Patriarch Antonios IV of Constantinople, 2nd Term of Office

The present application is dedicated to the second term of office of patriarch Antonios IV who had to preside over the Greek Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople at a historical turning point, when the Byzantine Empire as well as the capital itself were threatened more and more. The deeper insight into this time of crisis (controversy with Russia, attempt of alliance against the Turks, permanent conflicts with the Latin Church, siege of Constantinople) will be gained through a critical edition (with translation and introducing analysis) of the documents of Antonios` second term of office as transmitted in the Registrum Patriarchatus Constantinopolitani, Codex Historicus Graecus 48 of the Austrian National Library, ff. 60v -117r . In its editing method the project will continue the internationally approved standards ("Vienna model") for a critical edition of this sort of texts; some modifications will aim on the one hand at a better understanding of the original texts in its composition and style and on the other hand at a more meticulous analysis of documents mentioned or alluded to. So the accompanying translations will respect the stylistic level as well as the rhetorical emphasis - as far as a translation makes it possible, in this way the edition will disclose - for the first time - these extraordinary documents of the Patriarchate of Constantinople at the end of the 14th century also for scientists not so familiar with Greek (documentary) texts. With the edition and the accompanying interpretation an interdisciplinary co-operation and research network is intended, for questions of ecclesiastical, social, economical, and administrative history as well as in the juristic interpretation, and in the stylistic analysis. This aim will be achieved through papers and lectures at several international congresses; with regard to excellence research two smaller workshops and one congress (at the end of the third year) are planned for this application to communicate the project to the international scientific community and to discuss problems arising the project with a team of international experts. Project Website: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/prk.htm

The project was dedicated to one of the most important texts of Byzantine church history of the 14th century, the so called Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, specifically the pages 60v to 119v. It is a synchronous collection of the most important decisions of the Permanent Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople with unique documents of the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. This project was centered about the time of the Patriarchs Antonius IV. and Callistus II. Xanthopulus (1391-1397) and was designed to complete not only a critical edition, but also to apply new innovative research methods and newly developed research approaches in the interpretation of documents in general and of documents of one of the leading chancelleries in the capital with further implications.For this aspect the project focused with numerous accompanying publications on a socio-historical data analysis, for example on the basis of synode members (network research) as well as on a sociolinguistic / text pragmatic interpretation of the texts in their linguistic and rhetorical context.Especially the integration of this collection of documents and their related research within the framework of the FWF project into the international research community of both, church history and history of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as well as into different ongoing international research priorities and research centers in the field of social and economic history, diplomacy, gender and language research was and is very successful and enormously promotes(/d) the broad impact of the work. This was made possible by accompanying published proceedings of own congresses: in 2013 appeared the proceeding The Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople - An Essential Source to the History and Church of Late Byzantium (stemming from an international congress 2009 organized by the research team; published as a peer re-viewed publication at the publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences); In addition, the volume The Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Brill Companion to Byzantium was accepted by Brill Publisher; the research team of the project is responsible as publishers and authors of this volume (together with other internationally renowned researchers on the history of the Patriarchate of Constantinople). From 12th to 15th September 2012 the biggest congress on the Patriarchate of Constantinople could be organized in Vienna during the FWF project. From New York to Minsk and Ankara, the international experts were gathered and the scientific network was deepened; proceedings are prepared for print by the project team. Finally, the work of the project could be integrated into an own film for one of the most successful exhibitions at Schallaburg (Lower Austria) which presented the original manuscripts in 2012 as well; the project team was responsible for the script.