Romanian Items and Testimonies, Currentl Y Held In
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ROMANIAN ITEMS AND TESTIMONIES, CURRENTLY HELD IN THE ARCHIVES OF ST. CATHERINE MONASTERY, MOUNT SINAI* ADRIAN MARINESCU A number of objects of Romanian origin or containing information conceming the Romanians, can be currently found at Mount Sinai. They testifyto the relations maintained by the Romanians with this major monastic centre of the Orient, within the broader context of political and religious links of the Romanian Principalities with the Orthodox East. The Romanian Principalities thus prove to have been a reliable, faithful supporter of the Christians in the first lands to hear the preaching of Christ's gospel. Beside objects donated by Romanian rulers, who maintained relationships with the Holy Mountain, Sinai also holds items brought by Sinaite monks having spent a while in the Romanian Principalities, as well as important catalogues of documents and records. The Romanian foundations at Mount Sinai are also beautiful architecture monuments, certainly benefitting from the material support ofthe above-mentioned princes. All these items - liturgica! objects, manuscripts, rare books, art and architecture vestiges, etc. - enrich the vast treasury that belongs both to Sinai and Romania, albeit outside the country's boundaries. • The present study is the English translation of the slightly modified original text of the chapter (pp. 477-530) bearing the same title in our work, St. Catherine Monasteryof Mt. Sinai and its relationships with the Romanian Principalities. A historical-patristic approach, published in the year 2009 by Sophia Publishing House in Bucharest. In researching and writing it, we referred to: V. CÂNDEA, Mărturii româneşti peste hotare. Mică enciclopedie, voi. I (Bucharest, 1991) and II (Bucharest, 1998), issued by the Publishing House Ed. Enciclopedică. We have not only drawn on the bibliography presented in these works, which identified the tokens of Romanian relationships with Mt. Sinai in the specialized literature, but also preserved the clearly defined structure of the written material. Thus, although documents are more important to us, we have insisted on the objects which can be found here - not necessarily of Roman ian origin - which convey information conceming the Romanians. Moreover, we have also maintained the general notion of „object" we have employed on other occasions, designating all types of goods offered to Mt. Sinai by the Romanians, or functioning as tokens for such donations. We hope not only to highlight the elements of Romanian history and post-Byzantine culture hereby presented, but also to provide a starting point for further research which will make them better known. Etudes Byzantines et Post-Byzantines, p. 445--485, 20 1 1 VI, https://biblioteca-digitala.ro 446 Adrian Marinescu 2 * The major figure in the realm of researching and inventorying the objects of Romanian origin, which can now be found in the East, is M. Beza. He travelled, collected data and took important photos to document the relationships of the Romanian Principalities with the Orient, and presented them in reference books. The assessment given by M. Beza, N. Iorga and others to this information is still almost entirely valid today. M. Beza's early 201h century project was continued by V. Cândea during the 1990s. We add further information obtained through our research activity so far, to the extent that we have had access to the respective sources. The bibliography we have employed is the following: Cata/ogus Codicum Ma nuscriptorum Graecorum, qui in Mo nasterio Sanctae Catharinae in Monte Sina asservantur. Tomus I: Codices manuscripti notabiliores bibliothecae monasterii Sinaitici ej usque metochii Cahirensis, ab archimandrita Porphyrio (Uspenskio) descripti, Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae sumptibus legati Porphyriani, Porphyrii descriptionem in ordinem redactum atque suppletam edidit, V. Benesevic, Petropoli, 1911; Cata/ogus codicum manuscriptorum graecorum qui in monasterio Sanctae Catharinae in Mo nte Sina asservantur, Torni III pars I, Codices numeris 1224-2 150 signati, Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae sumptibus legati Porphyriani edidit V. Benesevic, Petropoli, 1917; 'EililTŢVLKrJ {3tf3ilwypacpia (1466-1800) , T6µoc; npwwc;, Mcpa�11nial Kai. XQOVOAoyud] avaKa'ra'ral;.i.� 8wµa. 1. U710 IlarcaborcovAov, TIQayµa'rdm TI]� AKabî]µia� A811vwv, T6µ� 48, A8f]vm, fQacpdov �11µoou:uµa'rwv TI]� AKabf]µLa� A8î]VWv, 1984; Evpnr]pwv apxaiwv lv-rimwv lKfJâaEUJV n]c; MovfJc; LLVa (1540-1900), una wu AQXLµavbQ(wu fQTlYOQ(ou Mavt.a'r611ouAo�, 'Ev Ka"LQ<p, 1964; Manuscrise de origine românească din colecţii străine. Repertoriu, întocmit de Radu Constantinescu, Direcţia Generală a Arhivelor Statului din Republica Socialistă România, Bucharest, 1986; K. AMANTOY, L:tvai.'TtKa µv17µEia avEKOOTa, A.8fJvm, l.N. L:t6Ep17c;, 1928; K. AMANTOY, L:vvwµoc; iawpia TfJc; 'lEpac; MovfJc; L:tva, BwaailoviK1], 1953; S. BARBU -BUCUR, Cultura muzicală de tradiţie bizantină pe teritoriul României în secolul XVIII şi în ceputu/ secolului XIX şi aportul original al culturii autohtone, Bucharest, 1989; M. BEZA, ,,Biblioteci mânăstireşti în Palestina, Cipru şi Muntele Sinai", in: Analele Academiei Române, Me moriei Secţiei Literare, Bucharest, 1932, Seria II, Tomul VI, Mem. 7, pp. 89-97; M. BEZA, Urme româneşti în Răsăritu/ ortodox, Monitorul Oficial şi Imprimeriile Statului, Imprimeria Naţională, Bucharest, 1937; M. BEZA, Pe tărâmuri biblice. Palestina, Siria, Chipru şi Mu ntele Sin ai, Ed. Ziarului Universul, Bucharest 193 7 (cap. „La muntele Sinai", pp. 167-173); J. BIELZ, L 'A rt des orfevres saxons de Transy/vanie, Bucureşti, https://biblioteca-digitala.ro 3 Romanian items and testimonies, currently held in the archives of St. Catherine Monastery 447 1957; 8Eµ. BOAIL'lOY, 'JawptKa lyypacpa wv I:tva rcEpt TfJc; tv Ovyypof3Aaxil;l: MovfJc; MaT<';tvaviov, A8iiva, 1906; V. CÂNDEA, C. SIMIONESCU, Prezenţe culturale româneşti, Is tambul, Iesuralim, Paros, Patmos, Sinai, Alep, Ed. Sport-Turism, Bucharest, 1982; V. CÂNDEA, Mă rturii româneşti peste hotare. Mică enciclopedie, voi. I, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1991; V. CÂNDEA, Mă rturii româneşti peste hotare. Mică enciclopedie de creaţii româneşti şi de izvoare despre români în colecţii din străinătate, voi. II, India Olanda, Supplement: Albania-Grecia, Ed. Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1998; J.G. HERZOG SACHSEN, Das Katharinenkloster am Sinai, Leipzig-Berlin, 1912; N I ZU . ORGA, ,,Noi obiecte de artă găsite la Ierusalim, la Mânăstirea Sf. Sava şi la Muntele Sinai", in: Buletinul Comisiei Mo numente Is torice, 70, 1931, pp. 181-183; N. IORGA, ,,Legăturile româneşti cu Muntele Sinai. Observaţii la comunicarea d-lui M. Beza'', in: Analele Academiei Române, Me moriei Secţiei 1932 1933 6 335 346 N Is torice, Bucharest, - , Seria III, Tomul XIII, Mem. , pp. - ; . IORGA, „Evangheliarul lui Alexandru Vodă Mircea la Muntele Sinai", in: Buletinul Comisiei Monumente Is torice, 27, 1934, pp. 185-186; N. IORGA, „Două hrisoave domneşti pentru Mânăstirea Mărgineni, închinată Muntelui Sinai", in: Analele Academiei Române, Me moriei Secţiei Is torice, Bucharest, 1935, Seria III, Tomul XVII, Mem. 1 , pp. 57-68; N. IORGA, „Consideraţiuni istorice asupra documentelor prezintate de dl. Marcu Beza", in: Analele Academiei Române, Memoriei Secţiei Is torice, 1935, Seria III, Tomul XVII, Mem. 6, pp. 136-139; K. MANA<l>Ir., I:tva. Oi 817aavpo[ TfJc; MovfJc;, 1990 'EKbatLKÎ] A8f1VWv, ; K.N. I1AJIAMIXAAOTIOYAOY, H Movr]wv 'Opovc; 1932 I:tva, A8iivm, ; i"l.. ITATIAI:TPATm::, O atvaiT17c; Xaw17KmaKrjc; EK Xwpac; BovpAa, ypaµµcna-l;vAoypacpiEc;, 1688-1 709, A8tjva, 1981; J.G. NANDRIŞ, „The Role of Vlah and its Rulers on Athos and Sinai. Reflectionson a portrait of Constantin Brâncoveanu, Prince of Wallachia, at St. Katherine' Monastery on Mt. Sinai'', in: RESE, 3, Bucharest, 1981, pp. 605-610; C. NICOLESCU, Argintăria laică şi religioasă în Ţările Române (s ec. XIV-XIX) , Bucureşti, 1968; C. NICOLESCU, Istoria costumului de curte în Ţările Române, sec. XIV-XVIIL Bucharest, 1970; C. NICOLESCU, Arta metalelor preţioase în România, Bucharest, 1973; I.O. SUCIU, R. CONSTANTINESCU, Documente privitoare la istoria Mitropoliei Banatului, Timişoara, 1980. 9.1. Liturgical and art objects W e do nat have an exhaustive list of this type of objects at Mount Sinai. We note, however, their diversity and unique artistic quality. There are nat only silverwork items (censer, tabernacle (artophorion) for the altar table, holy table Cross (blessing cross), vigil lamps, dikiron-trikiron, Gospel Book overlay, as well as metal cover of the reliquary). https://biblioteca-digitala.ro 448 Adrian Marinescu 4 1 1. Panagiarion, cca 1500 ; 2. Tabernacle (arto phorion), 1542-15452; 3. Tabernacle (artophorion), 156<1: 4. Censer, 15694; 1 „Panagiarion, Moldavian workshop (?), circa 1500" (V. CÂNDEA, Mărturii„„ II, p. 65, nr. 9); C. NICULESCU, Argintăria„„ pp. 215-2 16 (2 similar panagiaria are displayed here, according to the infonnation provided by Manafis); K. MANA<Dll:::, .Etva... , pp. 268, 390, no. 73 (we read that, on the one hancl, „Due to the protectionist policy, undertaken by the rulers of Danubian territories, permanent relationships with Sinai were established", and on the other hand „Relations with Danubian lands are attested to, as early as 1500, by a panagiarion, probably crafted in a Moldavian silverware workshop"; the latter infonnation, however, is not accurate as Romanian-Sinai relationships are confinned starting with Sept. 15, 1497 - DIR, B, pp. 249-25 1 & DRH, ŢR, voi.