<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Despite the obvious significance of Empress Irene of Athens for the history of Orthodoxy, her vita has a very poor textual tradition: a single extant manuscript and a single printed edition of the entire text. Moreover, this hagiographic writing is mostly drawn from a historical one, that is, Theophanes’ Chronographia; only the last part of the vita, which presents the exile and the dying words of Irene, seems to be the original contribution of the hagiographer. The purpose of this paper is to offer a philological and hagiological perspective on the Life of Saint Irene the Empress and to show that the shortcomings of this vita might be the main reasons for its lack of popularity.</p>
</abstract>

Despite the obvious significance of Empress Irene of Athens for the history of Orthodoxy, her vita has a very poor textual tradition: a single extant manuscript and a single printed edition of the entire text. Moreover, this hagiographic writing is mostly drawn from a historical one, that is, Theophanes’ Chronographia; only the last part of the vita, which presents the exile and the dying words of Irene, seems to be the original contribution of the hagiographer. The purpose of this paper is to offer a philological and hagiological perspective on the Life of Saint Irene the Empress and to show that the shortcomings of this vita might be the main reasons for its lack of popularity.

The Textual Tradition of the Life of Saint Irene the Empress<sup><xref ref-type="fn" rid="j_ress-2023-0015_fn_001">*</xref></sup>

Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Textual Tradition of the Life of Saint Irene the Empress

Despite the obvious significance of Empress Irene of Athens for the history of Orthodoxy, her vita has a very poor textual tradition: a single extant...

The Textual Tradition of the Life of Saint Irene the Empress^*

Published Online: Dec 21, 2023

Page range: 203 - 216

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2023-0015

Keywords
Saint Irene the Empress, MS Vat. gr. 2014, Hagiography, Critical Edition

© 2023 Isabela Grigoraş, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Textual Tradition of the Life of Saint Irene the Empress*

Published Online: Dec 21, 2023

Page range: 203 - 216

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2023-0015

KeywordsSaint Irene the Empress, MS Vat. gr. 2014, Hagiography, Critical Edition

© 2023 Isabela Grigoraş, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Textual Tradition of the Life of Saint Irene the Empress^*

Keywords
Saint Irene the Empress, MS Vat. gr. 2014, Hagiography, Critical Edition