Cernica Monastery, one of the best-known and most beloved monastic communities in Muntenia, dating from the early 17th century, has been renowned throughout the ages for its communal way of life, for the venerable monks who lived there, some of whom, such as Abbots Gheorghe and Calinic, were officially recognised as saints, and also for its intense and high-quality cultural and intellectual activity, which flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At that time, numerous ecclesiastical texts were being translated and copied at the monastery, and the manuscripts were beautifully adorned with polychrome miniatures of various kinds, executed with true mastery by the monks of Cernica.
The library of Cernica Monastery contained, as indicated by an inventory from 1848 1, dating from the time of Saint Calinic’s abbotship, important manuscripts and printed works, both Romanian and foreign, religious texts and the writings of the saints on spiritual improvement, asceticism and prayer, as well as works on music, history and philosophy, which also contributed to the intellectual development of the monastic community. Most of these items, of genuine value in terms of both text and artistic form, are currently held at the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, having been added to its collections in stages, many having been donated in 1902–1904 by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which had previously taken them from the monastery—a policy applied not only to Cernica but to the majority of monastic settlements following the secularisation of monastic assets.
On other occasions, whilst examining various books from the monastery’s old library, I have highlighted works distinguished by their exceptional artistic form (printed works adorned with rare engravings of unique value, or manuscripts embellished with splendid icons and even self-portraits of the miniaturists)2, or manuscripts illustrating the links between the Romanian region and Slavonic-speaking Orthodoxy 3. Below we mention several Romanian manuscripts produced at Cernica during the abbotship of Saint Calinic and with his blessing, which demonstrate, on the one hand, the links between the Romanian lands and Greek Orthodoxy, and, on the other hand, the relations between the monastic communities of Wallachia and those of Moldavia, particularly between Cernica and Neamț. We refer to Mss. rom. 1561, 1948, 1949, 1950, 2053, which contain excerpts from the Ecclesiastical History by Meletius, Metropolitan of Athens.
Meletios’s work was printed, after the author’s death, in Greek, in Vienna, in four volumes, between 1783 and 1795 (4); whilst the Romanian edition, translated by Veniamin Costachi, Metropolitan of Moldavia, was published in Iași between 1841 and 1842 5. The Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest holds both a copy of the Viennese edition and one of the Romanian edition, which entered the library’s collections through a donation by Saint Joseph Naniescu, Metropolitan of Moldavia, in 1894. Other items in the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest confirm that Veniamin Costachi’s translation, begun before 1825 (Volume II 1825–1826, Volume III 1829), was, in turn, copied in Moldavia, for example at the Orgoeștii Noi Hermitage in the Tutova region and subsequently in Neamț, by the hieromonk Gherontie, in 1831–1832 6. Thus, the practice of reproducing, in the form of Romanian manuscript copies, translations of important works from Greek or Slavonic, existed in both Wallachia and Moldavia during the early nineteenth century, the texts being intended for communal use, where the Romanian and foreign printed works from which they had been translated could also be acquired.
Among the manuscripts from the former library of Cernica Monastery, however, there is also another translation of Meletius’s book, produced at around the same time but independently of the Moldavian version by the Wallachian scholar Naum Râmniceanu, 7 an unpublished version, probably because, in the meantime, the Iași version had been published and because Naum had not completed it, having died before finishing the third volume. After his death, the unfinished Cernica text was completed by Casian, the monk of Cernica, based on copies of Veniamin’s work brought from Neamț 8.
In brief, we recall that Naum Râmniceanu (1764–1838/1839)9 was a clergyman deeply involved in the intellectual and cultural life of his time: he had studied in Bucharest, worked alongside Archimandrite Filaret at the Metropolitan See (1776–1780), and subsequently in Râmnic. Naum copied numerous manuscripts, taught at the school of St Catherine’s Church in Bucharest, became abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Apostles in Bucharest (1823–1827), and after 1833 he retired to Cernica, where he took the great schema under the name of Nichita. Details of his life and literary work were presented, as part of the induction speech upon his admission to the Romanian Academy, by Constantin Erbiceanu at the session in March 1900, whilst the response on behalf of the members was drafted by Dimitrie A. Sturdza, who was at that time Secretary-General of the same cultural body 10. Referring also to these manuscripts, Constantin Erbiceanu, a scholar well-versed in the Greek language, noted that: ‘Naum’s translation is highly accurate and insightful, in some respects superior to that of Metropolitan Veniamin’11).
The first volume was completed, as we read on f. 366 of Ms. rom. 1948: ‘In Cernica, 1835, on 24 August’12. The preface, signed by ‘the humble and unworthy protosinghel Naum’13 tells us that this scholar, who was at that time in his second year at the Cernica monastery, where he hoped to remain until the end of his life and take the great schema, had been entrusted by Abbot Calinic, “my spiritual father […] as a task and a labour of devotion”14, the task of translating Meletius’s book, which had been “translated into that poor Greek language, so that I might render it into our own Romanian language, for the benefit of the fatherland and of all pious lovers of reading”14. The scholar mentioned that, having no assistance in this endeavour, he had translated the first volume himself and had begun work on the second, but that both parts had been neatly copied out, ‘from my own sources’15 by Casian the monk.
In this context, Naum emphasised the importance of physical labour alongside spiritual labour, referring in this regard to the writings of the Old and New Testaments (Sirach, the Holy Apostles), to those of Saints Ephrem the Syrian and John Chrysostom, testifying that these exhortations, as well as the instruction he had received from Saint Calinic, had motivated him to undertake such an endeavour: ‘Truly, beloved brothers, the love of labour began in Paradise: for Scripture says: ‘And the Lord God took the man whom He had formed and placed him in the Garden of Delight, to work it and keep it.’ In the Church’s interpretation of this passage, Saint Ephrem the Syrian understands this labour to involve both body and soul. Although there the labour was without pain, as Saint John Chrysostom explains in his commentary on the same passage. Thus, the labour of the body is sensory, whilst the labour of the soul is intellectual […] And the Apostle, in 2 Thessalonians, says: ‘If anyone does not work, let him not eat’16”.
Naum goes on to explain how he translated and rendered certain words and symbols from Greek into Romanian, written, however, in the style of the time, using Cyrillic characters, making, in this context, references to the differences between Old Greek (Hellenic) and New Greek (the ‘bad’ one) and the Romanian language; the text is thus arranged so that readers may understand it and so that the original message may be conveyed as faithfully as possible: ‘And for the proper organisation of the translation and for the reader’s ease of reading, we shall say the following: Every language has its own grace, and every language has its own beauty in the arrangement of words. It is essential that both the writer and the reader be aware of these matters. First of all, however, even amongst the Greeks themselves, there is a great distinction between the arrangement of Greek words and that of the common and inferior varieties of the Greek language. And our own Romanian language is richer and more powerful than the inferior Greek language. Yet the Greek language is more powerful than our own, and is the fountainhead of worldly wisdom in all languages […] And the Hellenic language is more powerful than our own Romanian language, for we cannot even pronounce many Hellenic words without auxiliary particles’17
In this regard, Naum gives several examples of verb tenses in Ancient Greek, Modern Greek and Romanian; he points out that there are certain peculiarities of handwriting compared to printed letters; and he reminds us that care must be taken when rendering certain punctuation marks (question marks, exclamation marks), when transcribing certain letters, groups of letters or diphthongs (where ‘gg’ in Greek must be written as ‘ng’ in Romanian), and regarding the use of certain Cyrillic letters (iu, ea, în), diacritics and accents. The author states: ‘The following prosodic marks are: psili, brahia, apostrof, oxia, varia and titla’18. Also in the preface, Naum states that he had learnt spelling and the art of printing from his teacher at the Diocese of Râmnic, and that he had a particularly favourable impression of the translations and editions produced there: “And the finest of all the printing houses of the Romanian peoples was that of the Diocese of Râmnic”19. Finally, Naum mentions that he had shortened “much verbiage”13 by omitting certain passages, such as those concerning sorcerers, enchanters or certain blasphemies of heretics.
A note on the second volume, also from 1835 (Ms. rom. 1949), tells us that: ‘This second volume of the Ecclesiastical History, written by the ever-memorable Meletius, Metropolitan of Athens, who lived for 53 years, until the year 1714. Now, with God’s help, through goodwill, at my own expense and labour, together with the blessing of my most revered and spiritual father, the archimandrite and abbot of the holy community of Cernica, Chiriu Callinic of Bucharest, have been translated from the Greek into our Romanian language by the humble and unworthy protosinghel Naum Prion Apostolean of Bucharest, and have been faithfully transcribed from the manuscripts written in my own hand, in accordance with the correct spelling of the printed edition of the Holy Diocese of Râmnic by the Venerable Casian the Monk, a native of Vel Ocnă and a member of the Cernica community. And having begun the translation of this second volume in the year 1835, in the month of November, it was now completed in the year 1836, in the month of November, at Cernica in Wallachia20”.
Thus, Naum Râmniceanu translated the first two volumes and part of the third of Meletius’s work from Greek into Romanian, with the blessing and at the expense of Abbot Calinic of Cernica. And his text was written in fair copy by the monk Casian, who produced a copy of the first volume of Naum’s translation in 1834–1835: ‘The Ecclesiastical History of Meletius of Athens, comprising the whole in three volumes, now transcribed in this manner from the very source translated from the Greek by the pious Naum Prion Apostoleanu of Bucharest, here in the holy community of Cernica, with the blessing of our reverend father, Archimandrite Chir Callinic, former abbot and steadfast guardian of this God-protected monastery, the translation and transcription having commenced in November 1834. Volume 1’21 The manuscript copied by Casian, containing the first volume of the Ecclesiastical History, which concludes with the 4th century, is particularly beautifully decorated with polychrome miniatures, and the handwriting is meticulous. Casian also copied, at Cernica, in 1834, an interesting bilingual Greek-Romanian Liturgy Book, which rendered both the Romanian and Greek texts in Cyrillic script, so that even those fathers who were not well versed in Greek could understand the text. That Liturgy Book is also beautifully decorated, featuring a full-page icon of Saint John Chrysostom 22. This detail indicates an interest in the use of Greek at the ambo, alongside Romanian, during the abbotship of Saint Calinic.
Following Naum’s death, Casian completed the final part of Volume 3 using Veniamin Costachi’s translation, based on a manuscript likely brought by monks from Neamț 23. This is what we learn from Ms. rom. 1561, dated 1839, preserved at the Academy Library, also originating from Cernica, which contains: ‘The Ecclesiastical History, Volume 3, now transcribed in this manner from the very copy translated from the Greek by the pious Naum, protosinghel, son of Apostolean, of Bucharest, who translated them here in the holy community of Cernica, with the blessing of our reverend father, Archimandrite Kir Caliinic […] By the grace of the Merciful God, the transcription of this third volume of the Ecclesiastical History has now been completed […] which was translated from the Greek here, in the holy Monastery of Cernica, by the reverend Naum, the hieromonk and protosyngel, who, having reached chapter 12 of the 16th century in his translation, fell ill and passed away to the Lord […] leaving this volume unfinished; I completed it based on another volume, also handwritten, translated by His Eminence the Metropolitan of Moldavia, Kir Veniamin, in the year 1829, on the basis of whose manuscript I have also arranged the table of contents, both for this third volume and for the first, for which the late translator had not done so […] 1839’24
Metropolitan Meletios’s ecclesiastical history is also an example of the connection between the monastic communities of Wallachia and those of Moldavia, where the monks were united by the same Paisian spirit, which revitalised monastic life throughout the Orthodox world from the mid-18th century onwards. Furthermore, the selected texts reveal not only the intellectual and spiritual concerns of the community at Cernica Monastery and their interest in the Greek language and literature, during the time of Saint Calinic, but also the links between the Romanian-speaking world and Greek-speaking Orthodoxy, from which other works had also been translated into Romanian. We recall, for example, certain polemical texts, the Apology of Saint Athanasius of Paros, translated from Greek into Romanian at Neamț, published in Moldavia in 1816 and subsequently in Wallachia in 1819 25, a work which combated the atheistic spirit of Enlightenment philosophy. In the same vein, we should also mention the Homilies of Saint Macarius of Patmos 26, published in Greek in Venice (1754), then in Leipzig (1758) and translated at Dragomirna during the time of Saint Paisius Velichkovsky, as well as the work by the Greek theologian Eustratie Arghentie on Baptism, published in Greek in Constantinople (1756), then in Leipzig, translated into Romanian in Moldavia and copied into Romanian manuscripts at Cernica and Căldărușani 27.
The manuscript of the Ecclesiastical History copied by Casian contains, preceding the text itself and the life of Meletius—which are also reproduced by Veniamin Costachi—two further discourses, by Polyzóis Labanițiótis of Ioannina and Gheorghie Vendótis 28, Greek scholars who were involved in editing the work in Vienna; these fragments were not included in the Iași edition, but only in the Cernica manuscripts. In contrast, Veniamin’s printed edition contains his own preface to the reader, in which he emphasises the value of Church History.
The Cernica manuscript, however, preserves the preface by Polyzóis Labanițiótis of Ioannina, which tells us that, wishing to print the book, he searched for the original, but found a copy in the library of the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre whilst he was in Tsarigrad in 1766: ‘Thus, whilst I was staying in Tsarigrad in the year 1766, searching diligently to find a handwritten copy of this book, so that, having transcribed it, I might send it to press; with God’s help, in accordance with my divine zeal, I found in the library of the Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre a precious copy, faithful to the original, by the aforementioned writer, in the Greek language”29
Having no money for publication, he sought the help of fellow Christians, from whom he raised a substantial sum, with which he set off for Venice, a major centre of printing at the time, but was unable to have it printed there due to Catholic pressure. He subsequently travelled to Vienna, where the book was approved for publication by the authorities. For, as the text tells us, in Vienna, Emperor Joseph II had authorised the publication of works which, in other areas under Catholic influence, such as Venice, were banned: ‘with the intention of having it printed [...] I sent it to the press in Venice [...] So, travelling to Venice, I presented my proposal to the honourable and orthodox merchants there, all of whom, with great love and goodwill, received my proposal, so that, within a few days, I had raised a sufficient sum of money, hoping to have it printed there, but as the local authorities, for their own reasons, hindered my freedom of action, I departed from there, to my great sorrow, to go to Leipzig to have it printed, likewise with the help and support of the Orthodox Christians. However, upon arriving in Vienna, I learnt that the most powerful Emperor Joseph II (may God grant him many years) had granted permission for the books of every free nation to be printed. For this reason, I too took the necessary steps and obtained permission to print not only this history, but also any book that is banned in the other realms of the Roman Catholics”30.
As an aside, we note that the ban on the publication of certain Orthodox books in Venice, to which the scholar from Ioannina referred, brings to mind the circumstances surrounding the publication of the first edition of the Homilies of Saint Macarius of Patmos, which was printed in Venice in 1754, although ‘Amsterdam’ was written on the title page to protect the work. The Catholic authorities in Venice, having learnt of the book through the betrayal of a Greek, confiscated and burned the print run and expelled the Orthodox priests residing in the city. This episode is recounted in the preface to the second edition of the Homilies, published in Leipzig in 1758, where the editor, Bishop Seraphim of Pissidia, noted that he was sending a copy of the newly published work to the very Greek who had betrayed him, Dimitrios Balsamios31
We also learn from the Greek editors’ preface that the money used to pay for the Vienna print run had been raised from merchants and Greeks in Venice, Vienna, as well as Trieste, Smyrna, Zakynthos, to whom the publisher expressed his gratitude and prayed to God that their names might be inscribed in heaven. Indeed, the Greek edition also preserves a list of those who had contributed, listed separately by city (among which we find Craiova and Iași), a list absent from both the Cernica manuscripts and the Iași printed edition.
With a view to publication, Polyzóis had sought out scholars to translate it from Hellenic into the spoken Greek language and had found Ioan Paleologul, then Gheorghe Vendótis of Zakynthos, who had corrected the previous translation and supplemented it with notes: ‘I have endeavoured, sparing neither expense nor labour, to render it from the Hellenic language into our own humble tongue, so that it might be easily understood [...] So I found a man of learning to undertake the translation, namely the late John Palaeologus, the Church’s foremost grammarian, who translated it into our humble language which we speak’30”.
Having seen the funds raised, Polyzóis then sought a skilled printer, finding “the most wise and eloquent George Vendoti of Zakynthos, a man learned not only in the Greek language and the sciences, but also in Latin, Italian and French, and well-versed in ecclesiastical history, with great expertise, who not only took the trouble to set the book (since the late translator’s handwriting was illegible to the typesetters), but also went to the trouble of revising it, into more elegant language and to adorn it with various annotations; in short, to embellish it with all that a book such as this required, and above all to correct it with great care’30
Furthermore, the scholar from Ioanina had taken care, as he went on to explain, to create new typefaces specifically for the printing of the book, and had discussed this matter with the printer Iosif Baumeister; thus, the first volume had been published “on clean, sound paper, with carefully selected type, in the style of the book’s typesetter”32. The intention was to print the remaining volumes as well and to complete the history to cover the period between 1700 (when Meletie finished writing) and 1783 (when the book was published), for the same benefit of the Greek Orthodox faithful. At the end of Polyzóis’s preface from Ioannina, on the Romanian manuscript, we see the seal of Cernica Monastery, dated 1819 (as there are several types of Cernica seals), and the autograph signature of Saint Calinic.
This is followed, between ff. 5r–9r, by a Foreword by the reviser Gheorghe Vendótis, which is also very interesting, revealing to us the importance of church history: ‘Through this, man learns how thethe All-Merciful Father sent His Only-Begotten Son to earth to seek out the lost sheep, that is, man, who had strayed into sin from the right path of the divine gift; and, spending time with him, once they had found him, they taught him those divine truths which he had not known until then. Through this, he learns what the true ark is—the Church, which encompasses these truths [...] he learns about heresies [...] he learns about the councils and the Church’s endeavours to preserve this unity intact, cutting off the rotten members [...] he learns, in short, how, despite all the false and vile heresies, and despite all the unjust and terrible persecutions, the Church has remained unshaken, one and holy. Teach them to shun discord and heresy, following the unity of so many wise teachers’33
The conclusion was self-evident: ‘How greatly does the Christian need a book such as this’34, just as other theologians and church historians—namely Eusebius, Theodoret of Cyrus, Sozomen and Nicetas Callistus—had previously recounted the events of their own times. Seeing the lack of a more recent ecclesiastical work, Meletius, as a true shepherd of the flock, ‘having taught them with his own voice, after having guided and edified his flock, deigned to enclose it and fortify it against the incursions of the enemies of the soul, with a church work spanning from the early days of the Church to his own time. However, his untimely death prevented him from bringing it to light. Thus the book remained, and lay unused—that is to say, of no use—35
Through the care of Polyzóis Labanițiotis, the book, written by Meletios in 1709, was transcribed from Classical Greek into Modern Greek to be sent to press, but the translation was in many places difficult to understand, unclear and incomplete 36. Consequently, Gheorghe Vendótis corrects it, adding explanatory notes to Meletie’s text, for: ‘Often the author of the book says: “Read Zlatoust”, “see Theodoret”, “says Augustine”, “according to Eusebius”; but he does not indicate where, or which book or chapter. For this reason, I was compelled to examine in minute detail not only the words, but also the passages from which the compiler of the book drew his material’36’.
The Church History, as Gheorghe Vendótis tells us, covers the history of seventeen centuries, the first volume extending to the death of Emperor Theodosius; the second recounting the events from Arcadius and Honorius to the death of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Angelus. Volume three continues from Alexius Angelus to the time of Sultan Mustafa II, who reigned from 1695 to 1703. In his task of preparing the work for printing, Gheorghe was assisted, as he himself attests, by the learned ‘Iosif Martin, custodian of the imperial library, here in Vienna’37 who made available to him some of the books required for the revision of the work—both manuscripts and printed works—the information being supplemented by works held in the Jesuit library.
Between ff. 9v–10v of the manuscript transcribed by Casian, the Life of the blessed and ever-memorable Meletius of Athens is reproduced; from this we learn that he was born in Ioannina and was christened Michael. He studied in his hometown during the early part of his life, having been ordained a priest by Clement, the local metropolitan, he then completed his studies in Venice, where he mastered the language and all manner of sciences, becoming not only a philosopher and mathematician, but also a most distinguished orator and an excellent doctor 38. On his return to Ioannina, he taught at the school there, and following the deaths of the Metropolitans of Nafpaktos 39 and Arta 40, Bartholomew, Meletius was elected head of that diocese in November 1692. Following the sacking of Arta by Ghiaru-bei, with Venetian support – the metropolitan being suspected by the authorities of having known of the plan – he took refuge for a time in Ioannina, then in Nafpaktos, where he continued his work, writing his famous book Geography. In 1701, following the peace between the Venetians and the Turks, he was sent by the Synod of Constantinople to the Peloponnese to collect revenue for the Church, a mission he carried out successfully, despite the reservations with which he had been received by some local clergy. In 1703 he was appointed Metropolitan of Athens, a post he held for 11 years, whilst continuing his scholarly work, which led to the completion of his Church History. Towards the end of his life, he had set his sights on becoming Metropolitan of Ioannina, but, being ill, he died before he could be appointed to the post. The work also tells us that, due to a mix-up—arising from the failure of certain letters to arrive on time, in which Meletius informed the Synod of Constantinople that he had been staying for a time in Larissa because of illness— the synod, believing he would not be coming, had appointed another cleric, namely Ierotei, as Metropolitan of Ioannina. Meletios died at the age of 53, on 12 December 1714, but some of his works, which remained in manuscript form, have been lost: ‘He also composed most beautiful words, which he would deliver in the Church and on philosophical matters, words of theology and medicine, all of which, after the ever-memorable one had passed away, were stolen—all those words, which we usually call sermons—leaving nothing of his compositions to be found by those who are in the habit of adorning themselves with others’ words’41
In conclusion, research into the Wallachian and Moldavian manuscripts, preserved at the Academy Library in Bucharest, which reproduce parts of the Ecclesiastical History by Metropolitan Meletius of Athens, reveals the connection between the Romanian-speaking world and Greek-speaking Orthodoxy at the beginning of the nineteenth century, thus continuing an earlier tradition, the roots of which extend not only to the Hesychast revival during the time of Saint Paisius Velichkovsky, but also back to the era of the Byzantine Commonwealth, as recalled by the renowned historian Dimitri Obolensky 42.
On the other hand, the book reveals the readers’ openness not only to liturgical, dogmatic or monastic texts, but also to ecclesiastical history, a useful historiographical genre, as the Greek and Romanian authors and publishers noted, for it helped Christians to understand past events and to distinguish the true teaching of the Church from the various philosophical currents or heresies that had arisen over time. It lists important events in the history of Christianity, the ecumenical councils and, to some extent, the local councils, and mentions numerous scholars, theologians and teachers from the Greek and Western worlds, as well as writers from antiquity. We note that, almost simultaneously, efforts were made in Moldavia and Wallachia to make the work of the renowned Greek hierarch known to Romanian Christians; two learned clergymen were involved in the translation work, Veniamin Costachi and Naum Râmniceanu, the latter with the blessing of Saint Calinic of Cernica. No less important is the fact that the Viennese edition itself had benefited from Romanian support. Thus, the Greek publisher Polyzóis of Ioannina dedicated Volume 1, published in 1783, to Ioan Nicolae Caragea, Prince of Wallachia. The second volume, from 1783, was dedicated to Alexandru Constantin Mavrocordat, Prince of Moldavia; the third volume, published in 1784, mentioned Mihail Suțu of Wallachia on its title page, whilst the final volume, from 1795, printed at Gheorghe Vendótis’s Greek press, was dedicated to Alexandru Constantin Moruzi, Prince of Ungrovlahia43.
The links between the Romanian world and Greek- and Slavonic-speaking Orthodoxy, brought to light by the manuscripts in the library of Cernica Monastery, are of interest from a theological, historical, literary, linguistic and iconographic perspective (for, for example, some engravings from foreign editions are reproduced in Romanian manuscripts in the form of miniatures); yet they so naturally illustrate the universality of the Christian faith, which transcends, yet at the same time unites, ethnic—or, in the modern era, national—solidarities.
- 1
Library of the Romanian Academy (BAR), Bucharest, Ms. rom. 2064, ff. 127–135.
- 2
Oana-Mădălina Popescu, ‘The Library of Cernica Monastery in the first half of the 19th century’, in Apulum. Series Historia, Patrimonium Supplementum, 2024, pp. 349–365.
- 3
On 7 June 2024, at the 18th National Conference on Bibliology and National Cultural Heritage, organised by the 1 December 1918 University, the Faculty of History and the Museum of the Union in Alba Iulia, I presented the paper: ‘The Links between the Romanian Region and Slavic-Language Orthodoxy, as Reflected in a Manuscript from the Old Library of Cernica Monastery’ (in press).
- 4
Meletios, Metropolitan of Athens, Ekklhsiastikh Istoria Meletiou Mhtropolitou Aqhnwn, Vienna, 1783–1795, 4 volumes. See also Émile Legrand, Bibliographie Hellénique ou description raisonnée des ouvrages publiés par des grecs au dix-huitième siècle, vol. 2, Paris, Société d’Édition Les Belles Lettres, 1928, p. 400.
- 5
Veniamin Costachi, Metropolitan of Moldavia, also published his own translation in 1841–1842: The Ecclesiastical History of Meletius, by the Metropolitan of Athens, translated from the Greek into poor Greek and enriched with many liturgical rites and necessary footnotes, as well as with precious tables by Gheorghe Vendoti of Zakynthos. And now translated into Romanian by the humble Veniamin Costachi, Metropolitan of Moldavia, vols. I–IV, Iași, at the Printing House of the Holy Metropolis, 1841–1842.
- 6
BAR, Romanian manuscripts 509, 510.
- 7
A reference to his translation also appears on f. 264v, attached to Ms. rom. 913, dated 1834, which contains Volume I of Meletius’s Church History: ‘Now, in this manner, transcribed from the very original text translated from the Greek by the pious Naum Protosinghel, the Pro-Apostolic of Bucharest, here in the holy monastery of Cernica, by the blessing of our reverend father Kir Calinic, the archimandrite, prior and abbot of this monastery protected by God, during the reign of our most exalted lord, Prince Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica, the translation and transcription began in November of the year 1834.” Volume I. Manuscripts 913–914 contain Volumes 2 and 3, all of which originate from the library of Nifon Bălășescu, professor and director of the Central Seminary in Bucharest.
- 8
Archimandrite Atanasie Gladcovschi, ‘Monks who were chroniclers at the Holy Monastery of Cernica’, in Glasul Bisericii, 1958, no. 8, p. 741 (the entire article appears on pp. 740–747).
- 9
Fr. Mircea Păcurariu, Dictionary of Romanian Theologians, 3rd ed., Sibiu, Andreiana Publishers, 2014, p. 555.
- 10
Constantin Erbiceanu, The Life and Literary Work of Protosinghel Naum Râmniceanu, Bucharest, Carol Gobl Institute of Graphic Arts, 1900.
- 11
Constantin Erbiceanu, The Life and Literary Work of Protosinghel Naum Râmniceanu..., p. 80.
- 12
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, f. 366.
- 13a13b
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, fol. 5v.
- 14a14b
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, fol. 1v.
- 15
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, f. 1 v. Copy – model, original for copying. Augustin Scriban, Dictionary of the Romanian Language, Bucharest, Saeculum Publishers, 2013, p. 668.
- 16
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, fol. 1 front and back.
- 17
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, fol. 2, front and back.
- 18
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, f. 4 r.
- 19
BAR, Ms. rom. 1948, fol. 4v.
- 20
BAR, Ms. rom. 1949, f. 350.
- 21
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 1. On fol. 154, beneath a cryptogram, we can make out the name Casian.
- 22
BAR, Ms. rom. 5789.
- 23
Archimandrite Atanasie Gladcovschi, ‘Monks who were chroniclers at the Holy Monastery of Cernica. Casian of Cernica’ in Glasul Bisericii, XVII, 1958, no. 8, pp. 740–747: born in 1812, he is recorded as a monk at Cernica in 1830, working in the monastery library alongside Naum Râmniceanu; he wrote The History of the Holy Monasteries of Cernica and Căldărușani, Bucharest, Ștefan Teodorescu Press, 1870. On p. 741, the author quotes Casian’s words: ‘As the translation of this volume remained unfinished, I completed it based on another volume, also handwritten, translated by His Eminence the Metropolitan of Moldavia in the year 1829, and it is from this source that I have drawn the table of contents, both for this third volume and for the first, for which the late translator had not provided one.” The author notes that Veniamin Costachi’s translation had been brought to Cernica by monks from Neamț.
- 24
BAR, Ms. rom. 1561, title page, p. 289.
- 25
BAR, CRV 897 (Neamț, 1816) and 1030 (Bucharest, 1819).
- 26
BAR, Ms. rom. 756. See also Oana-Mădălina Popescu, ‘Saint Macarius of Patmos (1688–1737) and the first works of polemical theology by the Paisian community’, in Glasul Bisericii, LXXXII, 2023, nos. 1–3, pp. 83–112.
- 27
BAR, Romanian manuscripts 5575 (Cernica), 426 (Căldărușani).
- 28
We would like to thank Professor Ion Marian Croitoru, Dr. habil., for transcribing these names.
- 29
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 2r.
- 30a30b30c
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 3r.
- 31
Eὐaggelikὴ sάlpigx, Leipzig, 1758, p. XXIII; Constantin Dapontes, Ephémérides daces ou chronique de la guerre de quatre ans (1736–1739), ed. Émile Legrand, vol. III. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1888, p. XII.
- 32
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, f. 3 v. The portrait of Meletius is not found in the Viennese copy held at the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, which we consulted, but it does appear in the copy at the Library of the Holy Synod in Bucharest. The Greek hierarch is depicted in a medallion, dressed in monastic robes with a camilafcă, seated at a writing desk, holding a quill in his right hand, with an inkwell and several sheets of paper beside him, standing in a library, as several books can be seen behind him. The figure is expressive and well-rendered, suggesting inner beauty; the hierarch, who at the time of writing, in 1709, was 48 years old (he died in 1714, aged 53), is depicted with a relatively long, pointed, white beard, large eyes and a furrowed brow.
- 33
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 5v–6r.
- 34
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 6r.
- 35
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 6v.
- 36a36b
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 7r.
- 37
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 9r.
- 38
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 9v.
- 39
Nafpaktos / Naupactos, in the Gulf of Corinth.
- 40
Arta, a town in western Greece, about 70 km from Ioannina.
- 41
BAR, Ms. rom. 2053, fol. 10v.
- 42
Dimitri Obolensky, A Medieval Commonwealth: Byzantium, Bucharest, Corint Publishers, 2002.
- 43
Nicolae Caragea was Prince of Wallachia between January 1782 and July 1783; Alexandru I Mavrocordat reigned in Moldavia between May 1782 and January 1785; Mihail I Suțu was Prince of Wallachia from July 1783 to March 1786; Alexandru Constantin Moruzi reigned in Wallachia from January 1793 to August 1796. See Mihai Țipău, The Phanariot Princes in the Romanian Principalities (1711–1821), 2nd ed., Bucharest, Ed. Omonia, 2008, pp. 65, 106, 168 and 143 respectively.