The Menologion of Basil II

A fascinating window into daily Byzantine religious observances

The Menologion of Basil II, one of the most famous manuscripts surviving from Byzantium, contains short narratives to be read during the morning office to commemorate the saint or feast of the day. Dedicated to the emperor Basil II (r. 976-1025), it is best known for its decorative programme: each of the 430 entries features a large, dazzling illumination of a corresponding scene.

Yet, the texts have received much less attention than their illustrations, despite the wealth of information that they provide about the commemoration of the saints in Byzantine society. This unillustrated volume highlights the Menologion as a work that maps the many paths toward Christian sanctity and celebrates the people who walked them, from martyr to monk, patriarch to prostitute, and everyone in between.

The Menologion of Basil II includes both a new Greek edition, prepared from a fresh reading of the manuscript that replaces the previous eighteenth-century edition, and the first full translation into English—the first into any modern language.