Megisti Lavra — Manuscripts Codices Fragments Scrolls

1. Identification (standalone control page)

The Holy Monastery of the Great Lavra (Ιερά Μονή Μεγίστης Λαύρας), first in the Athonite hierarchy, preserves the largest and oldest manuscript corpus on Mount Athos. This page is an AthosForum documentation index. Manuscripts are treated as material witnesses and indexed by codex, fragment, or scroll, with catalogue control, dating, contents, and notes. No narrative or devotional prose is employed.

2. Document map

• Megisti Lavra hub
• Archive (Actes de l’Athos axis)
• Printed books
• Treasury (icons & relics)
• Dependencies & metochia

3. Quantitative profile and catalogue control

The manuscript corpus of the Great Lavra is known through a sequence of modern cataloguing efforts that together define catalogue control:

• 1925 catalogue: compiled by Spyridon Kampanaos (monk Athanasios Lavriotes), edited by Sophronios Eustratiades (Paris, 1925). Describes 2,046 codices.
• 1935 critique: Eulogios Kourilas identified palaeographic and descriptive errors and noted additional material.
• 1958 supplementary catalogue: compiled by Panteleimon Lavriotes, extending enumeration to no. 2,172. Includes 128 Library codices, 37 Katholikon codices, and a concise list of Slavonic codices (entries 26–82), dated 1392–1956.
• 1957 scroll catalogue: Chrysostomos Lavriotes described 50 liturgical scrolls (ειλητάρια), dated 10th–15th centuries.

All manuscript indexing on AthosForum must cross-reference these catalogues. No shelfmarks or numbers are invented.

4. Manuscript classes (structural overview)

• Biblical manuscripts (Gospels, Acts, Epistles, Evangelistaria)
• Exegetical and commentary manuscripts
• Patristic and theological manuscripts
• Liturgical and musical manuscripts
• Scientific and technical manuscripts
• Classical Greek authors
• Slavonic manuscripts
• Scrolls (ειλητάρια)

5. Biblical manuscripts — itemized witnesses

6. Exegetical and illustrated theological manuscripts

7. Scientific and technical manuscripts

8. Classical Greek authors (named survivals)

9. Slavonic manuscripts

The Slavonic layer is indexed primarily through the 1958 supplementary catalogue (entries 26–82). Only explicitly identified items are listed here.

10. Scrolls (ειλητάρια)

Scrolls constitute a distinct object class. Chrysostomos Lavriotes catalogued 50 liturgical scrolls dated 10th–15th centuries.

11. Mechanical crosswalk (manuscript control shell)

12. Bibliographic nucleus (manuscripts)

• Kampanaos (Athanasios Lavriotes) / S. Eustratiades (ed.), Catalogue des manuscrits de la Grande Laure, Paris 1925.
• Panteleimon Lavriotes, Supplementary manuscript catalogue, 1958.
• Chrysostomos Lavriotes, Catalogue of Lavra scrolls, 1957.
• AboutLibraries.gr — Great Lavra (lib_92).