Manual of Christian Iconography

...by the Russian Imperial Archaeological Society, which, sensing the urgency of having a complete edition of the "Interpretation" for the ready use of archaeologists, decided in a session to fulfill it at its own expense, entrusting the supervision of the edition to the writer of these words.

The text of the "Interpretation" has a sufficiently long history of its own. To this day, it is known in Greek through a double spurious, falsified edition, and in a Russian translation according to the genuine compilation, and in a French and German translation with some small inclusion of the falsified text. Until the year 1839, it was completely unknown, because not a single copy of it was to be found in public libraries. The copies that existed, and these were very few, were exclusively in the hands of painters on the Holy Mountain. Even to this day, relatively few have become known. One from the 18th century was found by the archimandrite Porphyrius Uspensky with one of the local painters in Jerusalem, who also translated it into Russian in the year 1868 1. I myself saw another copy in the year 1881 in the small library of the Society of Medieval Research, formerly based in the Phanar of Constantinople. This, too, was written toward the end of the 18th century 2. A third copy, also from the 18th century, existed until the year 1891 in the library of the Constantinople archaeologist A. Mordtmann Jr., who, learning that there was an intention to publish the text of the "Interpretation," very readily handed it over to the late Tchélitschew. Now, by his donation, it is in my possession. A fourth copy, but very recent (year 1843), is found under number 1286 in the National Library of Greece 3. Likewise, in the year 1900...

1) Erminiya or Instruction in the Art of Painting, composed by the hieromonk and painter Dionysios Phournagraphiotes. 1701—1733. Kiev, 1868. 8vo, 250 pages. Works of the Kiev Theological Academy, 1868, vol. 1, pp. 269-315 and 526-570. Vol. 2, pp. 494—563. Vol. 4, pp. 355—445.

2) This library existed in the year 1881 in the residence of Mr. Manuel Gedeon. The fate of the copy of the "Interpretation" therein is unknown to me today. It was divided into 399 chapters and comprised 413 numbered pages. The paper was glossy, 0.225 meters in length and 0.165 meters in width.

3) I. and A. Sakkelion, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the National Library of Greece. Athens, 1892, pp. 234—235.