The Wisdom of Solomon and the Byzantine Reception of Origen

This is a diplomatic edition of a newly discovered Greek manuscript: a full commentary from Codex 199, Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre, Constantinople, entitled ‘Wisdom of Solomon—an interpretation of Solomon’s Book of Wisdom, by Origen, as they say’. The book includes critical apparatus, commentary, and English translation.

The Introduction acquaints readers with the text, as well as its late Byzantine context. In the manuscript both the Biblical text (quoted lemma after lemma) and the commentary are presented in full, which makes the document a valuable one for Old Testament scholars, since it contains not only the full commentary, but also the entire text of the Book of Wisdom, which at points has some interesting variations from all extant codices of the Septuagint.

Intriguingly, Origen's name is on the rubric, but as author Panayiotis Tzamalikos demonstrates, the most likely author is Nicephorus Gregoras. Study of Gregoras’ predecessors, architects of the Palaelogean Renaissance, such as George Acropolites, Theodore Metochites, George Pachymeres, as well as Gregoras’ contemporary John Kyparissiotes, sheds further light on how Christian and Greek thought were received and interpreted in the East.

This book marks a major contribution to the field of Greek and Byzantine philosophical exegesis, and will be valuable for postgraduate classes on patristics, Biblical exegesis, and Byzantine and Greek philosophy.