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Manuscript tradition of Kallistos Angelikoudes’ Hesychastic consolation: myths and realities of a fluid text
This article examines the manuscript tradition of Kallistos Angelikoudes’ Hesychastic consolation, a fluid and complex corpus of thirty Logoi preserved primarily in Vat. gr. 736. The authors survey all known witnesses—including the autograph Barb. gr. 420, the Lond. Arund. 520, and several later copies—and analyze their textual relationships, variant readings, and codicological features. They demonstrate that the Consolation evolved over time through the author’s own revisions, reordering, and creation of separate chapter collections. The study reconstructs the composition process in three stages: initial drafting on separate sheets, compilation of draft volumes with interpolated chapters, and final redaction in the Vat. gr. 736. Special attention is given to the divergent transmission of Logoi 22 and 29 and to the integration of chapters into the Philokalia tradition. The findings underscore the provisional nature of the Hesychastic consolation as a fixed work and highlight Kallistos’ ongoing reworking of his theological writings. The article provides a foundational stemma and identifies several previously overlooked manuscripts, thereby advancing the systematic study of late Byzantine Hesychastic literature.