W. W. Norton & Company
Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (by John Geometres)
Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (by John Geometres)
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- by John Geometres,
- Edited and translated by Maximos Constas and Christos Simelidis
The first complete, modern translation of one of the most important Byzantine works of Marian doctrine and devotion.
John Geometres (ca. 935–ca. 1000) was one of the most highly esteemed poets and authors in Byzantium; yet his most important text, the Life of the Virgin Mary, remains largely unknown today. This literary and rhetorical masterpiece stands as a work of outstanding theological sophistication, animated by deeply felt devotion to the Mother of God. Geometres’s distinctive and idiosyncratic narrative offers a comprehensive biography, from Mary’s ancestry to her death and beyond, with special emphasis on her direction of Christ’s female disciples, her active participation in the passion and resurrection, and her leadership of the nascent Church. The Life has been rightly considered a critical missing piece in a larger puzzle connecting early Marian writings with later works. Based on a completely new edition of the Byzantine Greek text, this is the first complete translation of Life of the Virgin Mary into a modern language.
Praise
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An invaluable contribution to the fields of Byzantine literature, Mariology, and Eastern church history. Scholars will now be able to study a text that captures the complexity and sophistication of full-blown Marian celebration in the Middle Byzantine period…The edition is reliable, complemented not by a critical apparatus but by helpful notes, and the translation elegantly conveys John Geometres’s high literary style while remaining lucid and readable. This book represents an indispensable addition to any library of Byzantine, and indeed Western medieval, Mariology.
Authors
- Maximos Constas is Professor of Patristics and Orthodox Spirituality at Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, MA.
- Christos Simelidis is Assistant Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Philology and Literature at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.
Book Details
- 496 pages
- 5-1/4 x 8 inches
- Harvard University Press
- ISBN 9780674290808
- Publication date: 05/01/2023
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