The meaning of John the Zonar in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, BSE. Influence of I. Z. on Byzantine and post-Byzantine jurists

Canon collection page Orthodox Church with interpretations by John Zonara and Theodore Balsamon, XIII century

John Zonara

John Zonara(Greek Ἰωάννης Ζωναρᾶς) (d. after 1159) - Byzantine historian of the 12th century, monk-theologian, interpreter of the Canons of the Orthodox Church, author of a famous chronicle.

He held the positions of chief of the imperial guard (great drungari of the villa) and first secretary of the imperial chancellery (protasikrit), then after the death of his wife and children he became a monk and settled in the monastery of St. Glyceria on an island in the Sea of Marmara. His death dates back to the first years of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos (1143-1180).

Zonara was the first to deviate from the order of councils that had been used until that time, adopted in Canon 2 of the 6th Ecumenical Council and set, first of all, the rules of ecumenical councils, followed by local ones and after St. father. The order is accepted by Pidalion and our book of Rules.

In the interpretation itself, Zonara strictly adheres to the direct, literal meaning of the rules, explains the technical, artificial terms of the rules, and their immediate meaning, and rarely refers to secular laws. But these explanations of his, within the limits of his task, for the most part leave nothing to be desired, presenting the essence and meaning of the rule in a completely clear and easily understandable form. That is why Balsamon in many cases follows Zonara and almost literally reproduces him, especially in the interpretation of those rules, when explaining which there is no need to turn to secular law.

Balsamon calls Zonara the most excellent and some of his interpretations are such that there can be no better (Athan. The Great. To Ammun), and one unknown Greek notes that the wondrous Zonara interpreted the church rules in the most clear and pious way. Interpretations of Zonara on the rules of St. Gregory of Nyssa, Timothy, Theophilus and Cyril of Alexandria have not survived, and perhaps did not exist at all.

Alexy Aristin

Alexey Aristin(Greek Ἀλέξιος Ἀριστηνός, died after 1166) - great steward of the Church of Constantinople, Byzantine canonist, author of interpretations on the “Synopsis” (collection of canons) of Stephen of Ephesus.

He received a legal education in Greece and was summoned to Constantinople by Emperor John II Comnenos. Since Alexei had the rank of deacon, according to church canons he could not combine state and church positions (he was simultaneously a nomophilax, an orphanotroph, a dikaiodotus and a great steward of the Patriarchal Church). At the request of the church council of 1157, he left his secular positions and remained only in the position of great steward.

Around 1130, on behalf of the emperor, Alexei made an interpretation of the collection of church canons "Synopsis", compiled by Stephen of Ephesus. There is a debate about who was the first interpreter of the Synopsis - Alexey Aristin or John Zonara. Since the 19th century, the prevailing opinion is that Alexei's interpretation was made first.

Since the “Synopsis” is a short collection of rules, when working on the interpretation, Alexey used the full texts of the canonical norms, including excerpts from them in his work. On a number of occasions he made reference to secular laws governing ecclesiastical matters. Alexey Aristin's interpretation is distinguished by literalism, without analysis of any casuistic subtleties. His work highlights rules that have fallen out of use and those that are applied only in individual local churches.

The interpretation of Alexei Aristin became widespread, despite the fact that after him John Zonara and Theodore Balsamon made their interpretations of church canons. Along with them, Alexei’s interpretations were given in collections to explain the text of the canonical rule. Special meaning the interpretation of the Synopsis by Alexei Aristin is for the history of Russian church law, since it was they who were included in the first (canonical) part of the Russian printed “Helmsman”. Metropolitan Philaret noted: “The text of the Slavic helmsman’s book is in many cases unsatisfactory, partly due to the imperfection of the Slavic translation, partly due to the imperfection of Aristinov’s abbreviation itself, which does not always accurately represent the meaning of the complete rules.” Translated into Russian, the interpretations of Alexei Aristin were published in 1876 by the Moscow Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment.

Theodore Balsamon

Theodore Balsamon (Greek Θεόδωρος Βαλσαμῶν; c. 1140 - after 1199) - Byzantine canonist, Patriarch of Antioch (1193-1199).

Theodore Balsamon - Byzantine canonist, Patriarch of Antioch

Theodore Balsamon was born in Constantinople, and under the emperors Manuel I Komnenos and Isaac II Angelus, in the rank of deacon, he held important positions in the Church of Constantinople. In 1193 he was elevated to the Patriarchal See of Antioch, but continued to live in Constantinople, being only a nominal patriarch, since the Patriarchate of Antioch was at that time in the power of the crusaders.

On behalf of Emperor Manuel and Patriarch Michael III of Constantinople, Balsamon wrote “An Explanation of the Sacred and Divine Rules of the Holy and All-Praised Apostles and the Holy Councils of the Ecumenical and Local or Private and Other Holy Fathers” (or Scholium (Greek Σχόλια) on the Nomocanon of Photius). The reason for this work was the difficulties encountered in church practice due to the obsolescence of some laws included in the Nomocanon of Photius, but which had lost their practical significance and were not included in the later legislative collection - the Basilica. Balsamon was instructed to review the sacred canons, explain and interpret what was unclear in them and what seemed to disagree with the laws.

The first part of his work is occupied by the interpretation of the Nomocanon of Patriarch Photius (dedicated more to the harmonization of various secular laws than to church rules), the second part is devoted to the interpretation of church rules directly. Balsamon based his work on the idea that non-acceptance of one or another norm of the Justinian Code in the Basilicas should be interpreted as the abolition of this law.

Regarding each Justinian law included in the Nomocanon, he makes a comment about whether this law should be adopted in the Basilicas and in which part of them. If the law is not in the Basilicas, then Balsamon almost always notices that it has lost the force of valid law. However, such evidence from Balsamon regarding the absence of one or another provision from the Justinian Code in the Basilicas is not always infallible (this is due to the fact that he used only the lists that were at his disposal, but the manuscripts of the Basilicas, which contain some texts from the Justinian Code, have been preserved, which, according to Balsamon, were omitted from the Basilicas).

Of the many canonical works of Balsamon, the most important is - “An explanation of the sacred and divine rules of the Holy and All-Praised Apostles and the sacred councils of the Ecumenical and local or private and other holy fathers, and at the same time an indication of the laws, valid and ineffective, contained in fourteen titles placed before the rules, drawn up by order of the royal and patriarchal" The royal commandment referred to here was given to Balsamon by the emperor Manuel Komnenos, and the patriarchal command by the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Anchialus.

The essence of this command was to examine the sacred canons, explain and interpret what is unclear in them and what seems to be inconsistent with the laws. The order was completed by Balsamon already under Patriarch George Xyphilinus, to whom he devotes his work. The first part of Balsamon's work, preceding the interpretation of the canons, is an interpretation of the Nomocanon of Patriarch Photius, devoted more to the harmonization of various secular laws than to church rules. The interpretation of the church rules themselves constitutes the second part of this great work. The subtlety of legal analysis and the wealth of canonical and historical information are the distinctive features of Balsamon's interpretations.

Balsamon owns an enormous amount of canonical and legal material and uses it with extraordinary skill to comprehensively explain the rules. His personal and direct participation in church and government affairs as the head of the patriarchal chancellery put at his disposal such means that no one who had no participation in these matters could have possessed. Hence, its interpretations are enriched with examples from church practice, resolution of various issues that were or may be presented in the application of this or that rule, indications of irregularities that have crept into practice contrary to the canons, and references to secular laws.

For the science of Valsamonov, the commentary is valuable because only in it many patriarchal and synodal decisions, as well as imperial laws, were preserved. Balsamon is considered the most knowledgeable in both laws and rules and the wisest.

But the publishers of Pidalion are not favorable to Balsamon and place him much lower than Zonara. The interpretations of the three interpreters we have named have always enjoyed authority in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. And this is not only for the sake of their internal dignity, but also due to their approval by the highest church authorities.

Balsamon undertook his interpretations at the behest of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Michael Anchialus), and when he finished, he presented them to the Ecumenical Patriarch (George Xiphilinus). In subsequent times, the Patriarchs of Constantinople referred to Balsamon's interpretations to base practical decisions. Thus, Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople (1362) refers to the authority of Balsamon’s interpretation in the preface to the Gangra rules about the non-binding nature of one synodal decision that took place under Patriarch Alexy.

When the publication of the Greek helmsman's book (Pidalion) was undertaken, its publishers compiled their interpretation in accordance with the accuracy and, first of all, of Zonara, Balsamon and Aristen. “Under the original text of the rules,” the publishers write, we have placed in the simple (Modern Greek) dialect the true Greek interpretations of the Orthodox and church-tested interpreters of the divine and sacred canons, first of all and for the most part and almost everywhere, the wondrous and glorious John Zonara, who has the first place, then Theodore Balsamon , and occasionally Alexy Aristen."

As the publication of the Greek helmsman and the interpretations contained in it was undertaken and printing was carried out according to the determination and command of the Most Holy Ecumenical Patriarch and the Holy Synod; then in this very thing the approval of the interpretations of Zonara, Aristen and Balsamon by the highest ecclesiastical authority of the Orthodox Greek Church was already expressed. Then the same approval of the highest ecclesiastical authority of the Greek Church for the interpretations of these interpreters was again expressed during the publication of church rules with the interpretations of these interpreters in Athens in 1852-1854, also carried out “with the permission of the holy and great Christ Church(Constantinople) and the Holy Synod of the Hellenic Church.

("Ioannns Zonaras) (d. after 1159) - Byzantine politician and writer, who expressed the interests of the highest metropolitan nobility and was in opposition to the Komnenos. Main cit.: 1) "Abridgement of histories" - a chronicle from the "foundation of the world" up to 1118, which is mainly a retelling of ancient and medieval sources, partially lost (for example, Cassius Dio); an independent presentation is given in the section on Alexius I Komnenos, to which I. Z. is critical. 2 ) Interpretations of the "apostolic canons" and resolutions of church councils, which are an explanation of the basic norms of the Byzantine church with elements of a critical attitude towards them. Both works of I. Z. were translated into Slavic languages and were known in Rus' back in the Middle Ages .

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JOHN ZONARA

Zonara (loannes Zonaras) (birth year unknown - died after 1159-), Byzantine chronicler, church writer. A prominent dignitary at the court of Emperor Alexius I Komnenos. Expressing the interests of the highest metropolitan nobility, he was in opposition to the Komnenos. The author of a world historical chronicle from the “creation of the world” to 1118 (which is mainly a retelling of ancient and medieval authors; original information is reported only on the history of Byzantium at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries). I.Z. also compiled a commented collection of canon law and an explanatory dictionary; wrote church poems.

Cit.: Epitomae historiarum.v. 1-6 Lipsiae, 1868-75; Epitomae historiarum libri XIII-XVIII, vol. 3, Bonnae, 1897.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB. 2012

Chronicle

The first 6 books contain a description of biblical history, the next 6 - Roman history, and the rest describe the events of Byzantine history.

Zonara's very voluminous work occupies a special place in Byzantine historical literature in terms of the completeness of the information reported and the skillful use of sources. The chronicle of Zonara has significance as a primary source, apparently, only for the reign of Alexei Komnenos ( - gg.). Other parts are valuable because they used lost Greco-Roman sources. Particularly important in this regard are the books of chronicles on Roman history, which fragmentarily preserved the approximate contents of books 1-21 and 44-80 of Dio Cassius (from whom only books 37-54 have come down to us in complete form).

Zonara's work was very famous in the Middle Ages: 44 Greek manuscripts survived, it was translated into Slavic languages (Serbian and Russian), and later Byzantine chroniclers and Russian chroniclers drew material from it. During the Renaissance, Zonara's chronicle was translated into French, Italian and Latin.

Chronicle editions:

I. Wolf (Ioannis Zonarae ... compendium historiarum. Basilea, ),
C. Ducange (Ioannis Zonarae monachi magni antea vigilum praefecti et primi a secretis Annales. Paris, -), reprinted in the Venetian Corpus () and in Migne (PG. T. 134-135. Paris, ),
L. Dindorf (Ioannis Zonarae Epitome historiarum. Leipzig, - . 6 t.)
T. Büttner-Wobsta (Ioannis Zonarae Epitomae historiarum libri XIII–XVIII. Bonn, ).

Other works

In addition to the chronicle, under the name of Zonara, letters, commentaries, lives of saints, a hymn, interpretations of the poems of Gregory of Nazianzus, a treatise on the names κανών, είρμός, τροπάριον, φδή, etc. have been preserved. The identity of the author of these works with the personality of the chronicler neo not verifiably proven, but seems very likely.

At the same time, the dictionary published by Titman under his name (“Johannis Zonarae Lexicon”, Lpc.,) does not belong to him.

Zonara, together with Aristin and Balsamon, is one of those commentators on canon law whose interpretations acquired such authority in church practice that they themselves became a source of law. Zonara's commentary refers to the syntagma of the nomocanon from the XIV titles, that is, to that part of it that contains the canonical decrees, the latter being presented not in chronological order, but in order of their relative importance: first come the canons of the ecumenical councils, which include cathedrals of the 9th century, then the decrees of local councils, and after the latter the rules of the holy fathers.

This arrangement of material was in use long before Patriarch Photius (9th century). In his commentary, Zonara provides fairly detailed historical information about the councils and the order of ancient church life, compares the commented rule with others relating to the same subject, uses the books of Holy Scripture and the works of the church fathers, and sometimes refers to imperial laws.

The basic principles that guided Zonara, harmonizing contradictory rules or giving preference to one of them over another, can be reduced to the following principles:

the later rule cancels the earlier one;
the apostolic rule takes precedence over the conciliar rule;
conciliar rule - before non-conciliar rule;
the rule of the ecumenical council - before the rule of the non-ecumenical council.

The interpretations given by Zonara are in many cases literally reproduced by Balsamon. Zonar's commentary was first published by John Quintin (P.,) in a Latin translation; the complete original text, together with the Latin translation, was printed in Paris in ; then interpretations of Zonar were published in both Greek and Russian, along with commentaries by Balsamon.

By the name of Zonara, the Bulgarians from the 13th century called the Helmsman's Book Zonara (in ancient Russian monuments - also Zinar).

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Notes

Literature

V. Demidov. Orthodox Review, book. 7-9;
M. Krasnozhen, “Interpreters of the canonical code of the Eastern Church: Aristin, Zonara and Balsamon” (M.,).
The History of Zonaras: From Alexander Severus to the Death of Theodosius the Greate / Trans.Th.M. Banchich and E.N. Lane. Intr. and Comm. Th. M. Banchich. L., NY. 2009.

Excerpt characterizing John Zonaras

On the second day of the march, after examining his sores by the fire, Pierre thought it impossible to step on them; but when everyone got up, he walked with a limp, and then, when he warmed up, he walked without pain, although in the evening it was even worse to look at his legs. But he did not look at them and thought about something else.
Now only Pierre understood the full power of human vitality and the saving power of moving attention invested in a person, similar to that saving valve in steam engines that releases excess steam as soon as its density exceeds a known norm.
He did not see or hear how the backward prisoners were shot, although more than a hundred of them had already died in this way. He did not think about Karataev, who was weakening every day and, obviously, was soon to suffer the same fate. Pierre thought even less about himself. The more difficult his situation became, the more terrible the future was, the more, regardless of the situation in which he was, joyful and soothing thoughts, memories and ideas came to him.

On the 22nd, at noon, Pierre was walking uphill along a dirty, slippery road, looking at his feet and at the unevenness of the path. From time to time he glanced at the familiar crowd surrounding him, and again at his feet. Both were equally his own and familiar to him. The lilac, bow-legged Gray ran merrily along the side of the road, occasionally, as proof of his agility and contentment, pressing hind paw and jumping on three and then again on all four, rushing with barking at the crows that were sitting on the carrion. Gray was more fun and smoother than in Moscow. On all sides lay the meat of various animals - from human to horse, in various degrees decomposition; and the wolves were kept away by the walking people, so Gray could eat as much as he wanted.
It had been raining since the morning, and it seemed that it would pass and clear the sky, but after a short stop the rain began to fall even more heavily. The rain-saturated road no longer absorbed water, and streams flowed along the ruts.
Pierre walked, looking around, counting steps in threes, and counting on his fingers. Turning to the rain, he internally said: come on, come on, give it more, give it more.
It seemed to him that he was not thinking about anything; but far and deep somewhere his soul thought something important and comforting. This was something of a subtle spiritual extract from his conversation with Karataev yesterday.
Yesterday, at a night halt, chilled by the extinguished fire, Pierre stood up and moved to the nearest, better-burning fire. By the fire, to which he approached, Plato was sitting, covering his head with an overcoat like a chasuble, and telling the soldiers in his argumentative, pleasant, but weak, painful voice a story familiar to Pierre. It was already past midnight. This was the time at which Karataev usually recovered from a feverish attack and was especially animated. Approaching the fire and hearing Plato’s weak, painful voice and seeing his pitiful face brightly illuminated by the fire, something unpleasantly pricked Pierre’s heart. He was frightened by his pity for this man and wanted to leave, but there was no other fire, and Pierre, trying not to look at Plato, sat down near the fire.
- How's your health? - he asked.
- How's your health? “God will not allow you to die because of your illness,” said Karataev and immediately returned to the story he had begun.
“...And so, my brother,” Plato continued with a smile on his thin, pale face and with a special, joyful sparkle in his eyes, “here, my brother...”
Pierre knew this story for a long time, Karataev told this story to him alone six times, and always with a special, joyful feeling. But no matter how well Pierre knew this story, he now listened to it as if it were something new, and that quiet delight that Karataev apparently felt while telling it was also communicated to Pierre. This story was about an old merchant who lived decently and God-fearingly with his family and who one day went with a friend, a rich merchant, to Makar.
Stopping at an inn, both merchants fell asleep, and the next day the merchant's comrade was found stabbed to death and robbed. A bloody knife was found under the old merchant's pillow. The merchant was tried, punished with a whip and, having pulled out his nostrils - in the proper order, said Karataev - he was sent to hard labor.
“And so, my brother” (Pierre caught Karataev’s story at this point), this case has been going on for ten years or more. An old man lives in hard labor. As follows, he submits and does no harm. He only asks God for death. - Fine. And if they get together at night, the convicts are just like you and me, and the old man is with them. And the conversation turned to who is suffering for what, and why is God to blame. They began to say, that one lost a soul, that one lost two, that one set it on fire, that one ran away, no way. They began to ask the old man: why are you suffering, grandpa? I, my dear brothers, he says, suffer for my own and for people’s sins. But I didn’t destroy any souls, I didn’t take anyone else’s property, other than giving away to the poor brethren. I, my dear brothers, am a merchant; and had great wealth. So and so, he says. And he told them how the whole thing happened, in order. “I don’t worry about myself,” he says. It means God found me. One thing, he says, I feel sorry for my old woman and children. And so the old man began to cry. If that same person happened to be in their company, it means that he killed the merchant. Where did grandpa say he was? When, in what month? I asked everything. His heart ached. Approaches the old man in this manner - a clap on the feet. For me, he says, old man, you are disappearing. The truth is true; innocently in vain, he says, guys, this man is suffering. “I did the same thing,” he says, “and put a knife under your sleepy head.” Forgive me, he says, grandfather, for Christ’s sake.
Karataev fell silent, smiling joyfully, looking at the fire, and straightened the logs.
- The old man says: God will forgive you, but we are all sinners to God, I suffer for my sins. He himself began to cry bitter tears. What do you think, falcon,” Karataev said, beaming brighter and brighter with an enthusiastic smile, as if what he now had to tell contained the main charm and the whole meaning of the story, “what do you think, falcon, this killer, the one in charge, has appeared . I, he says, ruined six souls (I was a big villain), but most of all I feel sorry for this old man. Let him not cry at me. Showed up: they wrote it off, sent the paper as it should. The place is far away, until the trial and the case, until all the papers have been written off as they should, according to the authorities, that is. It reached the king. So far, the royal decree has come: to release the merchant, give him awards, as much as they were awarded. The paper arrived and they began to look for the old man. Where did such an old man suffer innocently in vain? The paper came from the king. They started looking. – Karataev’s lower jaw trembled. - And God already forgave him - he died. So, falcon,” Karataev finished and looked ahead for a long time, silently smiling.

Chronicle

The first 6 books contain a description of biblical history, the next 6 - Roman history, and the rest describe the events of Byzantine history.

Zonara's very voluminous work occupies a special place in Byzantine historical literature in terms of the completeness of the information reported and the skillful use of sources. The chronicle of Zonar seems to have significance as a primary source only for the reign of Alexei Komnenos ( - gg.). Other parts are valuable because they used lost Greco-Roman sources. Particularly important in this regard are the books of chronicles on Roman history, which fragmentarily preserved the approximate contents of books 1-21 and 44-80 of Dio Cassius (from whom only books 37-54 have come down to us in complete form).

Zonar's work was very famous in the Middle Ages: 44 Greek manuscripts survived, it was translated into Slavic languages (Serbian and Russian), and later Byzantine chroniclers and Russian chroniclers drew material from it. During the Renaissance, Zonar's chronicle was translated into French, Italian and Latin.

Categories:

Theologians of Byzantium
Historians of Byzantium
Historians of the 12th century
Canon law
Personalities in alphabetical order
Historians by alphabet

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See what “John Zonara” is in other dictionaries:

JOHN ZONARA- [Greek ᾿Ιωάννης Ζωναρᾶς] (late 11th century between 1162 and 1166), Byzantine. canonist, historian and church writer. John monastic name I.Z.; What his name was before his tonsure is unknown. Life in the XI-XII centuries. the aristocratic Zonara family belonged to the capital... Orthodox Encyclopedia

JOHN ZONARA- (Ioannns Zonaras) (d. after 1159) Byzantine. political activist and writer who expressed the interests of the highest metropolitan nobility and was in opposition to the Comnenos. Basic cit.: 1) Reduction of stories chronicle from the foundation of the world to 1118, representing mainly ... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

JOHN ZONARA- JOHN ZONARA, Byzantine writer of the 1st half. 12th century Courtier, later monk. The “Abridged History” of the wars covers events up to 1118. Sermons, lives of saints, commentaries on hymns, a lexicon of difficult Greek words. language, works on the church. right... Literary encyclopedic dictionary

John Zonara- (loánnes Zonarás) (birth year unknown died after 1159?), Byzantine chronicler, church writer. A prominent dignitary at the court of Emperor Alexius I Komnenos. Expressing the interests of the highest metropolitan nobility, he was in opposition to the Komnenos.... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Zonara, John

Zonara John- John Zonara (Greek Ζωναρας) Byzantine historian of the 12th century, monk theologian, author of a famous chronicle. He held the positions of chief of the imperial guard (great drungari of the villa) and first secretary of the imperial chancellery, then after his death... ... Wikipedia

Zonara- John Zonara (Greek Ζωναρας) Byzantine historian of the 12th century, monk theologian, author of a famous chronicle. He held the positions of chief of the imperial guard (great drungari of the villa) and first secretary of the imperial chancellery, then after his death... ... Wikipedia

Zonara I.- John Zonara (Greek Ζωναρας) Byzantine historian of the 12th century, monk theologian, author of a famous chronicle. He held the positions of chief of the imperial guard (great drungari of the villa) and first secretary of the imperial chancellery, then after his death... ... Wikipedia

ZONARA- John see John Zonara... Orthodox Encyclopedia

ZONARA John- (12th century) Byzantine canonist and historian, author of a commentary on the full text of church rules and chronicles in 18 books from the creation of the world to the accession to the throne of Emperor John Komnenos (1118) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary