Commission for Greek and Byzantine Studies
The commission was set up in 2010 by merging the former commissions for the publication of a second series of the Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum, for the publication of the writings of St. John of Damascus, and for the publication of the Corpus of Greek documents of the Middle Ages and the recent period. It unites the Greek and Byzantine projects of the Academy.
Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum
The second series of the Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum continues the edition of Acts of the Ecumenical Councils begun by the great philologist Eduard Schwartz (1858–1940). The edition provides reliable scholarly texts of the minutes and documents of those Councils whose decisions in matters of belief were regarded as binding both Eastern and Western Churches. Up to the time of his death Schwartz had published editions of the Acts of the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) as well as one volume of the Second Council of Constantinople (553). In 1971 Johannes Straub published the second volume of this Council, and between 1974 and 1984 Rudolf Schieffer produced indexes to the volumes that had so far appeared. Since 1969 the edition has been produced at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. In 1984 Rudolf Riedinger published the Acts of the Lateran Council of 649, and from 1990 to 1995 in three volumes those of the Third Council of Constantinople (680/1). Since 1991 work has continued on the Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea (787), which was concerned with the iconoclastic controversy. The first volume was published in 2008.
St. John of Damascus
The critical edition of the Greek prose writings of the Byzantine theologian St. John of Damascus (c. 700–c. 750) contains both the authentic texts and those attributed to him (e.g. the Barlaam legend traditionally ascribed to him. This edition was completed in 2008). The work is coordinated by the Patristic Commission of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities, whose aim it is to produce critical editions of Christian authors from the period of the Early Church.
The Barlaam legend. The sole surviving page of a manuscript which, according to a note by its owner at the bottom of the page, was bought from Dean Karteles from Patmos in Chania (Crete) for six pieces of gold on March 16, 1540. The text in the illustration contains the end of Chapter 40 and the start of the Epilogue (cf. Migne, Patrologia graeca, Volume 96, 1240, 6–27). This page was thus the last but one of a complete manuscript that presumably consisted of 150 pages.
Corpus of Greek Documents of the Middle Ages and the Recent Period
The edition which has been completed in 2009, focused on imperial documents as the most important category. The project possesses a unique photographic archive containing, as well as imperial documents, a wealth of diplomas of clerical and lay officials and even private papers.