The Textual Tradition of the Life of Saint Irene the Empress

Despite the obvious significance of Empress Irene of Athens for the history of Orthodoxy, her vita has a very poor textual tradition: a single extant manuscript and a single printed edition of the entire text. Moreover, this hagiographic writing is mostly drawn from a historical one, that is, Theoph...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Grigoraş, Isabela (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Sciendo 2023
In: Review of ecumenical studies
Year: 2023, Volume: 15, Issue: 2, Pages: 203-216
IxTheo Classification:KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages
KBK Europe (East)
KCD Hagiography; saints
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:Despite the obvious significance of Empress Irene of Athens for the history of Orthodoxy, her vita has a very poor textual tradition: a single extant manuscript and a single printed edition of the entire text. Moreover, this hagiographic writing is mostly drawn from a historical one, that is, Theophanes’ Chronographia; only the last part of the vita, which presents the exile and the dying words of Irene, seems to be the original contribution of the hagiographer. The purpose of this paper is to offer a philological and hagiological perspective on the Life of Saint Irene the Empress and to show that the shortcomings of this vita might be the main reasons for its lack of popularity.
ISSN:2359-8107
Contains:Enthalten in: Review of ecumenical studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2478/ress-2023-0015