The Correspondence of Ignatios the Deacon

Dumbarton Oaks
translated by Cyril Mango
ISBN: 0884022439
price: $30.00  

Ignatios the Deacon was a key figure in the revival of literary culture that took place at Constantinople in the first half of the ninth century. He is best known for his hagiographical works--the Lives of the patriarchs Nikephoros and Tarasios and that of St. Gregory the Decapolite--but he also wrote poems in different meters, complied an anthology of ancient proverbs, and edited textbooks. For some time he served as bishop of Nicaea under an Iconoclastic regime, but later repented of his errors and moved into the 'orthodox' camp.
Preserved in a single manuscript, Ignatios' Correspondence has remained practically unknown to scholars, the only previous edition (1903) being of the greatest rarity. Some of the letters deal with literary trifles, while others--especially those dating from Ignatios' episcopal tenure--contain valuable information on the social and economic history of the period. Taken together, they afford a unique glimpse into the activity of a Byzantine intellectual, struggling to survive at a time of bitter doctrinal strife.