Hybrid - 'Neophytos Enkleistos’s Testamentary Typikon: Manuscript, text(s), contexts'

Neophytos the Recluse (‘Enkleistos’, 1134–post 1214) was a remarkable figure in late 12th- and early 13th-century Cyprus: after many travails to escape the marriage his parents had arranged for him and a pilgimage to the Holy Land, he carved his own cell and hermitage into the rocky hills near Paphos and lived through the Crusader conquest of the island of Cyprus. The monastery, now named in his honour, survives to the present day. 

Like most monastic founders in the Byzantine world, Neophytos the Recluse drew up the rule (typikon) for the community under his guidance. We are fortunate that the second and final version of his testamentary typikon survives in the original manuscript carrying the saint’s autograph signatures. It was completed on 9 May 1214. 

The manuscript is of small size (16.8 × 12.8 cm) and nowadays consists of 85 folios. Scottish collector David Laing (1793–1878) acquired the manuscript in Venice and bequeathed it to the University of Edinburgh, in whose care it remains to the present day (under the shelfmark ms 224). From 2020 to 2022 and with generous support from the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the manuscript was carefully restored and digitised. 

To mark this restoration, the Universities of Edinburgh (represented by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology and the Centre for Research Collections) and Cyprus (represented by the Departments of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies and History and Archaeology) are delighted to hold a two-day workshop that celebrates and introduces this unique manuscript and its author, and their historical, cultural and material contexts.

This event is generously funded by the A. G. Leventis Foundation.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration is required for online participation (free, at link).

Organisers

• Niels Gaul (The University of Edinburgh)
• Martin Hinterberger (University of Cyprus)

Speakers

• Stephanos Efthymiadis (Open University of Cyprus)
• Antonia Giannouli (University of Cyprus)
• Daryl Green (The University of Edinburgh)
• Venediktos Ioannou (Church of Cyprus)
• Paschalis Kitromilides (Academy of Athens)
• Tassos Papacostas (King’s College London)
• Maria Parani (University of Cyprus)
• Linda Safran (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto)
• Dionysios Stathakopoulos (University of Cyprus)
• Yannis Stouraitis (The University of Edinburgh)

Please note that programme timings are Cyprus time (EET) i.e. GMT+2.