Polovragi Monastery, Akathistos Hymn, photo by Oana Iacubovschi

The interdisciplinary team involved in this project intends to study a most influential liturgical piece dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Akathistos Hymn, from a philological and historical perspective. They will focus on the multilingual textual tradition (Greek,
Slavonic and Romanian) of the Akathistos Hymn which develops simultaneously in the Romanian-speaking regions in the 17th century, and on the flourishing iconography of the Akathistos cycle, present in mural representations and in illuminations.
The first Romanian versions of the Akathistos Hymn appear as manuscripts and printed texts in the 17th century. These important documents for the history of old Romanian and for the history of liturgy in Romanian remained unstudied, although two metropolitans, key-figures of the old Romanian literature, Dosoftei and Antim, printed the Akathistos Hymn in 1673 and 1698 respectively. The relation of the Romanian tradition with the contemporary Slavonic texts, from which it originates, has never been
studied, nor have been its connections with the Greek illuminated manuscripts of the Akathistos Hymn which high Greek clergymen executed in Wallachia in the first half of the 17th century. The present project attempts to evaluate the dynamics of this multilingual 17th-century tradition of the Akathistos Hymn, to edit the oldest manuscript and printed Romanian versions, and to assess the relation between the textual and the iconographic traditions.

Events:

International conference:
The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, conveners Emanuela Timotin and AKATHYMN team, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022
Program of the conference (Day 1 & Day 2)

International workshop:
Manuscript Tradition and Visual Culture. Circulating Models and their Reception in South-Eastern Europe, 14th-18th c., conveners Vlad Bedros and Emanuela Timotin, New Europe College, Bucharest, November 26, 2021

Conferences:
Mihail-George Hâncu, “Acatistul Maicii Domnului într-un manuscris bilingv din 1683: probleme ale traducerii din slavonă în română”, Slavistica românească și dialogul culturilor – ediția a X-a, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest / Department of Russian and Slavonic Philology / Association of Slavists in Romania, October 21, 2022

Emanuela Timotin, “Standardization of the First Romanian Translation of the Akathistos Hymn. The Double Readings in Ms. 170”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Lidia Cotovanu, „Les destinataires de l’œuvre manuscrite de Matthieu de Myres. Nouvelles constatations”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Cristina-Ioana Dima, “La première version de l’Hymne Acathiste imprimée en roumain. Réflexions sur un livre peu connu du métropolite Dosoftei”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Mihail-George Hâncu, “One Side of the Coin: The Seventeenth-Century Slavonic Manuscripts of the Akathist from the Library of the Romanian Academy”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Oana Iacubovschi, “Embroidered Epitrachelia with the Akathistos Hymn and their Commissioners (16th-17th Centuries)”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Daniar Mutalâp, “Shapes, forms and uses of the Akathist Hymn in the 18^th century Romanian manuscripts and printed books”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Ovidiu Olar, “From the Romanian Principalities to Mount Sinai: The Odyssey of Codex Sinaiticus græcus 203”, The Akathistos Hymn in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Tradition. The History of a Liturgical Masterpiece between Text and Image, New Europe College, Bucharest, October 13-15, 2022

Lidia Cotovanu, „Οι θεσσαλικές ρίζες των Μαυροκορδάτων” [Rădăcinile tesaliene ale Mavrocordaţilor], Αλέξανδρος ο Εξ Απορρήτων (1641-1709) και οι Ηγεμόνες Μολδοβλαχίας Νικόλαος (1680-1730) και Κωνσταντίνος (1711-1769). H αυγή της Νεοτερικότητας στην Νοτιοανατολική Ευρώπη [Alexandru Exaporitul (1641-1709) şi domnii Ţărilor Române Nicolae (1680-1730) şi Constantin (1711-1769). Zorii modernităţii în Europa de sud-est], Hios, 15-17 iulie 2022

Emanuela Timotin, “Deux manuscrits roumains du milieu du XVII^e siècle. Problèmes d’édition de l’Hymne acathiste”, 30^e Congrès International de Linguistique et Philologie Romanes, Universidad La Laguna (Tenerife), July 4–9, 2022

Oana Iacubovschi, “From liturgy to private piety. The Akathistos Hymn in Moldavia at the turn of the 16^th and 17^th centuries”, Sung, Written and Painted. The Akathistos Hymnos and Intermedial Compositional Processes in Later Byzantium, Georg-August Universität, Göttingen, June 2-3, 2022

Cristina-Ioana Dima, “Les noms de la Vierge dans l’Hymne Acathiste et dans une amulette”, Transizioni e variazioni mariane dal Medioevo ai giorni nostri, Università degli Studi di Torino, Dipartamento di Studi Umanistici, May 25-27, 2022

Emanuela Timotin, George-Mihail Hâncu, “Translating the Akathistos Hymn from Slavonic into Romanian. Ms 1348 of the Romanian Academy Library in Bucharest”, Manuscript Tradition and Visual Culture. Circulating Models and Their Reception in South-Eastern Europe, New Europe College, Bucharest, November 26, 2021

Lidia Cotovanu, “Le Ms. gr. Garrett 113 de l’Université de Princeton et les circonstances de sa production”, Manuscript Tradition and Visual Culture. Circulating Models and Their Reception in South-Eastern Europe, New Europe College, Bucharest, November 26, 2021

Ovidiu Olar, “Writings Full of Sweetness and Grace. The Hybrid Codex BAR MS Gr. 113”, Manuscript Tradition and Visual Culture. Circulating Models and Their Reception in South-Eastern Europe, New Europe College, Bucharest, November 26, 2021

Emanuela Timotin, “Un descântec inedit pe marginea unui Acatist tipărit în a doua jumătate a secolului al XVII-lea”, Atelier lingvistic online, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, Bucharest, September 29 – October 1, 2021

Daniar Mutalâp, “Când și de cine au fost realizate cele mai veche copii manuscrise românești ale Imnului acatist?”, Atelier lingvistic online, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Alexandru Rosetti”, Bucharest, September 29 – October 1, 2021

Emanuela Timotin, Ovidiu Olar, “The Unknown Romanian History of a Liturgical Masterpiece. The Oldest Romanian Manuscript and Printed Versions of the Akathistos Hymn (17^th century)”, Research Seminar, New Europe College, June 16, 2021

Publications:
Représentations de la Vierge Marie entre culte officiel et vénération locale. Textes et images, textes réunis par Cristina Bogdan, Cristina-Ioana Dima et Emanuela Timotin, Heidelberg, Herlo Verlag, 2022, ISBN 978-3-948670-04-7, in press

Emanuela Timotin, “Deux manuscrits roumains du milieu du XVII^e siècle. Problèmes d’édition de l’Hymne acathiste”, in Dolores Corbella, Josefa Dorta, Rafael Padrón (eds), Perspectives en linguistique et philologie romanes, 2 vol., Paris, Éditions de Linguistique et de Philologie, Bibliotèque de Linguistique Romane (BiLiRo), nº 18.1-18.2, 2023, accepted for publication

Cristina-Ioana Dima, “Les noms de la Vierge dans l’Hymne Acathiste et dans une amulette”, in E. Barale, A. Cicchella, M. Del Savio, C. G. Priolo (sous la direction de), Transitions et variations mariales du Moyen Âge à nos jours, Paris, Garnier, 2023, accepted for publication

Emanuela Timotin, Ovidiu Olar, “The oldest Romanian manuscript and printed versions of the Akathistos Hymn (seventeenth century)”, Revue roumaine de linguistique, 67/1, 2022, p. 65-83

Emanuela Timotin, “An Unknown Romanian Recension of the Dream of the Virgin”, in Représentations de la Vierge Marie entre culte officiel et vénération locale. Textes et images, Cristina Bogdan, Cristina-Ioana Dima et Emanuela Timotin (textes réunis par), Heidelberg, Herlo Verlag, 2022, p. 249–265

Lidia Cotovanu, “Les livres grecs anciens conservés dans la bibliothèque «Dumitru Staniloae» de la Métropole de Moldavie et de Bucovine”, Museikon. A Journal of Religious Art and Culture / Revue d’art et de culture religieuse 6 (2022), p. 199-234

Cristina-Ioana Dima, “La figure de la Vierge dans la Légende d’Aphroditien le Perse”, in Représentations de la Vierge Marie entre culte officiel et vénération locale. Textes et images, Cristina Bogdan, Cristina-Ioana Dima et Emanuela Timotin (textes réunis par), Heidelberg, Herlo Verlag, 2022, p. 213–224

Cristina-Ioana Dima, “Elemente lexicale inedite din prima carte tipărită a mitropolitului Dosoftei”, Limba română, 71/2022, accepted for publication

Daniar Mutalâp, “Când au fost realizate cele mai vechi versiuni manuscrise românești ale Imnului Acatist?”, Limba română, 70/3, 2021, in press

Lidia Cotovanu, “L’œuvre historiographique de Matthieu de Myre: étapes de conception, motivations, messages (début du XVII^e siècle)”, in O. Olar, K. Petrovszky (eds), Writing History in Ottoman Europe (15^th – 18^th c.), Brill, 2023, accepted for publication

Emanuela Timotin, “Două descântece românești inedite pe marginea unui Acatist al Născătoarei de Dumnezeu tipărit în a doua jumătate a secolului al XVII-lea”, in C.-I. Dima,  A.-M. Gherman, G. Mihăilescu (eds), De rebus philologiae mirabilibus. In honorem Mihai Moraru, Bucharest, Editura Muzeului Literaturii Române, 2021, p. 243–258

Emanuela Timotin, Daniar Mutalâp, “Cele mai vechi versiuni românești ale Imnului Acatist. Manuscrise și copiști”, Limba română, 70/1, 2021, p. 91-110