Description:
The volume comprises the "editio princeps" of the treatise "On the Procession of the Holy Spirit" by the Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus (1391-1425). The lengthy treatise was written in response to the tract of an anonymous Latin monk, presented to the Emperor during his sojourn in Paris (1400-1402). Information in the text and palaeographical evidence in the earlier version would suggest that though the major part of the treatise was written in Paris, Manuel continued revising the text after his return to Constantinople, with the help of his fellow theologian Macarius Macres. The edition is based on the revised version copied by Isidore of Kiev. The treatise comprises a brief Preface, a précis of the syllogism put forward by the Latin in defence of the double procession of the Holy Spirit, and Manuel's refutation of the Latin arguments in 156 chapters, followed by the unpublished discourse "On the Order of the Trinity", also included in the volume. The volume also comprises an edition of Manuel's "Letter to Iagoup". In this long epistolary discourse, addressed ostensibly to his 'oikeios' Alexius Iagoup, but in reality to an anonymous Latinophron, Manuel defends his views on the study of theology and, to some extent, his imperial duties towards the Church. Only a few extracts have been published. The present edition of the complete text of the Letter enables us to identify the anonymous critic with Manuel Calecas, placing its composition ca. 1396