2.42 FC – John Xiphilinos the Younger and His Menologion: The Lost Byzantine Collection of Saints' Lives Preserved only in Old Georgian

This session presents the results of a two-year research project conducted from January 2024 to December 2025 at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. Titled Retrieving a Forgotten Byzantine Hagiography Collection from Old Georgian: John Xiphilinos’ Saints’ Lives (AZ 06/F/23), the project investigates an overlooked collection of saints’ lives (Menologion) from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Originally composed in Greek by the Byzantine literatus John Xiphilinos the Younger, the Menologion has survived solely in Old Georgian manuscripts. The session aims to shed light on this unique collection with significant historical and cultural value. Christian Høgel will discuss broader efforts to supplement and adapt the Metaphrastic Menologion in Byzantium, placing Xiphilinos’ work within the larger context alongside other prominent collections, such as the Imperial Menologia. Sandro Nikolaishvili will discuss the destiny of John Xiphilinos’ Menologion in the Georgian context. Nikoloz Aleksidze, who has translated Xiphilinos’ saints’ lives from Old Georgian into English, will provide valuable insights into the Georgian language of these texts by discussing the linguistic features that make them distinguishable in the Georgian tradition. Finally, Marijana Vuković will examine John Xiphilinos’ technique of rewriting saints’ lives, focusing on how he engaged with and adapted previous hagiographical sources and models. Through these discussions, we will demonstrate the likely Byzantine origins of the collection, deepen our understanding of its significance and role in both Byzantine and Georgian contexts, and highlight its relevance within the emerging trends in Byzantine studies. These trends include an increasing focus on non-Greek Christian cultures, multiculturalism, and the decolonization of Byzantine studies, all of which highlight the broader cultural and intellectual currents that shaped the destiny of this fascinating Menologion.