International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Anca Mihaela Sapovici
Romanian Academy, “Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” 
Institute of Linguistics, Bucharest, Romania; 
[e-mail]
The Parenetic Works within the Romanian Culture: 
Between Tradition and Innovation
The Wallachian Voivode Neagoe Basarab delivered to the posterity a work of particular 
importance not only for the Romanian Literature, but significant for the entire cultural space of the 
post byzantine Balkans, in general. Dating from the first quarter of the 16
th
century, The Teachings of 
Neagoe Basarab to his Son, Theodosios belongs to the genre of mirror of princes, being an authentic 
reflection of the political ideology of the 16
th
century and a systematization of the principles of the 
absolutist monarchical type of governing.
The Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to his Son Theodosius served as a model for at least one 
other work, a text that followed the model more or less accurately in content and style. This later 
work belongs to a Greek hierarch established in the Romanian countries, an erudite scholar and a 
prodigious transcriber. He produced an Advice to Prince Alexandru Ilias, ruler of Wallachia, whom 
he served for a few years. Entitled Ἐδῶ γράφομεν τίνας παῤῥανγγελίας ὅπου ἐνουθετήσαμεν τὸν 
ἐκλαμπρότατον αὐθέντην Ἰωάννην Ἀλλεξανδρον βοεβόδα, ὅταν ἧτον εἰς τὸ σκαμνί του (Here, we 
are delivering some advices we have taught to the over bright Lord Alexander, when he was on his 
throne), the text was written in the beginning of the 17
th
Century, being published in printed form 
in 1638 in Venice, and reprinted for more than twelve times until 1806, usually bound together with 
a chronicle in verse about the Prince Michael the Brave written by Sir Stavrinos the Vestiary.

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Apart of these two earlier works, we know about another four such “Advices”: 
• The one written by Petru Movilă, then Archimandrite and Abbot of Pechersk Lavra, consisting of 
15 chapters assembled as an Introduction to the Triodion printed in 1631 in Kiev, and dedicated 
to his brother, Moise Movilă, the fresh holder of the throne of Moldavia at that moment.
• The “Advices” of Metropolitan Anthimos the Iberian (Georgian), Νουθεσιαι Χριστιανικοπολιτικαι 
πρὸς τὸν Εὐσεβέστατον, καὶ Ὑψηλότατον Αὐθέντην καὶ Ἡγεμόνα πάσης Οὐγκροβλαχίας, Κύριον, 
Κύριον Ιωάννην Στέφανον Καντακουζηνὸν Βοεβόνδα, Τοῦ Πανιερωτάτου, καὶ Θεοπροβλήτου 
Μητροπολίτου Κυρίου, Κύριου Ανθίμου, τοῦ ἐξ Ἰβήρων, Νεωστὶ τυπωθεῖσαι, μετὰ καὶ τινων 
ψυχωφελῶν Εὐχῶν ὅλης της Εὐδομάδας. Ἐν τῇ ἁγιωτάτῃ Μητροπόλει, τῇ ἐν Βουκουρεστίῳ, 
Ἐτει τῷ σωτηρίῳ αψιε, printed in Bucharest by the author himself.
• The “Advices” of Prince Nicholas Mavrocordatos to his son, Constantine: Νουθεσίαι τοῦ 
ἀοιδίμου αὐθεντου Νικολάου Βοεβόδα πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντῖνον Βοεβόδα 
Αὐθέντην, δοθεῖσαι ἐν ἐτει αψκς 
• The parenetic work of Michael Fotinos addressed to his son, Theodore, written in 1781. 
All this late examples of rhetorical genre appeared as an effort to strengthen and recognize the 
certain principles and values that the paraeneses promoted from the beginning: the Christian values 
and teaching, emphasizing the exercise of virtues and strengthening the theocratic monarchic ideology.
What else do these works have in common and what differentiates them? In what measure 
do they follow the canon of the parenetic genre, how much do they contextualize and, indirectly, 
constitute a mirror of their epoch? Was the assuming of the canon a self-aware fact? How far the 
innovation went? Are the paraeneses produced in the Romanian culture some good samples of the 
aulic ceremonial, enveloping “the greatness of the imperial power, their divine power, the political 
and religious meaning of the deeds of the Emperor” (Otto Treitinger)?
The present text tries to find an answer to these many questions, proposing a comparative 
analysis of the mentioned works and a probe-taking of their political ideology, while also scrutinizing 
the cast of mind that each of those works let reveal.