Zbornik Radova Vizantološkog Instituta

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Publisher: Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
ISSN: 0584-9888
eISSN: 2406-0917

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Okov Vatopedske ikone Bogorodice Vimatarise iz epohe Paleologa
Okov Vatopedske ikone Bogorodice Vimatarise iz epohe Paleologa
(francuski) Lobe de cet article est de présenter de manière détaillée le deuxième revêtement de l'icone de la Vierge Vimatarissa de Vatopedi et d'examiner l'éventualité qu'il s'agisse d'une donation d'un personnage célébré, Stefan Du{an (Etienne Douchant).
Omitting regulations on alienation, repentance, lament and contemplation in the final lessons of the first chapter of St. Sava’s Studenica Typikon
Omitting regulations on alienation, repentance, lament and contemplation in the final lessons of the first chapter of St. Sava’s Studenica Typikon
St. Sava wrote the benefactor’s hagiography of St. Simeon as the first chapter (letter) of the Studenica Typikon. He used Theodore the Studite’s The Small Catechesis 56 as the epilogue of biography which is according to the established rule read during the Great Lent. The comparative analysis of the epilogue of hagiography and Theodore the Studite’s The Small Catechesis 56 determined that St. Sava left out specific rules directly concerning significant aspects of monastic spirituality. In the study we analyze reasons for leaving out these rules respected by the entire Eastern monasticism and adaptation of the text taken out from The Small Catechesis 56 to a specific place within the hagiography. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 178018: Društvene krize i savremena srpska književnost i kultura: nacionalni, regionalni, evropski i globalni okvir]
On Theophylact’s in Defense of Eunuchs (I)
On Theophylact’s in Defense of Eunuchs (I)
The first part of this paper analyzes a text by Theophylact of Ohrid known as In Defense of Eunuchs. In terms of its genre and topic, this work stands alone in Byzantine literature. Through a dialogue between the two interlocutors - a monk and a eunuch, Theophylact challenges the traditional representation of eunuchs. He particularly focuses on the condemnation of castration in Ecclesiastical Canons and secular legislation (of the late Roman Empire and Byzantium). Theophylact highlights the ambivalence of the views on eunuchs in Byzantine society, demonstrating that castration as such did not necessarily lead to the marginalization of the castrated individual. The most important part of Theophylact’s Defense offers a comparison between “the bearded” and eunuchs in monastic orders. Also, the affirmation of freedom of choice between good and evil and insisting that an individual should be judged according to his own deeds is the guiding idea of Theophylact’s Defense. The second part of the paper contains a Serbian translation of Theophylact’s text with a commentary. Besides the French translation by the editor of the critical edition P. Gautier, this is the second complete translation of the Greek original. It deviates from Gautier’s version in several places, offering alternative readings of ambiguous places. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]
On acquirement of legal capacity in Serbian medieval law
On acquirement of legal capacity in Serbian medieval law
According to the Serbian legal sources it is not clear at what age full legal capacity was assumed. St. Stephen's Charter (1313-1318) says that a widow who has a little boy, should hold the whole village until her son become grown-up. It is clear that the persons under age could not enter formal transactions, but what was the age when natural persons assumed full legal capacity? So-called "Justinian' Law" in article 1 says that the full legal age was assumed at the age of 25. The Syntagma of Matheas Blastares exposes very complicate Byzantine system of three existing ages in the life of natural persons: 1) young persons (mladi) under puberty (14 male 12 female) had no legal capacity and they were under tutorship (pristavnik tutela); 2) individuals who have reached puberty were nevertheless, too young to administer their affairs and they were under cura (pečalovnik, koiratbr, guardianship over minors) until the age of 25, either male or female; 3) a person reached perfecta aetas at the age of 25, at which he had full capacity to act on his own behalf. But, Byzantine law required 4 years more for establishment (ustamenienije) of all legal rights of ex-minor, so the consent of a curator was no more needed at the age of 30. According to the remaining legal sources it is impossible to say whether those Byzantine rules were applied in mediaeval Serbia or whether full legal capacity was assumed at the age of puberty (14 male, 12 female). .
On portraits in Ravanica
On portraits in Ravanica
This research examines a badly washed-out portrait composition of Prince Lazar, Princess Milica and their sons, Stefan and Vuk, in the Ravanica church. The opinion is that it was not painted later, over the original layer of the frescoes, but that it was made simultaneously with the other wall paintings of the lowest zones of the church. Considering the age of Stefan represented in the portrait composition, it is assumed that the decoration of the church was completed around 1385. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnosti njen evropski kontekst]
On the Serbian-Bulgarian border in the 9th and the 10th centuries
On the Serbian-Bulgarian border in the 9th and the 10th centuries
The paper analyzes the information concerning the border between the Serbs and the Bulgarians in the 9th and the 10th centuries found in the work De administrando imperio by the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. It is made clear that there were no clearly established borderlines between the political entities in the Early Middle Ages, and that those political entities during that period functioned not on the basis of territorialy organized states, but of ethnic communities, whose authority rested upon the people, not the territory. The functioning of the early medieval Bulgarian Khanate is one of the best examples for that. Therefore, it is necessary that the information on the Serbian-Bulgarian border in the Porphyrogenitus‘ work be analyzed in a new and different light. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]
On the attempts to locate the “inhabited cities” of porphyrogennetos’ Pagania a historiographic overview with special reference to controversial issues
On the attempts to locate the “inhabited cities” of porphyrogennetos’ Pagania a historiographic overview with special reference to controversial issues
In this paper there was made an attempt at determining more precisely the location of the four “inhabited cities” (κάστρα οíκούμενα) of Pagania, mentioned in the De administrando imperio of Constantine Porphyrogennetos: Mokron (τò Μόκρον), Beroullia (τò Βερούλλια), Ostrok (τò Oστρωκ) и Slavinetza (ή Σλαβίνετζα). Having considered the results previously established in historiography in connection to the issue, the author concludes that Mokron (Makr) was probably situated in the village of Makar beneath Mt. Biokovo, and that Beroullia (Vrulja) was identical with Vrulja near Podgora. Ostrok (Ostrog), in accordance with generally accepted oppinion, is to be located in the immediate vicinity of today’s Zaostrog, at the foot of the Mt. Viter, while, considering Slavinetza, it is assumed that it was situated in the region of the Baćina lakes, near the ruins of Sladinac, where are the remnants of the old Church of St Andrew, although the possibility that it should be searched for in the area of today’s Gradac, near the Slavinjac spring, mentioned in a description of Gradac from 1863, should not be excluded. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]
On the conception of Homeric allegories in the twelfth century
On the conception of Homeric allegories in the twelfth century
John Tzezes and St. Eustathius of Thessalonica, the two great Byzantine commentators of Homer and contemporaries, gave considerable attention to the tradition of allegorical interpretation of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The paper points to key differences in their understanding of the Homeric allegories. Although familiar with the same body of older interpretations, they tended to use it in a different way and show a rather personal view of the Poet and his work. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]
On the iconography of Saint Prokopios
On the iconography of Saint Prokopios
U članku se istražuju kult i ikonografija sv. Prokopija, počev od najstarijih sačuvanih primera do poznog vizantijskog razdoblja (X/XI do XTV/XV vek) i posebno, odraz kulta ovog svetitelja u zidnom slikarstvu središnjih oblasti Balkana. U vizantijskoj umetnosti očuvane su brojne zasebne predstave ovog svetitelja u vidu poprsja ili stojeće figure, ređe kao konjanika i, svega nekoliko, u okviru hagiografskih scena. Kao ikonografski neobična istaknuta je freska iz Lesnova, na kojoj sv. Prokopije ima kapu na glavi a na oružju znak krsta (1349). Sa stanovišta programa, izdvojene su njegove predstave iz Melnika (XIII) i, naročito, Staničenja (1331/2), koje su naslikane na neuobičajeno istaknutim mestima. Ovi spomenici, uz one iz Donje Kamenice i donekle, Kalotine (XIV vek), inicirali su zaključak da je kult sv. Prokopija u srednjem veku bio posebno izražen u istočnim delovima Srbije i zapadnim krajevima Bugarske, šireći se svakako iz Niša i Prokuplja, gde su se čuvali delići moštiju ovog svetitelja. U ovom radu je posebna pažnja poklonjena i ikonografiji scene Prokopijeve Vizije krsta kapadokijske freske i primeri u rukopisima iz XI veka; možda i Melnik iz XIII veka, koja je mogla nastati kombinovanjem nekoliko epizoda iz svetiteljevog slikanog Žitija.
On the identical obligations of the population in the chrysobulls issued for the St. George monastery near Skopje
On the identical obligations of the population in the chrysobulls issued for the St. George monastery near Skopje
The chrysobulls issued by the Bulgarian emperor Constantine Tich (1238), and by the Serbian king Milutin (1299) authenticated all the estates and privileges of the St. George monastery near Skopje. From these chrysobulls one learns how, during the XI, XII and XIII centuries, the monastery acquired diverse gifts from some ten Byzantine emperors, four Bulgarian emperors, and four Serbian kings or rulers. Both the Bulgarian and the Serbian documents mention a large number of matching expressions that indicated the obligations of the subjugated peasants (serfs), criminal offences and judicial penalties and one sees the same titles for the representatives of all local authorities. Greek and Slav words were used as special terms. It was attested a long time ago that the Greek expressions originated in Byzantium and that they were taken from the rich Byzantine terminology. All of this occurred when Skopje and its vicinity were under stable Byzantine rule in the course of the decades and centuries, and, more substantially, when it was an integral part of the large Byzantine thema of Bulgaria. The case is different where Slav terms are concerned. They originated within the borders of the Bulgarian or the Serbian state, or they may have come into being as the Slav translation of some Greek expressions. The presence of Greek and Slav terms in the Bulgarian and the Serbian documents did not escape the notice of scholars and they have succeeded in accurately explaining most of them. Still, there are no adequate interpretations for some terms, and the inaccurate explanations given for a number of expressions have nonetheless become accepted in professional literature. This paper devotes particular attention, concerning the aforesaid problem circle, to the appearance of the word desetak (tithe) both in the district of Skopje and in the Serbian mother territories, then, to the specific meaning of the term carina (customs duty) to the appearance of mostnina or the toll for transit across bridges, the mistaken explanation of the term udava, as well as the differences between priselica and preselica. Researchers established long ago that peasants in Byzantium paid tithes in wheat, wine, sheep, pigs and honey, either in kind or in coin. This paper explains that tithes in honey or in beehives, during the XII century, were also paid by peasants in the Serbian mother territories that were never under direct Byzantine rule nor did they ever constitute a part of any Byzantine thema. The same applies to the payment of mostnina in Polimlje (the Lim River Basin), also in the XII century, which can be explained by the Byzantine influence that penetrated in diverse ways into the Serbian mother territories. The paper sheds light on the special meaning of the term carina, as well as its widespread use. At issue was a land that consisted of fields, vineyards and orchards that were cultivated by subjugated peasants, on behalf of the ruler, nobility or boyars. These kinds of carina existed in the district of Skopje, and in the territory of Hum Konavle, in the district of Kotor, and along the Coast. The phenomenon of carina in these regions can be explained by the fact that they were part of the Byzantine themata of Bulgaria and Dalmatia. As for the manner of punishment known under the term udava, it was for a long time believed to be 'the arbitrary imprisonment because of a debt', that is 'the arbitrary court'. This misinterpretation has become deeply rooted in professional literature despite the fact that four decades ago, it was proved that the word udava implied punishment in summary court procedure, without trial or the presentation of evidence. For certain criminal offences, there were pre-determined penalties that were pronounced by the authorities of those times. This paper concludes with the explanation that the term priselica meant compensation for damage caused by bandits or thieves, and that priselica was not the same as preselica. The latter expression meant the temporary sojourn of a nobleman and his suite in a district that had been placed in his charge or 'possession'. The nobleman, his suite and their horses, to all intents and purposes, enjoyed the right to maintenance, which was an additional burden for the population of a certain district.
On the military competences of the logothetes tou dromou in the 8th century
On the military competences of the logothetes tou dromou in the 8th century
The paper analyses the circumstances in which the incumbents of the office of the logothetes tou dromou operated in the first century of this post’s existence. It concludes that in the 8th century the logothetes tou dromou was usually recruited from military ranks and that he could also wield military authority. At this time the system of central command was not yet defined through specific functions, which certainly influenced the competences of leading Byzantine officials such as the logothetes tou dromou. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]
On the saints represented in the Byzantine icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the British Museum in London
On the saints represented in the Byzantine icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the British Museum in London
The article is dedicated to the study of the saints depicted in the representation of the Triumph of Orthodoxy in the icon probably made in Constantinople around 1400 which is now kept at the British Museum in London. New identifications of certain figures are proposed. Questions are posed as to how the scene was shaped and which writings were the basis for its creation. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnost i njen evropski kontekst]

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