The Library of Megisti Lavra

The Library of Megisti Lavra

Library. The Library of the Great Lavra is the first to be created on Mount Oros, as it was established almost with the foundation of the monastery. The founder, Saint Athanasios the Athonite, had his own library, which formed the first nucleus. According to Makarios Trigonis, custodian of the monastery (1772), the library, which was located in the area of the catechumens, above the narthex of the catholicon, belonged to Athanasios himself and was located in front of his cell: "Similarly, his cell was there it is, and his library is full of various handwritten books". Also, the interest in the books of Athanasios, who was an excellent calligrapher, prompted him to create a code copying workshop already in the early years. The collection was subsequently enriched by manuscripts that were either copied in the laboratory or arrived through donations, exchanges and purchases.

From the 10th century onwards, the collection was kept in various places: inside the catholicon, in the old abbot's house and in the Tsimiski tower, in a cell to the left of the chapel of the First Martyr Agios Stefanos which is located on top of it - information, however, indisputable.

During the 13th century, the Lavra library numbered around 1,000 manuscripts. During this period, it also inherited the collection of Latin manuscripts belonging to the Amalfitans, after the destruction of their monastery.

As early as the 13th century the manuscripts had been placed in at least sixteen special places in the library space, as shown by the classification numbers of the surviving manuscripts. In 1701, Ioannis Komnenos notes in his Proskynitarion: "above the narthex is a wonderful library, in which there are various old hand-written books, of great value worthy of men of wisdom and philology". The books must have remained in this position until 1814, when the chancel and narthex of the catholicon were demolished and rebuilt in their present form.

It is not known where the books of the narthex were taken. However, the bulk of the Lavra's books were kept in two rooms, which were located to the left of the courtyard, as seen from the entrance gate. About this library there is the information of the traveler Carlyle in 1801. Also, Robert Curzon, who visited the monastery of Lavra in 1837 and stayed there for three days, tells us that the library of the monastery was contained in two small rooms, facing a narrow courtyard, to the left of the large courtyard, and that these rooms communicated with each other. Regarding the books, he mentions that they were almost sorted, on shelves, but abandoned, with the long-term dust covering them, and that very few volumes had the title written on their spines. He characterizes the collection as very large, about 5,000 volumes, of which about 4,000 were printed books—among them several fine classics and editiones principes. The 900 manuscripts consisted of 600 papyrus and 300 parchment codices. Curzon entered the library several times and looked very carefully at all the manuscripts. He believes that he missed nothing particularly interesting about classical antiquity or the Enlightenment. However, none of the Gospels, which were decorated with arabesques, seemed to him particularly valuable.

The next testimony is from 1869 by Ioannis M. Raptarchis: "The library of the monastery, located to the left of the entrance to the large courtyard, consists of two adjacent rooms, where the books are kept neatly in wooden cases".

From 1876, according to Gerasimos Smyrnakis, or in 1870, according to Nikodimos Lavriotis, the Library together with the Archives and the Vault were housed in a separate building east of the catholicon. This building is divided into three rooms.

Regarding the enrichment of the Library of the monastery of Lavra, we highlight the case of Manuel Moschiotis. We read in a document of the Great Lavra: "The Frankish books, where they are in the Library, have written on the inside the name of the person who brought them, it was Manuel Moschiotou; and as it seems, he was a privileged person and he had the books, and he was brought in according to the year". These books, as we learn from Evlogios Kourilas, even in 1935, "in Latin and Italian, mostly theological and historical, are unfortunately lying without any order or inscription in the so-called museum of the monastery, now they have become a barn from the parish to the monks of indifference about foreign language books". It seems, however, that Moschiotis did not only take with him to the Lavra the "Frankish" books, but also other rare publications of Greek interest. For example, in the library of the monastery there are books with the note "by Manuel Moschiot", such as Claudius Ptolemaios, Great Synagogue Books XIII; Theon Alexandreos, Eis tử ἀἰἰἰ ἐπομονίματα Books 1Α΄ (Basel 1538); Strabo, On Geography books XIII (Basel 1549); Stephen of Byzantium, About Cities (Aldos Manutios, Venice 1402).

Sources of enrichment of the Library can also be considered the personal libraries of the "ὑπεροριος", that is, the displaced hierarchs who ended up in the monastery following a decision of the ecclesiastical or secular authority. Of the 23 patriarchs and 137 metropolitans or bishops, who came and died in the Lavra, we note a few names: the patriarchs Anthimos II of Hadrianoupolis († 1628), Dionysios III Vardalis († 1704), Jeremias III († 1735 ), Cyril V († 1778), the metropolitan of Artis and Nafpaktos Neophytos Mavrommatis († 1746) and the metropolitan of Tornovou Iosif († 1755). In fact, the Library preserves books of these, but also of many other high priests.

The best testimony about the library of the monastery in the second half of the 18th century are the notes of the predecessor Kyrillos Lavriotis of Peloponnese. Kyrillos, who lived in the monastery intermittently from 1759 to about 1810, read hundreds of printed books and manuscripts, and his notes can be found either in the pages or in the margins of the pages. From these notes we are informed, among other things, about book purchases by him. Kyrillos bought many books wherever he was—in Iasi where he was a teacher (1768), in Venice (1779), in Gallipoli, in Karyes—even taking care of their binding.

Ianos Laskaris, commissioned by Lavrentiou Medici, chose (1491–1492) with great care, from the most important monasteries of Athos, a large number of valuable codices with works of classical authors and great Fathers to enrich the Florentine library. He removed 50 codes from the Great Lavra alone.

By order of Tsar Alexios and Patriarch Nikon, Arsenios Sukhanov was sent to Mount Athos in order to receive from there liturgical codes in view of the revision of the old translations. Exceeding the order, or following another secret order, Sukhanov collected a number of great codices between the years 1653 and 1655. He eventually brought 498 codices to Moscow, which were deposited in the then patriarchal library. Of these, 53 were from the Lavra Library.

Again in the middle of the 17th century, the Unite Cypriot scholar Athanasios Rhetor, by order of the Chancellor of France P. Séquier and Cardinal Mazarin, obtained from Mount Athos 109 manuscripts, most of them from the Great Lavra, which today belong to the National Library of France labeled Coislinus.

At the time of Vasily Barsky's second visit to Mt. (1744) more than 500 parchment books and other papers were kept in the Lavra Library. The monks told him that there had formerly been many more parchments, which had been sold "by the lot, like wood, for a small price to the Latins," and some of them were in the library of St. Mark in Venice and in other cities of Europe.

Until today, the Library of the Holy Monastery of Megistis Lavra is housed in the autonomous building of 1870 which was expanded by two antennas in 1958. From 1983 to 2018, the Center for the Preservation of Holy Heritage carried out a series of renovations and interventions to remodel and improve the functionality of the premises which houses the Vault and the Library of manuscripts, but also of printed editions, ancient and newer. In the eastern part of the northern wing, the library of modern publications was installed in 1984 on the first floor.

Archive

The Archive of the Monastery of the Great Lavra contains 200 imperial chrysovulas, approximately 20,000 Greek, Byzantine and post-Byzantine documents as well as 10,000 Turkish, Romanian, Slavic, Latin and Arabic.

Alexandros Eumorfopoulos Lavriotis († 1905), who dedicated his life to historical research on Mount Oros, classified and placed the monastery's documents in its new archive, with the cooperation of the schoolmaster of Athoniada Chrysostomou, published some documents, described manuscripts and he compiled many historical studies. Evlogios Kourilas asked in 1931 to be assigned the arrangement of the archive, but he faced various difficulties since the monastery's assembly and his plan was wrecked.

The Byzantine-era documents were published by P. Lemerle, A. Guillou, N. Svoronos and D. Papachrysanthou in four volumes in the Archives de l’Athos series, replacing earlier editions.

In the first volume there are 69 documents and another 6 in the appendix, which date from 14 March 897 to October 1196.

In the second volume there are 48 documents and another 4 in the appendix, which date from July 1240 to November 1326.

In the third volume there are 57 documents and another 10 in the appendix, which date from January 1329 to November 1496.

In the fourth volume there are 12 documents in Slavic, which date from April 15, 1357 to February 16, 1452.

Manuscripts

The collection of manuscripts of the Holy Monastery of Megistis Lavra currently consists of approximately 2,800 codices, of which 500 are parchments and the rest are paperbacks. Of the parchments, twelve are in capital letters. Many carry miniatures of wonderful art. The 51 liturgical scrolls (10th–15th centuries) are also of great value.

Spyridon Lambros, despite his original idea, was unable to compile a catalog of the codices of the Great Lavra, as he was not allowed to work in the library, because the monks wanted to move under their own power. Thus, in 1925, the doctor Spyridon Kampanaos (= monk Athanasios Lavriotis) printed, under the supervision of Sofronios Efstratiadis, a catalog in Paris, where 2,046 manuscripts of the monastery are described. (Kampanaos also published the magazine Athos from 1919 to 1931.) According to this catalog the monastery possesses a total of 2,046 manuscripts, dating from 970 to 1911, of which 1,967 are in the Library, in the building east of universal. and 79 in the ledger. The dated codices amount to 490, while the dated manuscripts total 67.

In 1935, Evlogios Kourilas criticized the previous catalog, as he found "a sketchy transcription of the codices, a bad jumble, ... unknown elements of Palaeography", while he also described three new codices that had not been included there. Later, in 1957, Chrysostomos Lavriotis proceeded to compile a catalog of the scrolls of the monastery, where he described 50 scrolls dating from the 10th to the 15th century, which include mostly liturgical texts.

In 1958 Panteleimon Lavriotis compiled a supplementary list, reaching the number 2,172. It also includes ledger codes. A total of 165 codes are described in this supplementary list, of which 128 are from the Library and 37 from the Catholic. In addition, numbers 26–82 summarize the Slavonic codices. All codices date from 1392 to 1956.

In addition to the above catalogs, Vladimir Benesevic in 1904 published in Appendix 2 of the journal Vizantijskij Vremennik an article about the Greek canonical manuscripts of Lavra and Vatopedi, and in 1930 Sophronios Efstratiadis published a catalog of the hagiological manuscripts of the monasteries of Vatopedi and Lavra, which were not in their original catalog (of 1925).

From the manuscripts of the Megisti Lavra monastery, we highlight the following:

From the manuscripts of the Megisti Lavra monastery, we highlight the following:

The eight leaves with parts of two Epistles of the Apostle Paul (2nd to the Corinthians, To the Galatians) in capital letters, dating back to the 6th century. These leaves belonged to the parchment codex called Euthalianos and known by the international name H3 and HPaul. Only 41 leaves of this codex survive worldwide, scattered in libraries.

Also noteworthy are the 8th-century headless and stumpy Codex 88, which contains the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, and the 9th-century 172, which contains the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles.

Among the earliest codices, dating from the 10th century, is a parchment Tetraevangelo (992) in microscript, adorned with eleven arched jewels and containing the rules of correspondence of the Evangelists.

Also a parchment Evangelistarium (c. 950), which features a full-page representation of Christ, with busts of the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and the four Evangelists on either side. The codex stands out among the early Mount Athos evangelicals because of its illustration, which also indicates how the Divine Liturgy influences the Gospel narrative.

Another Evangelist, of special artistic interest, the so-called "emperor Phokas", dates to the decade 1120–1130. This is a highly luxurious codex with a heavy pitting and silver-gilt plating, decorated with precious stones, pearls and enamels. It is decorated with three full-page miniatures (Resurrection, Birth, Dormition), with elaborate titles and calligraphic initials. Tradition has wrongly associated this manuscript with the emperor Nikephoros Phokas, but it is undoubtedly a codex that came from the imperial workshop in Constantinople at the behest of the monks of the Great Lavra

One of the most remarkable codices of all the sacred libraries is also Ω75, which contains the Περὶ Ιλις ἰατρικίνης of Dioscorides, from the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century and is an important scientific and pictorial document.

Also, Codex 146, containing the New Testament written on parchment, of the 13th century, with eight mosaic jewels, and in addition the evangelists, apostles, prophets, episodes from the Old Testament, and also titles and protograms. From the same period is Codex 220, which contains interpretations of Job and is adorned with 40 related images.

From the 14th century we have Codex 76, a parchment Tetraevangelium, decorated with an image of Matthew and three other representations, of the wedding at Cana, of John the Baptist and the double calling of Philip and the conversation with Nicodemus.

Finally, a 15th-century codex with the life and testament of Athanasios the Athonite, which contains a full-page image of the founder of the Lavra and three decorative titles, is also of interest. In contrast to the earliest portrait of the saint, preserved in an 11th century Lavra manuscript, the founder of the Monastery holds a cross in front of his chest and an open scroll.

Remarkable images with episodes from the lives of Christ and Saints are contained in Codex 1655, which is a stichary of the 17th century.

Special mention should be made of the ancient authors preserved in the manuscripts of the library such as the Parallel Lives of Plutarch (parchment, 12th century), Thucydides (paper), Pindar (paper), Aeschines (paper), etc. a. Scroll 48, which is Slavonic and contains Easter paintings, also deserves special mention.

Printed Books

The Library of the Megisti Lavra monastery is primarily housed in an independent building that was built, as noted, in 1870 and originally consisted of three contiguous rooms. The two aisles were extended to the east in 1958 and the building took the shape of an inverted P. The forms are kept in the left-hand room A of 1870 and in the adjoining room B, where until 1983 were the acquisitions after 1958. These newer acquisitions include the library of Evlogios Kourilas (1961), the forms and manuscripts from parts of the monastery and the newer forms from purchases and donations. In 1984 the library of modern publications was installed in the eastern part of the north wing.

Ioannis Komnenos in the first publication Proskynitarion (1701) does not give us information about the library where the bulk of the books of the Great Lavra were kept. But such a library existed in the monastery in his time, and indeed it must have maintained the old classification system, when printed books were placed next to manuscripts. The traveler Carlyle informs us of it in 1801: “Having breakfasted, we went out, saw the church, etc., as usual, and then proceeded to the library. The library consists of two rooms, one external and one internal, and the books are kept in a tolerable order, but as in all other libraries (with the exception of the attempt at Koutloumousiou monastery) there is no catalogue. In the inner room we met a venerable figure, whom they called the teacher, who was busy studying a large book which was placed before him.'

We have a record of the forms for the first time in 1931–1932 by the librarian of the monastery Panteleimonas Lavriotis, who describes an earlier classification of the late 19th or early 20th century, perhaps by Chrysostomos Lavriotis of Madytinos († 1908). In the two-volume manuscript catalog of Panteleimon, the books are listed alphabetically in 28 specific sections, with references to the position of the books that were arranged in 24 columns of shelves (A–Z), but classified only by size.

The printed library of the Great Lavra at the end of the 18th century must have contained most of the surviving books that had been published up to that time. Today the collection includes about 140,000 volumes. Of these, 22 are pre-1500 editions, over 20,000 are printed before 1800, 18,000 are from the 19th century, and over 100,000 are from the 20th century. Among the printed matter are the first edition of Homer's Replies, printed in two volumes in Florence by Dimitrios Damilas in 1488/1489, the Anthology of Epigrams by Maximos Planoudis, printed under the editorship of Yanos Laskaris in Florence in 1494 and the Comedies of Aristophanes, published by Marcos Mousouros at the printing house of Aldos Manutios in Venice in 1498. Finally, in the Lavra is also treasured one of the earliest liturgical forms of Greek publishing production in Venice, the Parakletikia, published by Andreas Kounadis in 1522.

Source https://www.aboutlibraries.gr/libraries/handle/20.500.12777/lib_92