International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Mariella Menchelli
Pontremoli, Italy;
[e-mail]
A Patmos Scroll Containing Proclus. 
Notes on Editorial Skills and Proclus’s Reading in the Age of Michael Psellus
The anonymous scribe of the Patmos scoll transcribed from the manuscripts provided with a 
rich apparatus of scholia a large piece of the commentary of Proclus on the Timaeus on paper sheets 
joined by kolleseis to form a long scroll (more than seven meters). The scroll belongs to the traditional 
line represented by Marc. gr. 195, the result of a transcript from an ancient manuscript (errors 
beta / my, according to the analysis Diehl). It appears as a transcription made in an environment 
accustomed to the practice of the documents: professors, scholars and readers of Proclus, who for 
the third book was widely used by Michael Psellos (e. g. in the treatise on the generation of the 
soul preserved within the corpus of his works, as noted already by Diehl), and that experienced 
a significant fortune in the XI and XII centuries. The finding opens new lines of research on the 
practices of reading / writing in Byzantium.
Vaclav Ježek 
Prešov University, Prešov, Slovakia; 
[e-mail]
The 
Epitaphios Logos
as a Source for Its Author’s Personal Philosophical Views, 
with Particular Reference to Michael Psellos and Gregory of Nazianzus
The present contribution looks at the genre of the Epitaphios Logos, especially as it appears 
in the works of Gregory of Nazianzus and Michael Psellos. The central idea of this paper is to 
show, that the Epitaphios Logos is not merely a pre-structured rhetorical literary exercise which 
follows special rules and forms, in describing a concrete person or persons, but could be a unique 
source for the personal philosophical ideas and opinions of its author. Thus the Epitaphios Logos 
can offer us unique insights into the philosophical and theological outlook of its author, which 
are often ignored and not taken into account in contemporary works and analysis when there is a 

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reconstruction of the thought of a given author. The Epitaphios Logos thus becomes a testimony of 
the personal opinions of its author rather than a mere description of someone else. This aspect is 
especially important in such authors as Gregory Nazianzus and Michael Psellos. While much has 
been said as to the philosophical and theological positions of these two authors, more insights can 
be gained from their funerary orations as to their personal views and philosophies. This enables us 
to reconstruct a more personal philosophical outlook in these authors. The present contribution 
looks at some of the philosophical opinions of authors such as Gregory Nazianzus and Michael 
Psellos as are indicated in their funerary orations. We conclude that from these orations we can gain 
new information regarding Psellos
̉
and Nazianzus’s ideas regarding what is the goal of philosophy 
and what it consists of, and how philosophy should be approached.