An Edition of the New-found Forgery of Constantine Paleocappa — the Treatise of Nicholas of Methone: Πρὸς τοὺς διαστάζοντας καὶ λέγοντας, ὅτι ὁ ἱερουργούμενος ἄρτος καὶ οἶνος οὐκ ἔστι σῶμα καὶ αἷμα τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ

Orientalia Christiana Periodica. 2022. No. 88(1). P. 105–129.

Mikhail Bernatsky

The treatise «To those who doubt and say that the sacred bread and wine are not indeed the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ» (PG 135, coll. 509-518) by Nicholas of Methone (XII c.) first appeared in print in the well-known edition in 1560 along with the editio princeps of the Greek text of the Liturgy of James. Following J. Dräseke all previous scholars recog- nized this work as authentic and suggested that this short treatise was written in the 40s of the XII c. in connection with the Bogomil heresy. However, recently, we proved that the treatise does not belong to Nicholas and that it is another compilation and forgery of a famous copy- ist of Greek manuscripts and author of forged works in the XVI c. Constantine Paleocappa. Our research was based on the textual analysis of the treatise, appealing to other forgeries of Paleocappa and the original work of Nicholas — Λόγος περὶ τῶν πρὸς λατίνους ἀζύμων. In this paper we present a new edition of the Greek text of the treatise based on Paleocappa’s autograph Paris. Suppl. gr. 143 with indication of the quotes and reminiscences. The edition perfectly illustrates the results of our research and the method of compilation of original texts by Cretan forger. An English translation is included.

Keywords: pseudepigrapha, Greek manuscripts, Eucharist, critical edition of manuscripts, Protestant reformation, Constantine Paleocappa, Nicholas of Methone