Emil Constantinescu, President of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization:
“We can never be grateful enough to the Byzantine civilisation! When we speak of the Byzantines, we therefore speak of elites; of the transmission of Classical knowledge and wisdom across the centuries; of Eastern Orthodoxy as a state religion and a form of political identity. We speak of a particular way of being, and way of living”
“Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished professors, esteemed participants,
Welcome to the Third Edition of the Annual School of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine studies, organised by the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, focusing on Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Culture and Spirituality in Moldavia, Wallachia and the Balkan space.
We can never be grateful enough to the Byzantine civilisation! When we speak of the Byzantines, we therefore speak of elites; of the transmission of Classical knowledge and wisdom across the centuries; of Eastern Orthodoxy as a state religion and a form of political identity. We speak of a particular way of being, and way of living.
We must however not forget that, prior to the first edition of the Annual School of Byzantine Studies there was a 2017 initiative of the former Rector and Professor of French
at the University of Bucharest, Ioan Pânzaru which was carried out under the auspices of the Agénce Universitaire de la Francophonie; or that the Scientific Director of the School’s First Edition was Paolo Odorico, Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Given that the Scientific Director of this year’s third edition is Ms Vârtejanu-Joubert from the Oriental Institute which is also in Paris, I will carry out the rest of my intervention in French.
Les racines de la civilisation occidentale sont l’héritage gréco-romain et les valeurs classiques de l’humanité, raffinées à l’époque de la Renaissance – ces valeurs ont été transmises au cours des siècles aussi par les copistes byzantins, qui n’ont jamais laissé s’éteindre la flamme de l’esprit. Sur cette base culturelle solide, les sciences de la nature se sont développées, en suscitant la Révolution Scientifique. Apres cela l’histoire a vu la Révolution industrielle, une période qui a permis de nouveau une diffusion plus large de la culture. L’histoire est cyclique, les temps sont changés et nous changeons avec eux – tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. Dans cette cyclicité de l’histoire, la culture et la spiritualité doivent être des véritables points de repère, qui offrent un sens et une direction dans la vie des gens.
Les scientifiques, les savants, les érudits, les prêtres ont eu toujours la vocation de contribuer à la manifestation de l’histoire et à la création de l’époque où ils vivaient. Ce sont les élites qui déterminent le cours de l’histoire.
Après la chute de Constantinople en 1453, une partie de l’élite culturelle byzantine est restée dans les territoires occupés par les Ottomans pour offrir leur contribution à la création d’une nouvelle civilisation. Le sultan a reconnu l’importance suprême de l’église Haghia Sophia et l’a préservée, même transformée en mosquée. Une autre partie des intellectuels a migré vers l’Ouest, où ils ont contribué au phénomène de la Renaissance occidentale, tandis que d’autres se sont dirigés vers l’espace balkanique et vers les territoires roumains. Ils ont formé, au fil des siècles, des académies grecques et ils ont développé une forte élite politique dans les Balkans. Dans les Pays roumains, le Byzance a continué à vivre et à s’épanouir tout au long des siècles, à travers la religion orthodoxe, à travers la langue grecque parlée par les élites, à travers l’enseignement grec de l’Académie royale, à travers l’art et l’architecture de nos églises et monuments – malheureusement si peu connu. Si on n’avait pas eu le virus Covid, cette année, l’École annuelle des études byzantine aurait eu lieu dans le nord de la Moldavie, avec des visites aux monastères construits par les princes roumains à l’époque postbyzantine.
Et pourtant je me réjouis ici de la présence des savants distingués et de jeunes acharnés, qui se nourrissent de l’amour et de la lumière transmise au cours de l’histoire par les érudits byzantins. Je vous souhaite à tous de continuer de les transmettre au monde, parce qu’on a tant besoin de vous !
Je conclus en annonçant que l’Institut d’Etudes Avancées pour la Culture et la Civilisation du Levant lance cette année deux projets importants, l’un consacré à l’histoire culturelle des Balkans et l’autre à l’histoire culturelle du Bas Danube. Après l’École byzantine, notre Institut organisera une école interdisciplinaire annuelle d’égyptologie, de grec ancien et d’études orientales. Vous êtes tous invités à participer.
Je voudrais remercier Madame Mădălina Vârtejeanu Joubert, professeur à l’Institut National des langues et civilisations orientales de Paris, la directrice scientifique de cette édition de l’École, et Madame Ana-Maria Răducan, le responsable de ce projet, et à tous les invités qui ont accepté d’y participer. Je vous souhaite une belle et riche école!
Je vous remercie.”
The message of H.H. Teodosie, Archbishop of Tomis:
“I am curious to learn and share in your discoveries, your thoughts and your proposals over the following years as well, that you may shine the brightest of lights upon this inestimable patrimony”
“Having had the privilege of making the acquaintance of those who partook in last year's Annual School of Byzantine Studies as my buests at the Archdiocese of Tomis, I rejoiced upon discovering that they studied Byzantine spirituality in its inflections from Moldova, Wallachia and from across the Balkans, a spirituality truly timeless in scope. For this reason I extend them my warmest blessing, and wish them well in continuing this endeavour. I am sure that each year your research will uncover new heritage, and I am curious to learn and share in your discoveries, your thoughts and your proposals over the following years as well, that you may shine the brightest of lights upon this inestimable patrimony.”
Professor Bogdan Murgescu, Vice-Rector of the University of Bucharest:
„I had the honour to represent my University also at the first edition and I am glad to see that the tradition begins to have solid foundations and to last”
„Your Excellency, President Constantinescu, dear colleagues,
I am very honored to represent the University of Bucharest and the Rector of this University at the opening of this Summer school. I had the honour to represent my University also at the first edition and I am glad to see that the tradition begins to have solid foundations and to last. This is an important element for the scientific life of Romania, and not only for Romania, but for all scholars interested in Byzantine and Postbyzantine studies. The topic you have chosen for this Summer school is promising interesting debates and I have seen there the participation of significant scholars to this event. I also want to congratulate personally Professor Mădălina Vârtejeanu-Joubert, who is an alumna of our University and I had the pleasure to work with her some time ago.
I wish you a fruitful conference, and good talks and interesting exchanges of ideas, and also the posibility to foster contacts and to build up networks for future collaborations. The University of Bucharest, which is represented by some of my colleagues also in the program of the Summer school – and there are also doctoral students in it – is proud to support you and to wish to all a fruitful week in this event. All the best!”
Associate Professor Habil. Mădălina Vârtejanu-Joubert (INALCO Paris), Scientific Director of the Third Edition of the Annual School of Byzantine and post-Byzantine Studies 2020:
«Comment être byzantinologue en faisant des études juives ? C’est une question passionnante, un défi posé à moi depuis l’année dernière. On découvre des facettes ignorées de son propre domaine d’étude, découpé et réinséré dans un nouveau contexte épistémologique et historiographique. C’est plus qu’un intérêt ou une curiosité: la promesse ou la chance d’un renouvellement»
«Monsieur le Président, chers collègues, chers étudiants,
Cette année pour la troisième fois, l’Institut du Levant organise son école d’été d’études byzantines. Cela devient, donc, une tradition et nous espérons tous que ce sera une tradition durable. C’est, en effet, seulement en s’inscrivant dans la longue ou – du moins – la moyenne durée qu’on peut, d’une part, fonder les avancées scientifiques et, d’autre part, favoriser et instituer des collaborations pérennes. Par ailleurs, quand il s’agit de science, la tradition ne saurait être constituer une répétition paresseuse et conservative – ni, pour parler comme les sociologues, un simple habitus. Non, la tradition est par essence «critique», c’est-à-dire évaluative et discernante. S’inscrire dans une tradition qui est de recherche, c’est donc s’assurer les moyens d’un constant progrès.
Le thème choisi par les organisateurs – et Ana-Maria Raducan est un artisan enthousiaste et extrêmement efficace – est «Culture et spiritualité». Le domaine est – pour ainsi dire – généreux, et aussi protéiforme tant du point de vue méthodologique que thématique. D’où sa richesse. Les exposés que nous allons entendre portent tout aussi bien sur l’art visuel que la culture écrite; sur les manuscrits et sur l’imprimerie, l’hagiographie et la chronologie, les monastères et les ports maritimes. Culture écrite; manuscrits et imprimerie: Ioan Croitoru (Valahia University of Târgoviște) - Greek-language Typographic Activity in Târgoviște at the Beginning of the 18th Century; Stratis Papaioannou (University of Crete) - Byzantine Literature, Language and Book Culture; Dragoș Mârșanu (Department for the Study of Patristics, Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina) - Publishing Books on Christianity in Byzantium and Beyond: A Romanian Editor’s Perspective; prof.univ.dr. Claudia Rapp (University of Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences) - Daily Life, Religion and Manuscript Studies: Researching Byzantine Prayer Books (Euchologia); Gina Scarlat - The Activity of Sevastos Kiminitis in the Romanian Principalities (“L’activité de Sevastos Kiminitis dans les Pays Roumains”); Andrei Prohin (Institute of History, Chișinău, Republic of Moldavia) - Signs of the End of the World through History. A Reading of the Chronicle of Symeon the Logothete in a Slavic Manuscript from Moldavia (1637). Aspects visuels: Dr. Andreea Ștefan (National History Museum of Romania) - Brief Excursus into the Collections of the National History Museum of Romania from the Late Roman Empire to the Phanariotes and Beyond – Virtual Guided Tour; prof. univ.dr. Athanassios Semoglou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) - The iconographic program of the apse of Bălinești and the impact of the Constantinopolitan art in Vallachia; Ionuț Badea (University of Bucharest) - Monetary Iconography Talks about the Byzantine Empire history (5-12 centuries). Espaces et lieux: palais, monastères et ports: dr. Grigori Simeonov (University of Vienna) - Harbours on the Western Black Sea Coast from the 4th to the 13th century. Politics, economy, and environment in Southeastern Europe in Late Antiquity and Middle Ages; prof. univ. dr. Zachary Chitwood (University of Mainz) - Mount Athos as the Center of Byzantine World; Antonio Pio Di Cosmo (Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome) - The funeral of Basileus in the tenth century. The theology of power and material culture of royalty. Hagiographie et chronologie: prof. univ. dr. Alexandros Alexakis (University of Ioanina) - Byzantine Hagiography Looking North; dr. Adrian Dumitru (University of Bucharest) - The Wonders of a Wandering Book: The Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesareea and its Importance for the Study of the Chronology of the Antiquity. Confluences: prof. univ. dr. Mihai Dumitru (University of Mainz) - Doxology and Rule. Neagoe Basarab in Dialogue with Erasmus, Luther and Machiavelli (1513-1523); Associate Professor Habil. Mădălina Vârtejanu Joubert (INALCO, Paris) - Le Talmud en contexte byzantin; Octavian Negoiță (University of Bucharest) - The Articulation of Anti-Islamic Discourse as reflected in Early Modern Greek Polemical Literature (16th-18th centuries); Manuela Dobre (University of Bucharest) - The Image of Romanians in Byzantine Sources of the 15th century.
La culture est par nature diverse et variée et c’est cette variété qui doit être mise en évidence. Comment être byzantinologue en faisant des études juives ? C’est une question passionnante, un défi posé à moi depuis l’année dernière. On découvre des facettes ignorées de son propre domaine d’étude, découpé et réinséré dans un nouveau contexte épistémologique et historiographique. C’est plus qu’un intérêt ou une curiosité:la promesse ou la chance d’un renouvellement.
C’est, nous l’espérons, une des valeurs ajoutées de l’école d’été d’études byzantines que l’Institut du Levant nous propose tous les ans.
J’adresse mes vœux de succès à nos travaux en cette année 2020.»
Professor Claudia Rapp (University of Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Byzantium remains a world heritage
It is a great pleasure to join you on this occasion and to help and assist in the launch of this third summer school held in Romania on Byzantine studies. I would simply like to say a few words to further contextualise Byzantine studies, following on what Professor Vârtejanu-Joubert already has pointed out.
You see me in front of a photograph of the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai (Egypt), just as a reminder of the extent of Byzantine culture, and specially the richness of Byzantine culture through its religion, through its monasteries, that extend far beyond the boundaries of what we consider the core of Byzantium. Of course, the extent of that to the north is represented by Romania, among other countries. Indeed, Byzantium is one of the medieval incarnations of the growth that originated in the fertile cultural ground by Greco-Roman culture, and spread through the political entity of the Roman Empire. The result of that is the different branches that resulted in the Middle Ages – three different branches that grew out from this seedbed – there is the Latin West, the Muslim East, and Byzantium, if you like, in the middle. It occupies a central position between these different
cultures. A central position that allows it to absorb, through contact and communication with these different cultures, to remain in dialogue, but also to mediate and connect. And this, I think, is one of Byzantium enduring cultural roles, the effect of which can be felt even in the present day.
It is interesting to me that the terms that emphasize this in scholarship all originated in regions outside the core lands of the Byzantine Empire, which would roughly correspond today to Greece and Turkey. We have first the expression Byzance après Byzance (Byzantium after Byzantium) talking about the lasting effect of the Byzantine culture, especially in Romania, formulated by the great Romanian scholar Nicolae Iorga. And we have the expression Bisanzio fuori di Bisanzio, coined by Italian scholars: Byzantium outside Byzantium. So in contrast to Byzance après Byzance, which is a temporal category,
Bisanzio fuori di Bisanzio speaks about the geographical reach of Byzantine influence that is felt, indeed as art historians tell us, as far as Scandinavia and Iceland. So the point I would like to emphasize is that, although Byzantium is present in local traditions, especially artistic, and continues to exert its influence, including in the religious traditions of the Orthodox churches and elsewhere, Byzantium also remains a world heritage.
Byzantium does not belong to any country, to any nation, it is part of world heritage and in almost 20 years of teaching in the United States, before moving to Vienna, it was very easy to see how much engagement there was and how much interest there was in Byzantium among people who do not have an immediate connection to the language, to the religion, to the region, or to the artistic tradition, and yet, were able to understand that there is something of real depth, real value here that it is of importance to the global culture heritage in general.
So with those remarks I would like to congratulate everybody involved in creating the third iteration of the Summer school, especially the scientific director, Professor Vârtejeanu-Joubert, and Dr. Răducan, to whose initiative the summer school owes its origin, and I believe its current implementation as well. I was happy to hear that there are already plans underway for a fourth summer school of this kind.
I wish all the instructors and all the students productive times and discussions, as you learn and interact, even though it cannot be done in person this year, but I am glad to see that the digital medium is not a setback, but an opportunity to join people from different locations in this common goal. Thank you very much.
