International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

HAGIOGRAPHY ‒ PART 3
Chairs: 
Smilja Marjanović-Dušanić, Elena Kountoura Galaki
Evelina Mineva
, 
Is the Byzantine 
Vita of St. Paraskevi of Epibatae 
(BHG3 1420z) 
the “Lost” 
Vita of Deacon Vasilikos
from the 12
th
C.?
Yulia Mantova
, 
Travel in Mid-Byzantine Hagiography: Literary Representation
Benoit Cantet
, 
La 
Vie de Cyrille le Philéote
: un idéal du don ?
Florin Filimon
The Monastic Community of Alypius the Stylite: Double or Twin Monastery?
André-Louis Rey
, 
La présence de données matérielles dans l’hagiographie : 
le cas de Saint Syméon le Stylite le Jeune et la 
Vie de S. Marthe
Yanko Hristov – Nikolay Hrissimov
, 
Some Features of Everyday Life in Slavia Orthodoxa at the Beginning of the X Century 
(According to the Old Bulgarian Hagiographical Cycle “Tale of the Iron Cross”)
Panos Sophoulis
, 
Banditry in the Balkans (9
th
-14
th
C.): The Evidence of Saint’s Lives
Mila Krneta
, 
Byzantine Women in Serbian Medieval Hagiography
Aleksandar Z. Savić 
In the Footsteps of Moses: St Sava of Serbia’s Sinai Pilgrimage
Marija Vasiljević
, 
Models of Martyrial Hagiography in the Post-Byzantine Balkans: St. George of Kratovo

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834
Evelina Mineva
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; 
[e-mail]
Is the Byzantine 
Vita of St. Paraskevi of Epibatae 
(BHG3 1420z) 
the “Lost” 
Vita of Deacon Vasilikos 
from the 12
th
C.?
The great researcher of the literature tradition of the cult of Saint Paraskevi of Epibatae E. 
Kalužniacki considered, that the Byzantine Vita of the saint, written by the deacon Vasilikos at 
the order of Patriarch Nikolaos IV Muzalon (1147-1151), has been lost and only the Slavonic 
translation has been saved. The communication tries to prove that this vita has not been perished 
and is the Byzantine Vita of St. Paraskevi of Epibatae (BHG3 1420z), preserved in only two Byzantine 
manuscripts - Cod. Gothoburgensis 4 and Cod. Conventi Soppresi, B1, Camaldoli 1214. The specific
head arguments, supporting the hypothesis, are: a) the use of titles, which are typical for the 12
th
c. as 
the title „αὐσονάναξ“ for the Byzantine emperor and the title “ἄρχων” for the Kievan knjaz, who is 
mentioned in one of the miracles in the Vita - “the miracle with the lame son of the Russian ruler”; b) 
a certain passage in the prologue of the Vita, where the writer says, that he was unwilling to neglect 
the words of his “father”, an indication that the composition of the text was an implementation of an 
order; d) the Vita doesn’t mention the transfer of the saint’s relics in Tarnovo, Bulgaria, between 1230-
1231, which was an important event in the history of her cult; e) the Vita has been used as a source 
and a model for the composition of the oldest Slavonic canon for St. Paraskevi of Epibatae, which 
was written in the first half of the 13
th
c. The above Vita must be the so called Byzantine “praise”, that 
has been brought together with Byzantine hymns and vita (synaxarion) of the saint from Kallikrateia 
to Tarnovo, according to the Short Bulgarian Chronicle from the 13
th
c., and has been translated in 
Slavonic, although this translation has not been found up till now. The hagiographical tradition of the 
above mentioned Byzantine Vita has been revived and continued in the 17
th
c. by Meletios Syrigos, 
who composed a concise Modern Greek variant of the text.