A Catalogue of the Greek Manuscript Collection of Lambeth Palace Library

Lambeth Palace Library (LPL) is the historic library of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Founded as a public library by Archbishop Bancroft in 1610, its collections have been freely available for research ever since. The Greek Manuscript Collection of LPL comprises fifty-three manuscripts dated between the tenth and seventeenth centuries. They include the Octateuch with catena and synopses of Old Testament texts, Gospel Books and Lectionaries, Acts and Epistles, Book of Revelation, Apocryphal texts on Jesus and the Apostles, liturgical texts, Menaia and synaxaria/menologia, theological works, treatises and excerpts (Justin the Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyon, Athanasius of Alexandria, Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, John Damascene), Gerontika, Classical authors (Aeschylus, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Libanius, Lycophron, Dionysius Periegetes), post-Byzantine texts (Chronicle in vernacular Greek by an anonymous author, and Damaskenos Studites, On Animals), and papers on, and descriptions and collations of, LPL manuscripts. Among the most important manuscripts is codex 461 containing theological treatises by George Scholarios (later Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Gennadios II), with his autograph signature, notes and corrections.

An exhibition of Greek Manuscripts was held at Lambeth Palace Library between 22-23 August 2006. Organised jointly by Lambeth Palace Library and The Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London on the occasion of the 21st International Byzantine Congress in London, the exhibition was open to the participants of the Congress. The exhibition comprised the following sections: Doctrine; Liturgy and Spirituality; Byzantium, its Provinces and Neighbours; Before and after Byzantium; From Manuscript to Print. The last section, on Anglicanism and Orthodoxy, included printed books, documents and photographs illustrating the dialogue, past and present, between the two Churches.

The catalogue of the exhibition comprises a summary of the history of "Lambeth Palace Library (1610-2006)" by Dr Richard Palmer; a history of the relations between the Anglican and Orthodox Churches, entitled "Constantinople and Canterbury: contact and collaboration" by the Late Professor John Barron and Mrs Clare Brown; and finally a history of "The Greek Manuscript Collection of Lambeth Palace Library" by the Late J. Chrysostomides and Dr Charalambos Dendrinos. This is followed by the first complete inventory of the collection, which is part of an on-going research project between The Hellenic Institute of Royal Holloway, University of London and LPL for the study and cataloguing of this Collection by a team of scholars and graduate students consisting of Miss Maria Argyrou, Miss Laura Franco, Dr Maria Kalli, Dr Fevronia Nousia, Mr Konstantinos Palaiologos and Dr Christopher Wright under the guidance of the Late Julian Chrysostomides and Dr Dendrinos.

An analytical catalogue of the LPL Greek Manuscripts is under preparation as part of the on-going collaboration between the Library and the Hellenic Institute.

For further information on the catalogue of the exhibition, please contact Mrs Clare Brown, Assistant Archivist, Lambeth Palace Library, London SE1 7JU, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7898 1400; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7928 7932. For information on the Collection and the analytical catalogue please contact Dr Charalambos Dendrinos

Photo (c) LPL: MS. 1214, fol. 90v, Octateuch with Catena, beginning of Numbers; copied by John Koulix for the duke of Cyprus Leo Nikerites on 12 November 1103 (colophon on fol. 412v)