抄録
Codex Vaticanus Graecus 2219 is a collection of the letters of the Patriarch Athanasios I of Constantinople (1289-93, 1303-09). Is there any possibility that Athanasios himself was directly involved in the making of the codex? Athanasios is known not only as an idiosyncratic reformer of the late Byzantine church but also as an energetic letter-writer. The above-mentioned codex is presumably the oldest and largest manuscript collection of his letters, which are of primary importance for the study of the society in his age as well as his thought and experiences, but a large part of it remains unpublished. The lack of a colophon makes it impossible to have solid evidence of its scribe(s), date and purpose of copying, but some scholars have attempted to determine the process by which the manuscript was created.
Concerning the problem of Athanasios’ involvement, two antithetical hypotheses have been propounded thus far. In the introduction to her critical edition of 115 letters of Athanasios, Dr. A.-M. M. Talbot rejects the possibility that the Vatican manuscript includes Athanasios’ autograph on the basis of some testimonies of his deteriorating health and eyesight. This hypothesis has recently been seriously challenged by another editor of his letters, Dr. Manolis Patedakis, who claims that Athanasios participated in the copying project as a scribe. This article examines the validity of Patedakis’ hypothesis, based on a historical study of the physical condition of Athanasios in later life and a palaeographical study of the handwriting of the Vatican manuscript. It concludes that Athanasios had sufficient eyesight for letter-writing even in his last years and that the handwriting of the third part of the manuscript resembles that in one manuscript (Codex Parisinus Graecus 857) copied by a monk named Athanasios in 1261, as is stated by Patedakis. Thus, this article supports the validity of his hypothesis.
