Posts in category: Η ανάγνωση ως προσευχή 1 – Παντοκράτορος

In the Middle Ages, books were precious, hard-to-find objects. An individual had access to books only if he were wealthy. The monks in a large monastery, in contrast, constantly had a complete library at their disposal, with works by the Church fathers, lives of the saints, and various works of both ancient and synchronous authors. The library of the Pantokratoros Monastery, which after its restoration is housed again on the second floor of the tower, contains 450 manuscripts and more than 3,500 printed books.
Over time, the library suffered serious losses and catastrophes, such as after the Revolution of 1821, but also through the seizure of many important manuscripts, some of which are found today in libraries abroad. A characteristic example is that involving Arsenios Souchanof who, while on a mission to Mt Athos in the 17th century for the Tsar and the Patriarch of Moscow, removed hundreds of books from the libraries of virtually all of the Athonite monasteries, including 31 manuscripts belonging to the Pantocratoros Monastery. These manuscripts can be found today in the collection of the Synodic Library of Moscow (now called the Historical Museum) numbered 30, 84, 90, 97, 106, 122, 130, 132, 135, 171, 176, 189, 191, 197, 207, 241, 280, 306, 307, 326, 341, 344, 348, 350, 354, 364, 369, 371, 410, 421, 464, in the catalogue of Vladimir, with the designation ‘Books of the Christos Pantokratoros [Monastery]’, or simply ‘from Pantokratoros’

The monks of Mt Athos were a very representative sample of the Byzantine community. Among them were illiterate farmers, educated aristocrats, and of course scholars, who read privately in their cells or in the library, but who also wrote letters, comments, or factual notes in the margins of books, or authored works of their own. The library of the Monastery was constantly enriched with works which interested this scholarly group of readers, including synchronous and ancient authors, which did not have the necessary religious content. St Theodoros, the renowned Prior of the Stadios Monastery in Konstantinople in the 9th century, writes that on the days when there was no important manual work to be done, he struck the semantron to call the monks to the library to select books to read. In more recent times, the continuously higher level of education of the monks made private study a common practice, which each monk fits into his daily programme along with his other duties.

It is natural, therefore, that the few who were able to read well would read to others. Besides being an act of solidarity, reading in Byzantium is believed to have been regularly done aloud and clearly, even if the reader was alone. In contrast to the practice of today, reading stimulated more senses in those days: Either using his finger or a thin rod, the reader’s pointer slowly wandered along the lines of the manuscript, helping him to maintain his focus. Competitions of public reading of texts were organized in amphitheatres by communities, while in churches and monasteries, various liturgical texts were read aloud. The Book of the Gospels, a liturgical book usually bound with an ornate outer cover used for reading to the public, contains segments from the gospels appropriate for each day of the year, organized sequentially. Finally, during the course of meals in the refectory of the monasteries, a monk reads from a portable lectern – or on feast days, from the pulpit, if there is one – the words of the Church fathers, teachings of elders, or lives of saints, so that all who are silently eating can hear.

In the Middle Ages, the relationship of society with books was very different. The ability to read, on the one hand, and access to books, on the other, were rigidly limited compared to today, and concerned only a small part of society. As was the case in ancient times, so it was in Byzantium: Those who had access to education first learned to write – with capital letters – and only in the next stage to read – again, only with capital letters – first the letters one by one, later in syllables, then words, and finally sentences. Thus, the majority of those who were educated could gradually write one word, such as their name; only a small number were able to read inscriptions written in capital letters, on icons, on coins, or in the streets, and even fewer could read texts. Only the most highly educated were able to read text written in small letters at a normal rate of speech. The book which they used as a primer was usually a Psalter.

The new milestone in the history of books occurred perhaps during the first years of Christianity, during the circulation of information about the new religion, i.e., with the appearance of religious books. The need for the reproduction and widespread use of the Gospels as a reference book both intensified the demand for the production of manuscripts, and advanced production technologies so as to make the books easier to use and more durable: Their form was changed from rolled parchments to bound codices. With its emphasis on the practice of reading, the stature of Christianity as a main characteristic of Byzantine society is supported by the fact that about nine out of ten Byzantine manuscripts which have survived are religious in nature. Therefore, it seems inevitable that Byzantine monasteries would not only make use of a wide variety of books, but would also produce them. Was that the case?