International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Elissavet Chartavella
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; 
[e-mail]
Ioannes Staurakios and His 
Encomium on St. Theodora of Thessaloniki
Ioannes Staurakios, who lived during the second half of the 13
th
century, has composed an en-
comium on one of the most significant saints of Thessaloniki from the middle Byzantine period, St. 
Theodora, whose hagiographical dossier is genuinely rich. Staurakios used as sources two older texts, 
the Vita of Theodora (BHG 1737) and the Narrative of the translation of Theodora᾽s venerable relics 
(BHG 1739), both written by Gregorios, a cleric of the metropolis of Thessaloniki, who lived in the 9
th
century. In my paper I will discuss various aspects of the encomium and examine Staurakios as a ha-
giographer, comparing the text with Staurakios᾽ other hagiographical works and with his source text.

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Varvara Zharkaya 
National Research University, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia; 
[e-mail]
Lev Lukhovitskiy
Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation; 
[e-mail]
«Don’t Put on a Friend’s Mask, but Pronounce an Impartial Judgment»:
Constantine Acropolites’ Hagiographic Oeuvre in His Letter-Collection
Constantine Acropolites, a prolific early Palaeologan hagiographer, authored 29 encomia (28 
of them metaphraseis). The paper takes a closer look at Acropolites’ letters in which he mentions 
his hagiographic oeuvre. These letters — mostly cover-letters accompanying Acropolites’ texts 
sent to his addressees — shed light on Acropolites’ authorial self-consciousness. The impetuses 
for composing encomia (commission, own initiative, friend’s or teacher’s request), the style and 
rhetorical topoi of the letters addressed to different categories of Acropolites’ acquaintances, as well 
as stages of hagiographic reworking as presented in Acropolites’ letter-collection are analyzed.