Χριστοῦ” (“...those who are baptized must after the baptism be anointed
with heavenly chrism, and be partakers of the kingdom of Christ”). See J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum
conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio 2 (Florentiae 1759) 571.
4 B. Groen, “Myron,” LThK 7 (1998) 569-570; B. Kranemann, “Krankenöl,” RAC 21 (2006)

915-964; M. Siede, “Myrrhe,” RAC 25 (2013) 370-378; M. Zheltov, “Миро,” Pravoslavnaja en-
cyclopedia 45 (2017) 355-358.
5 G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford 1961) 889-890. Cyril of Jerusalem in

the Third Mystagogic Catecheses “On Chrism” distinguishes “oil” from “myron:” Cat. myst. 3.
2, PG 33, 1089b; Cyrille de Jérusalem, Catéchèses mystagogiques, ed. A. Piédagnel (= SC 126,
Paris 1966, 126bis Paris 1988) 124.

OCP 85 (2019) 167-216

216 ALEXANDRA NIKIFOROVA

Μύρον τὸ πολύτιμον (at the Great Entrance, στιχηρόν, tone pl. 1, AT)
Ὅτε ἡ ἁμαρτωλός (at the entrance, τροπάριον, tone 1, MΓ 56+5)
Προσεδεχόμην σε, Χριστέ (at the Great Entrance, τροπάριον, MΓ 56+5, tone
pl. 1)
Σήμερον ὁ Ἰούδας τὸ τῆς φιλοπτωχείας (at the entrance, στιχηρόν, tone pl. 4,
AT)
Τοὺς πόδας σου κατεφίλει (sticheron at synaxis, idiomelon, tone pl. 2, AT)
Τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ μύρον (at the Great Entrance, στιχηρόν (AT) / τροπάριον (MΓ
56+5), tone pl. 1)
Ὑμνολογούντων ἀγγέλων (of the incensation, tone pl. 2, AT, troparion for
the Great Entrance of Holy Thursday, tone pl. 4, MΓ 56+5)
Ὡς μύρον σεπτόν (at the entrance, κονδάκιον, tone 2, AT)

A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature Alexandra Nikiforova

of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Povarskaya str. 25a
121069, Moscow, Russia

Center for the History of Theology

St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University
Likhov per. 6, build.1
127051, Moscow, Russia

SUMMARY
In this article, the author discusses the Greek Melkite Pontifical rite of the consecration of
myron, or “myron liturgy,” as it was performed in Egypt in the lifetime of Patriarch of Alexan-
dria Sophronios the Third (ca. 1166-1171), from the scroll Sin. gr. ΝΕ / Е 55 + fragment E sine
numero (A.D. 1156) discovered in 1975 at the St. Catherine’s monastery in Sinai-Egypt. This
scroll preserved a Greek text of myron liturgy, correlated to the data in liturgical and hymno-
graphical codices of the 9th to 12th centuries, i.e., tropologion Sin. gr. ΝΕ / ΜΓ 56+5, lectionary
Sin. gr. 210, Anastasis Typicon, euchology Vat.gr.1970, and Syriac and Coptic sources as well,
being a part of a common Chalcedonian rite in the Near East.
This rite was established, according to Theodor Lector and the Chronicle of Joshua the
Stylite at the end of 5th c. in an Antiochian milieu, and was a logical development of the
initiatory baptismal ceremony and a offshoot from it. The first description of the new rite is
preserved in the Pseudo-Dionysian “Ecclesiastical Hierarchy” (ca. 500). An alternative to the
Constantinopolitan one the Greek Melkite rite existed in the Middle East, at least till the 12th c.
In contrast to a sober Constantinopolitan practice it was a solemn and long-lasting ceremony
assumed a definite Eucharistic form dependent on JAS, which was a main liturgy of the Near
East at that period. This was caused by a unique attitude to a holy myron in Orient and testi-
fied in literary and patristic Syriac tradition.