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(συναξάριον; synaxárion). [German version] [1] Short life Short life or encomiastic note in the menaea of the Orthodox Church's órthros (ὄρθρος, 'morning service') between the 6th and 7th odes of the canon [2], which together with the synaxarion characterize services on saints' days and feasts. Structure: month, epigram in iambic verse, naming of the saint and the feast, hexameter on the date and name, historical note, mention of the church commemorating the saint, life of the saint.…

[German version] Armenian collection of important theological letters, documenting the history of the Armenian church and its relations with neighbouring churches (Syria, Georgia, Byzantium), such as the separation of the Georgian church from the Armenian in c. 600. The Book of Letters is divided into three chronological phases: 5th-7th, 8th-11th and 11th-13th cents.  Byzantium;  Georgia;  Syria Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography Girk T̀`ġtoc`, 1901 E. Ter-Minassiantz, Die armen. Kirche in ihren Beziehungen zu den syr. Kirchen. Bis…

Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) [German version] [1] Persian martyr, died in 599 (Σιρή; Sirḗ). Persian martyr, died 559 AD. S. was the daughter of a respected Persian magus, who after her conversion to Christianity was publicly executed by hanging under the Persian king Chosroes [5] I. Bibliography P. Devos, Saint Šīrīn Martyr Khosrau Ier…

[German version] (Παφνούτιος; Paphnoútios), died around AD 360. According to Socrates [9] (Hist. eccl. 1,11), P. attended the first Council of Nicaea [5] (AD 325) as bishop of Upper Thebias. During the persecution of Christians, perhaps under Maximinus [1] Daia, he lost an eye. He was held in high regard by emperor Constantinus [1] and considered an ecclesiastical authority because of his strict monastic lifestyle. It is uncertain whether remarks attributed to him by Socrates ( …

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[German version] (Ἀποφθέγματα πατρῶν; Apophthégmata patrôn). Anonymous collection of ‘Patristic sayings’ belonging to the most copied works of early monasticism. It contains short anecdotes of early monastic life and the   anachoresis in the Egyptian desert. They are teachings, prophetic predictions and miraculous acts that describe the daily routine of the monks. Particularly characteristic of the apophthegmata patrum are those sayings that are formulaically introduced by the plea of a believer who petitioned the anchorite in search of advice: ‘Tell me a word so that I may be saved’ (εἰπέ μοι ῥῆμα, πῶς σωθῶ; eipé moi rhêma, pôs sōthô). They are arranged under the name of the anchorite, the respective virtue or the respective vice. The reception of the apophthegmata patrum as ‘Patristic books’ (πατερικά; pateriká) or ‘books on the elders’ (γεροντικά; gerontiká) resulted in differing selections of proverbs, w…

[German version] (Σινᾶ/ Sinâ, Σινά/ Siná, Σεινά/ Seiná, later also Σιναΐ/ Sinaḯ, Latin Sina; Hebrew sīnay). Mountain in the wilderness of the same name, where the Covenant between Yahweh and Israel was made. S. is primarily attested in the Old Testament; in the New Testament Σινᾶ occurs only in Acts 7,30 and 38 and Gal 4,2; the etymology is debatable. Presumably S. is derived from the Hebrew root …

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[German version] (Ποταμιαίνα/ Potamiaína). Martyr (died c. AD 360; feast 7 or 28 June). Pupil of Origenes [1] in Alexandria. According to an account by Eusebius [7] (Eus. HE 6,4) she suffered martyrdom under Septimius Severus (193-211). She converted the soldier Basileides who escorted her to her execution. Together with her mother Marcella she was executed by having hot pitch poured over her. After three days she is supposed to have appeared to Basileides, who was arrested for his conversion and then also martyred.…

[German version] Known as Maštoc in the older MSS and in the vita written by his student Koriwn. His date of birth ( c. AD 360/364) and his descent from the influential family of the Mamikonians are uncertain. Born in Katzikk in the Armenian province of Tarawn, M. received a Hellenic education. After military service under the Armenian king - either Chosrov III ( Chosroes [4]) or his lieutenant Arawan - in Vagharsh…

[German version] (Ἴβηροι/ Íbēroi, Ἴβηρες/ Íbēres). I. and Iberia (Ἰβηρία/ Ibēría), as terms for the inhabitants and country of East Georgia, occur only in Graeco-Roman and Byzantine sources; possibly etymologically related to …

[German version] (Ταράσιος; Tarásios). Patriarch of Constantinople ( c. AD 730-806), of noble descent, secretary to the empress Irene, who had him elected patriarch in 784 in connexion with her efforts to restore iconolatry. The Synod (Synodos II.D.) at Nicaea in 787, convened by him to solve the iconoclasm controversy (Syrian dynasty), was able at the second attempt to resolve to restore the worship of icons. It is to him that resolutions made at the synod are due; he had already written them in 754.…

[German version] (τροπάριον/ tropárion, from τρόπος/ trópos in the sense of 'mode, note'). Originally a short strophe in free-rhythm Byzantine prose with the character of a prayer and a melody resembling psalmody. The troparion was present at the beginning of  Byzantine hymnography (Hymnos IV.) and was initially sung in antiphony…

[German version] (Isaac). S. I (the Great), born between AD 340 and 350, died AD 438/9. Patriarch of Armenia, son of the patriarch Nerses the Great; last representative of the Gregorians (descendants of Gregory the Illuminator, Armenia [B]). S. grew up in Constantinople and studied there. Named patriarch of the Armenian Church in 387 in a time of internal …

[German version] (Παυλικιανοί/ Paulikianoí; Armenian Pawlikeank'). Heretical Christian group of Armenian origin in the Byzantine Empire, whose teachings survive only in secondary sources of Orthodox polemic. The accounts of the Armenian katholikós John of Odzun (8th cent. AD) and of Petros Sikeliotes (9th cent. AD) are part…

[German version] Christian religious community going back to the Syrian hermit Maro(n) (Μάρω(ν)/ Márō(n), Syriac Morun; 4th/5th cent. AD), the patron saint of a monastery on the Orontes near Apamea [3] in Syria, which became the centre of the resistance against the Monophysitism. After the death of the patriarch Anastasius II (died 609), the Antiochene ( Antioch [1]) patriarchal see remained vacant (Persian invasions); in 636, the region came und…

[German version] (Ἀθίγγανοι; Athínganoi). The A. (‘Untouchables’, from θιγγάνω) are mentioned as heretics who are counted as Paulicians, first by Patriarch  Germanus (De haeres. et synodis, PG 98, 85) in the 8th cent. They are called ‘Phrygians’ because of their origins or ‘Manichaeans’ because of their magical and astrological practices. Flourishing in the 9th cent.; found followers even in palace circles ( Michael II). They supported  iconoclasm. Several attempts to integrate them remained unsuccessful.  Astrology;  Magic;  Mani;  Phrygia Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibli…

[German version] (κοντάκιον, κονδάκιον; kontákion, kondákion; from κοντός, ‘parchment roll’). Name given in later times to a genre of Byzantine hymns documented first in the 6th cent. AD. The kontakion consists of 18 to 24 metrically equal stanzas (so-called oíkoi, οἶκοι), preceded by the metrically differing prooemium ( koukoúlion, κουκούλιον). The individual stanzas are connected by acrostichs ( Acrostich) and have a common refrain (the ephýmnion or akroteleútion, ἐφύμνιον, ἀκροτελεύτιον). Kontakia are related to the Syrian madraša ( Ephrem Syrus), have the character of ser…

[German version] (Ełišē). Author of a history of the Vardanids and the Armenian wars in the Armenian language, describing the uprising of the Armenian people under the leadership of Vardan Mamikonyan against the Sassanid occupation forces in AD 450/1. However, E. did not himself witness the historical events which he describes, but is likely to have lived in the 6th cent. AD. It was his aim to provide a martyrological anchor for the foundation of the Armenian church.  Armenia;  Armenians, Armenian literature;  Sassanids Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography E. Ter-Minassjan, Vasn Vardanay ew Hayoc paterazmic, 1957 (repr. 1993) …

[German version] (σύντομον; sýntomon). As a specimen of Byzantine liturgical poetry the s. lies between the kontákion and the kanṓn [2], but without having achieved their popularity. In the liturgy of the Orthodox Church its four to nine strophes are inserted between the verses of psalms, and for this reason a s. is also called a stichērón (στιχηρόν). Presumably it can be traced to the poet and hymnographer Kyprianos (1st half of the 8th cent.). Hymn IV. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography J. Szövérffy, A Guide to Byzantine Hymnography ..., 1979.