The Medieval Vitae of St. Mary of Egypt // A Repository & Synopsis of Versions and Translations

The Medieval Vitae of St. Mary of Egypt
// A Repository & Synopsis of Versions and Translations

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Texts & Sources

7th c. Sophronios Greek
7th c. Mombritius Latin
9th c. Paulus Diaconus Latin
10th c. Synaxarium Con­stant. Greek
Text
Sources
10th c. Flodoard Latin, poetic
late 10th c. Anglo-Saxon
early 11th c. Menologion Basil II Greek
12th c. Hildebert Latin, poetic
mid 13th c. Welsh
13th c. Speculum His­to­ri­a­le Latin
13th c. Legenda Aurea Latin
~1320 Märterbuch German, poetic
~1320-1342 Vite dei Santi Padri Italian
14th/15th c. Old Norse
14th c. ff. Old Church Slavonic
1369-1372 Catalogus Sanc­to­rum Latin
~1400 Der Heiligen Leben German

(4) Synaxarium Constantinopolitanum (Greek, 10th c.)

Compilation for liturgical use of short Saints' lives, covering the Byzantine liturgical year. Probably commissioned by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905-959). The condensed lives of this Synaxarium are abridged even further in the early 11th century Menologion of Basil II.

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Text

The text is that of (4.b) Delehaye 1902.

Cod. Sirmondianus, fol. 187v; Delehaye 1902, col. 577 ]

ΜΗΝ ΑΠΡΙΛΛΙΟΣ

ἡμέρας ἔχει λ´, ἡ ἡμέρα ἕχει ὥρας ιγ´ καὶ ἡ νὺξ ὥρας ιά.

ΠΡΩΤΗ.

April. 1.

1. Μνήμη τῆς ὁσίας Μαρίας τῆς Αἰγυπτίας. Αὕτη ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἦν, ἐν ἀκολασίᾳ δὲ τὸ πρότερον ζήσασα καὶ πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχὰς διὰ τῆς κατὰ μίξιν ἡδονῆς πρὸς ὄλεθρον ἐκκαλεσαμένη καὶ ἐπὶ χρόνοις δεκαεπτὰ τῇ ἀσελγείᾳ προσμείνασα διὰ τὸ εὐθὺς ἐκ παίδων πρὸς τὴν πονηρὰν πρᾶξιν ἐξολισθῆσαι, ὕστερον ἐπέδωκεν ἑαυτὴν πρὸς ἄκραν ἐγκράτειαν καὶ ἀρετήν· καὶ τοσοῦτον ὑψώθη δι᾽ ἀπαθείας, ὡς καὶ τοῖς ὕδασιν ἐπιβαίνειν καὶ πεζῃ διαπερᾶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι μετάρσιος φαίνεσθαι ἄνω εἰς τὸν ἀέρα ἱπταμένη. Ἡ δὲ αἰτία τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐστιν αὕτη. Κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς τοῦ τιμίου ξύλου ὑψώσεως, πολλῶν ἁπανταχόθεν συντρεχόντων ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις, ἀκολάστοις νέοις καὶ αὕτη Cod. Sirmondianus, fol. 188r ] συνεξωρμήθη. Κατὰ τὸν τόπον δὲ γενομένη καὶ ἀοράτως Delehaye 1902, col. 578 ] τῆς τῶν σεπτῶν εἰσόδου καὶ ἐποπτείας κωλυομένη, τὴν Θεομήτορα παρθένον ἐγγυητὴν ἔθετο, εἰ τὴν εἴσοδον συγχωρηθείη, σωφροσύνην μὲν ἀνελέσθαι, μηκέτι δὲ βίῳ πονηρῷ καὶ ταῖς σαρκικαῖς δουλεύειν ἡδοναῖς καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις. Καὶ μέντοι τῆς εὐχῆς τυχοῦσα τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν οὐκ ἐψεύσατο· ἀλλὰ περαιωθεῖσα τὸν Ἰορδάνην καὶ γενομένη κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον, ἐπὶ χρόνοις τεσσαράκοντα ἑπτὰ ἠγωνίσατο· καὶ μηδένα μὲν ἀνθρώπων τὸν 〈δὲ〉 Θεὸν μόνον ἔχουσα θεατήν, τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἀπανέστη, τὴν δὲ ἀγγελικὴν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀγωγὴν καὶ πολιτείαν ἀνεκτήσατο. Ὕστερον δὲ κατὰ θείαν πρόνοιαν ὤφθη Ζωσιμᾷ τῷ ἁγίῳ γέροντι εἰς τὰ ἐνδότερα τῆς ἐρήμου ἐκβαθύναντι· καὶ συντυχοῦσα καὶ τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν διηγησαμένη καὶ εἰς τὸν ἐπιόντα χρόνον τὸν Ἰορδάνην πεζὴ Delehaye 1902, col. 579 ] διαπεραιώσασα καὶ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Ζωσιμᾶ μεταλαβοῦσα, εἶτα εἰς τὸν ἑαυτῆς ὑποστρέψασα τόπον αὐθωρόν, ἐν ᾧ τὸν Ζωσιμᾶν συνέτυχεν, ἐκοιμήθη. Εἰς δὲ τὸν ἐπιόντα Delehaye 1902, col. 580 ] ἐνιαυτὸν ὁ Ζωσιμᾶς καταλαβὼν τὴν ἔρημον καὶ ἀπελθὼν εὗρε τὸ αὐτῆς λείφανον 〈καὶ〉 ἔθαψε, λέοντος τοῦ θηρὸς τοῖς ἐμπροσθίοις ποσὶ τὸν τῆς μακαρίας τάφον ὀρύξαντος προνοίᾳ Θεοῦ.

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Sources

Manuscript (4.a) Cod. Sirmondianus is the main source for the printed edition (4.b) Delehaye 1902.

(4.a) Cod. Sirmondianus
Συναξάριον περιέχον ὅλου τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων καὶ τῶν ὁσίων ἐν συντόμω τὰ ὑπομνήματα, manuscript, 12th-13th century (fols. 13-300), Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, signatures gr. 219 / Phillipps 1622, fols. 187v-188r.
Description in Wilhelm Studemund and Leopold Cohn: Verzeichniss der Griechischen Handschriften, vol. 1: Codices ex Bibliotheca Meermanniana Phillippici Graeci nunc Berolinenses (vol. 11 of Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin), Berlin 1890, p. 96.
"Codex e duabus partibus compositus est: [...] II. folia 13-300 [...] Synaxarium complectens vitas Sanctorum totius anni, a mense Septembri usque ad mensem Augustum. [...] non idem est cum Menologio iussu Basilii imperatoris concinnato (Migne, tom. CXVII p. 20 sqq.)"
Description and bibliography @ Pinakes.
Fols. 1-12 of the Manuscript are from the 16th century; fols. 13-300, that contain the synaxarium, are from the 12th-13th century.

(4.b) Delehaye 1902
Delehaye, Hippolyte (ed.): Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae. E Codice Sirmondiano nunc Berolinensi. Adiectis synaxariis selectis, Paris 1902, cols. 577-580.
The copy from Universitätsbibliothek Mainz is available on several platforms:
DFG Viewer, col. 577 ff.
Wikimedia Commons, col. 577 ff.
Scan: Open PDF, Delehaye 1902, col. 577 ff.

 

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