Handschrift und Inschrift : Liturgische Verse des Nikephoros KallistouXanthopoulos und ihre sekundäre Verwendung

In the small town of Melnik, located in south-eastern Bulgaria, a number of churches and monasteries that were built in the Byzantine period are now in ruins or no longer exist at all. These include the monastery church of the Theometor Pantanassa, which dates to the late 13th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, parts of a rhythmic inscription could still be read on the lintel of the gate of the exonarthex. Interestingly, the text also survives in ms. Vind. hist. gr. 103, which dates from the second half of the 14th century: There it functions as a rubric to the Synaxarion on the Church of the Mother of God tês Pêgês (BHG3 1074), the text being attributed to Nikephoros Kallistu Xanthopulos.

Furthermore, the verses are also transmitted in liturgical books such as the Pentekostarion. This paper not only analyzes the specific inscription, but also uses the case study to document the “wandering” of texts between different media: from manuscript to inscription and again from inscription to manuscript. [Publisher's text]