Manual of Christian Iconography

The present first genuine edition of it was made on the basis of a single codex, the aforementioned manuscript that was recently at my disposal, formerly that of Mordtmann-Tchélitschew, and now our own. This codex, clearly and beautifully written in the first half of the 18th century, numbers 271 leaves of thick and glossy paper (0.203 meters in length and 0.14 in width) forming pages numbered 44 + 498. The first 44 include an "index of the present book," that is, a listing of all the chapters in the Hermeneia, the address of Dionysius "to the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary," his discourse to the painters, and the "preliminary exercise and pedagogy for the one wishing to learn the art of painting"; the remaining 498 pages contain the main text of the Hermeneia, both the technical and the descriptive portions. Its writing, being single-columned and numbering eighteen lines on each page, is yellowish overall, but vividly red in the headings of the chapters and their initial letters. Therefore, all that is contained in this codex has been recorded here completely unchanged (pp. 1-233), with only the orthography of the words undergoing some change in many places. When these are compared to the Simonides edition, a multitude of forgeries is distinguished in it, so serious that from now on the text of the Athenian edition should be considered worthy of complete oblivion.

The forgeries of Simonides are of many kinds, and being unable to endure the vain labor of a detailed listing of them here, I am content for the verification of the matter to mention the most essential ones.

These begin with the title of the Hermeneia, which, being untitled in the copies, can, according to the meaning of the prologue, be titled Manual of the Art of Painting. But Simonides lied regarding this three times, constructing on his own between the years 1840-1858 three different pompous titles, supposedly found in the old copies; common to them all is the year 1458 of his imagination 1.

1) The copy communicated to Didron (1840) bore this title: "Guide of the painters, as regards the ecclesiastical order, written by Dionysius, hieromonk from Fourna of the Agrafa, in the year 1458" (Omont, Inventaire, vol. 3, p. 367). The published text (1853) was titled by Simonides otherwise, namely "Manual of the Painters as regards ecclesiastical painting, by Dionysius the hieromonk and painter, from Fourna of the Agrafa (composed on Athos in 1458)." And in the book Discourse of Nicholas of Methone to the Latins (London 1858, p. 174), he provided the title in the following way: "Manual of our iconography according to the ancient traditions we possess. Composed in 1458 by Dionysius the hieromonk from Fourna of the Agrafa, while being in the skete of the Thessalonians on Athos." And Simonides notes there that the oldest copies of the Hermeneia have this title. However, it is certain that none of the old copies of the Hermeneia known until now have revealed any of these titles.