Image of Late Antique Rome and the Popes in the "Chronicle" of George the Monk
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyse the picture of late antique Rome and the papacy as outlined in the ninth century in the pages of the Chronicle of George the Monk. As a result, it can be concluded that the Byzantine chronicler's interest in Rome drastically declines as Emperor Constantine begins to reside in Constantinople. With the return of Emperor Theodosius I from Italy to the Bosporus, George the Monk pays little attention to events in the West, the only exception being the emphasised leading role of the Bishop of Rome within the pentarchy system, especially during the subsequent Councils. However, this applies only to the version of the so-called vulgata, while the version known from the manuscript Coislinianus 305 ignores almost completely the role of the pope in the ecclesial system of the empire.
Keywords:
George the Monk (Hamartolos), Rome, Papacy in the fourth and fifth centuries, manuscript Coislinianus 305, the Baptism of the Emperor ConstantineSupporting Agencies:
National Science Centre in PolandReferences
Actus Silvestris, ed. B. Mombritius, Sanctuarium seu vitae sanctorum, v. 2, Paris 1910
= ed. F. Combefis, Illustrium Christi martyrum lecti triumphi vetustis Graecorum monumentis consignati, Paris 1600.
Iustinianus, Novellae, ed. R. Schoell – G. Kroll, Corpus Iuris Civilis, v. 3: Novellae, Berlin 1912, tr. D.J.D. Miller – P. Sarris, The Novels of Justinian. A Complete Annotated English Translation, v. 1-2, Cambridge 2018.
Georgius Monachus, Chronicon, Georgii Monachi Chronicon, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1904 (Codex Coislinianus 305).
Gregorius Nazianenzus, Orationes, ed. J. Bernardi, Grégoire de Nazianze, Discours 4-5. Contre Julien, SCh 309, Paris 1983.
Isidorus Pelusiota, Epistulae, ed. P. Évieux, Isidore de Péluse, Lettres, v. 2: Lettres 1414-1700, SCh 454, Paris 2000.
Refutatio definitionis synodi Hieriae, ed. E. Lamberz, Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum II/3/3, Berlin – Boston 2016, p. 602, 8-793, 12, tr. R. Price, The Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea (787), Liverpool 2018.
Theodori Studitae Epistulae, v. 1-2, ed. G. Fatouros, Berlin 1992.
Theophanis Chronographia, v. 1, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1883.
Vitae Chrysostomi, ed. F. Halkin, Douze récits byzantins sur Saint Jean Chrysostome, Bruxelles 1977.
Afinogenov D., K proishozhdeniju legendy o sv. Arsenii – vospitatele imperatorov Arkadija i Gonorija, “Vestnik drevnej istorii” 1 (2004) p. 49-60.
Afinogenov D., Le manuscrit grec Coislin. 305: la version primitive de la Chronique de Georges le Moine, “Revue des études byzantines” 62 (2004) p. 239-246.
Afinogenov D.E., Sotad v christianskom kontekcte, in: V Meždunarodnaja Konferencija po Ellinistike Pamjati I.I. Kovalevoj, Moscow 2019, p. 20-26.
Afinogenov D., The Date of Georgios Monachos Reconsidered, “Byzantinische Zeitschrift” 92 (1999) p. 437-447.
Аfinogenov D.E. – Turilov A.A. – Popov G.V., Georgij Amartol, in: Pravoslavnaja enciklopedija, v. 11: Georgij-Gomar, Moscow 2006, p. 48-56.
Brendel R., Monachos, Georgios, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, v. 47, Nordhausen 2024, c. 1065-1109.
Chadwick H., East and West. The Making of a Rift in the Church. From Apostolic Times until the Council of Florence, Oxford 2003.
De Boor C., Praefatio, in: Georgii Monachi Chronicon, v. 1, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1904, p. V-LXXXIII.
Devreesse R., Catalogue des manuscrits grecs, v. 2: Le fonds Coislin, Paris 1945.
Duchesne L., Introduction, in: Le Liber Pontificalis, v. 1, ed. L. Duchesne, Paris 1886, p. I-CCLXII.
Dvornik F., The Photian Schism: History and Legend, Cambridge 1948.
Gahbauer F.R., Siricius, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, v. 10, Bautz 1995, c. 530-531.
Hunger H., Die Hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, v. 1: Philosophie, Rhetorik, Epistolographie, Geschchtsschreibung, Geographie, München 1978.
Kazhdan A., A History of Byzantine Literature (850-1000), v. 2, ed. Ch. Angelidi, Athens 2006.
Kosiński R., A Few Remarks on the Description of the Baptism of the Emperor Constantine in the Chronicle of George the Monk, Actus Silvestri, and the Byzantine Hagiographical Tradition, “Classica Cracoviensia” 27 (2024) p. 187-215.
Kosiński R., The chronicle by George the Monk and its relation to Theodore Lector’s work, “Res Gestae” 5 (2017) p. 46-72.
Monégier du Sorbier M.A., Recherches sur la tradition manuscrite de la Chronique de George le Moine: la tradition directe, Paris 1985.
Pohlkamp W., Kaiser Konstantin, der heidnische und der christliche Kult in den Actus Silvestri, “Frühmittelalterliche Studien” 18 (1984) p. 357-400.
Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, v. 2, ed. Ch. Pietri – L. Pietri, Prosopographie de l’Italie chrétienne (313-604), p. 1-2, Roma 1999–2000.
The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, v. 1: A.D. 260-395, ed. A.H.M. Jones – J.R. Martindale – J. Morris, Cambridge 1971.
Sophocles E.A., Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (from B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100), Leipzig 1900.
Treadgold W., The Middle Byzantine Historians, Basingstoke 2013.
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.
