The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Romans

This volume stems from author’s thesis as part of the ERC Project: CATENA at the University of Birmingham, Uk. It is a detailed analysis of the manuscript and textual tradition of this type of catena, the earliest attested tradition on the Pauline Epistles, through the examination of eighty-five manuscripts and the complete transcription of eight selected witnesses from the three different stages: the Normaltype, the Expanded Type and the Abbreviated Type. These manuscripts were transcribed in order to produce a forthcoming online critical edition of the text.

In addition to reconstructing the stages leading to the formation of the final layer of material (the Expanded Type, or der Erweiterte Typus), the book illustrates how the original sources, e.g., extracts from the homelies and commentaries of the Greek Church Fathers (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Cyril, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, etc.), have been treated by the compiler of the catena to adapt to the new context by paraphrasing, removing material, adding connectives, etc. On the other hand, this is the first attempt to edit excerpts from commentaries preserved only fragmentarily in catenae and already partially edited by Karl Staab (K. Staab, Pauluskommentare aus der Griechischen Kirche: Aus Katenenhandschriften gesammelt und herausgegeben (Münster: Aschendorff, 1933), or completely unpublished (e.g., the 920 numbered extracts, possibly from Oecumenius).

Finally, this volume explores for the first time the relationship between the Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena and other Pauline catenae, by collating the scholia in common. This will provide an up-to-date overview of the New Testament catenae on Paul.