Michael Psellos as an interpreter of hymnographic texts
Many Byzantine authors dedicated their works not only to secular themes, but also to spiritual texts. During the 12th century, commentaries on liturgical texts were a very popular genre in Byzantium. The commentators’ task was not easy, considering that they were required not only to write detailed comments on each irmos and troparion, but also to clearly explain the very meaning of complex liturgical texts. This was important for both their contemporaries and for generations to come. The present research considers Michael Psellos’s paraphrase of the Maundy Thursday canon by Cosmas od Maiuma. Whilst many passages of the canon are quite difficult to understand, Psellos’s commentary clearly discloses the meaning of single expressions and sentences from irmi and troparia.
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Sourcesandtranslations
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