Abstract
01Research of the Byzantine manuscripts to date, that is represented in the specialised catalogues of NT, OT, Homiletic and Catena manuscripts, as well as in local library catalogues of manuscripts, provides us with a wealth of information on singular (text of one category) and composed codices (texts of different categories) and a generally detailed, yet very eclectic picture of the biblical, patristic, liturgical and other sorts of texts contained therein. However, the catalogues do not provide us with an exact and complete insight into the actual, full content and form of the extant codices. In this programme a path of catalogue (and codex) research will be set out, along new parameters, which we call: codico-liturgical. The leading idea is that the codicological forms of the Byzantine manuscripts, which accommodate the biblical, patristic and liturgical texts, are closely related to the liturgical function and purpose of these texts. An interesting source for researchers is the Byzantine liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, in which one can still find these same codex forms in use today; the forms of the printed editions closely resemble the manuscript forms. From here one can trace the tradition of those factors that contributed to forming the codices. The corpus of Byzantine manuscripts is characterised by diversity, but within this, standard codicological forms can be distinguished; those containing text items from the Greek NT or OT corpora, or both (!), and those containing biblical texts combined with other specific liturgical and patristic books and texts, that comment on the biblical monuments in an extremely rich and varied way. From this broad panorama only a small piece of cataloguing work can be done in this programme. We will concentrate on a new catalogue of the corpus of New Testament codices (keeping the overall context in mind). The codico-liturgical approach can redirect the study of the Byzantine manuscripts to a system of cataloguing that allows for a far more complete and inclusive picture of the state of affairs of the codex forms in which the biblical and other ecclesiastical texts were handed down to us. This implies a thorough assessment of the existing categorization systems (work which has already started, but which should now be extended by new catalogue research), and a reclassification according to codico-liturgical criteria. This also implies at the same time, new hermeneutical and textual implications for biblical research. The programme thus combines Byzantine catalogue studies and codicology; textuology and hermeneutics; liturgical, biblical and patristic studies. This programme is the first opportunity to bring serious catalogue and codicological research of the Byzantine manuscripts, in the form of an international and interdisciplinary cataloguing project, to the Netherlands. The programme will also contribute to the important, already ongoing opening of a window on the world of Eastern Orthodox theology for Western scholarship, especially in the fields that concern the primary sources, i.e. biblical, patristic and liturgical studies. It will lead to a reinvigorated dialogue between codicologists and theologians from West and East. Thus, the programme in its main structure could be called: A Byzantine Catalogue (and Codex) research in an East-West Perspective.