International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Alexey Kryukov 
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of History, Moscow, Russian Federation; 
[e-mail]
Byzantine Homilies of the Comnenian Time: Atticism and Asianism
In 1881, Bishop Anthony Vadkovsky suggested the existence of two parallel trends, “didactic” 
and “solemn”, in the Byzantine Homiletics. According to his opinion the second tendency receives 
strong predominance starting from the 5
th
century AD. More than 100 years later this distinction 
still remains relevant and is shared by most researchers of the Byzantine sermon. Among generally 
considered features of the “ceremonial” flow one can mention the predominance of festal sermons 
and the preacher’s commitment to a specific ancient rhetoric toolkit characteristic of the epideictic 
eloquence. According to V. Valiavitcharska (2013), the Byzantine Homiletics at some degree succeeds 
the so-called “Asianic” oratory, characterized by splitting the speech to short cola, connected by 
common rhythmical patterns and rhymed endings.

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It should be noted that most of the theoretical arguments concerning the Byzantine 
Homiletics expressed so far are mainly based on the material not later than the 10
th
century. Thus 
it might be interesting to examine their applicability to a later time. The Byzantine Homiletics of 
the 12
th
century is primarily characterized by the appearance of great homiliaries, containing a 
large number of relatively short sermons which combine binding to a specific holiday with the 
exegetical orientation. However, this type of preaching is not found in the works of educated 
bishops of the period in question, such as Eustathius of Thessalonica or Michael Choniates. Keeping 
the commitment to the festive teachings, these authors attempt to harmoniously combine the 
“ideas” described in Hermogenes’ theory of eloquence. For this reason homoeoteleuta, isokola and 
similar rhetorical devices are only of limited use in their sermons. The same applies to rhetorical 
questions, exclamations and inner dialogue. However, even more typical for their heritage are so 
called cathecheseis, devoted to the theme of the Lent. These teachings, including an element of 
the solemn eloquence (panegyrics, praising the merits of fasting), for the most part deal with the 
explanation of the moral norms, mandatory for the Christian. The preacher, exactly conforming 
the requirements of ancient rhetoric, was trying to convince his audience with the power of his 
arguments, rather than to charm his listeners’ ears. These features seem particularly significant in 
comparison with the style of St. Neophyte the Recluse, who, not possessing a classical education, 
at the same time often demonstrates his commitment to so-called “hymnic passages” (the term 
proposed by T. Antonopoulou).
These considerations lead us to the question whether it is possible to talk about a sort of revival 
of the “Attic” style of eloquence in the Byzantine preaching of the Comnenian time, while “Asianism” 
remained the choice of less educated preachers.

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