The article contains an analysis of the hymnographic canon for the deaths written by Kassia of Constantinople. It is shown that all its theotokia (apart from the last one) are taken from earlier canons, including the theotokion of the fifth ode that was previously considered as written by Kassia herself. Concluding from its contents, the canon is to be dated to the 860s.

Two notes: 1. Логофет дрома, бичевавший св. Евфимия. 2. Канон св. Евфимию, написанный св. Феофаном Начертанным.
2006-10-06

Tatiana A. Senina (Nun Kassia). Dialogue between Theophilus and Kassia: literary fiction or reality? - The paper deals with the story of the bride-show for the Emperor Theophilus and the possible role in this story of the hymnographer Cassia. L. Rydén’s opinion that such bride-shows for the royal sons in the 9th century are fictions is revised. It is most likely that such stories told by the chroniclers have some real facts behind them. In this connection, a new hypothesis of the reasons of composition of the Vita of Philarete the Merciful is put forward. The chronology of the life of the Emperor Theophilus in general and the date of his bride-show in particular are revised as well. It was shown that the dates of his life proposed by W. Treadgold are accepted by many scholars rather uncritically while, in fact, they are far from being well-founded. According to the present analysis of the sources, including the numismatic data and the hymnography, Theophilus’ bride-show is to be dated by 821 and Cassia’s participation is to be admitted. The fact that dialogue between Theophilus and Cassia, as reported by Symeon Logothetus, contains a verbatim quote from the Homily on Annunciation by John Chrysostome, is not an argument to take the whole story as fiction (pace D. Afinogenov and Yu. Kazachkov) because this homily was widely known in this time and is quoted, for instance, in an anti-iconoclast treatise of the Patriarch Nicephorus and, that is most important, by Cassia herself in her sticheira on Annunciation. Finally, it was attempted to reveal the meaning of the interchange between Theophilus and Cassia that was traditionally interpreted as an attempt of an orthodox girl to hurt the iconoclastic emperor.
2006-10-06

Five notes: 1. Le fondement théologique du dialogue des frères Graptoi et Jean le Grammairien dans la Vie de Michel le Syncelle. 2. Jean le Grammairien et le monastère de Théotocos τῶν Ψιχᾶ. 3. Saint Théodore le Stoudite, l’empereur Michel II et Thomas le Slave. 4. Le Philosophe et le Théologien : à propos de l’homélie de Léon le Mathematicien sur l’Annonciation. 5. Ἡ γυνὴ φιλόσοφος: S. Cassia de Constantinople et Platon.
2008-10-16

The anonymous author of the “Life of Michael Synkellos” in his account about the act of confession of the brothers Theodore and Theophanus Graptoi uses a genuine document, a letter of Theodore, where the confessor describes what he and his brother suffered in 836. A new French translation of this letter is included in the article because the previous translation by S. Vailhé (the only translation into an European language) is not complete and sometimes incorrect (in the appendix a Russian translation of the same letter is added). The present author compares two versions of the same event, that of the letter of Theodore and that of the “Life of Michael Synkellos.” The comparison shows that, in the hand of the anonymous hagiographer, the story becomes transformed into a panegyric or even a Passion épique. All the known versions of the iambic verses written about the faces of the confessors are compared. A hypothesis has been put forward that the cause of such an unusual punishment was the satyrical verses written by Theophanus Graptos about Emperor Leo the Armenian. Probably, Theophilus’ idea of giving the brothers to the Arabs was a mockery provoked by the fact that the brothers left Palestine because of a fear of the Arabs. The reasons for Theophilus’ irritation with the brothers were of rather political than religious nature. An episode in the Continuator of Theophanus with a discussion held between St Theophanus and Emperor Theophilus about the Book of Isaiah allegedly “corrupted” by the iconoclast is also reconsidered. It is very probable that it is fictitious (because Theodore Graptos in his letter did not mention it), but, in any case, it may correspond to some “Armenian” version of the Greek text of Isaiah: at least, such a corrupted quotation from Isaiah is to be read in a harsh iconoclastic document, the Testament of the Armenian Catholicos Sahak III, whose spiritual son Smbat Bagratuni was a close friend of the first iconoclast Emperor Leo III.
2008-10-16