Additional manuscripts collated by Maraval
the letters: a general introduction t codex Thessalonicensis gymnasii I, parchment, 13th cent. l codex Laurentius Mediceus plut. IX 20, paper, 15th cent.
P common exemplar of v, t and l.
Q codex Parisiensis graecus 583, paper, 16th–17th cent. c unknown copy of codex W used by Casaubon.
P codex Patmensis Monasterii Sancti Iohannnis 706, paper, 11th–12th cent.
F codex Laurentianus Mediceus plut. LXXXVI, 13, parchment, 13th cent.
V codex Vaticanus graecus 291, paper, 13th cent., Jaeger's siglum: T.
N codex Barberinianus graecus 291, paper, 14th–15th cent.
L codex Laurentianus Mediceus plut. VI, 17, parchment, 10th–11th cent.
B (for Letter 30) codex Lesbicus Mytilenensis monastgerii Sancti Iohannis 6, parchment, 11th–12th cent.
Z codex Vaticanus graecus 1773, paper, 16th cent.
S codex Vaticanus graecus 1907, paper, 13th cent. b Garnier's edition of Basil (= PG 29–33) L consensus of codices of Libanius Lvar part of the codices of Libanius LR codex of Libanius Vaticanus Reginae 18, parchment, 11th cent.
LMon codex of Libanius Monacensis 497, parchment, 11th cent.
LBar codex of Libanius Oxoniensis Baroccianus 121, parchment, 11th cent.
Additional manuscripts collated by Maraval Smar Cod. Mutinensis Estensis 229, paper 11th cent., not known to Pasquali, containing the scholion which attributes Letter 1 to Gregory of Nyssa.
Cod. Marc. 7.38
Cod. Marcianus Venetus VII, 38, parchment, 16th cent., collated and discussed for Letter 2 by Maraval, pp.
65–66.
Dateline of the Letters The dating of the letters proposed here is necessarily tentative. Argument supporting the dating may be found in the prefatory notes of
the letters: a general introduction
the individual letters and in the biography above, where all letters mentioned are in bold.
Caesarea c. 370
Letter 37, to the emperor Nyssa mid 378-mid 380?
Letter 6, to bishop Ablabius Vanota on the Halys 379?
Letter 20, to Adelphius Sebasteia early 380 Letter 22, to the Bishops Sebasteia early 380 Letter 12, to the same Sebasteia early 380 Letter 18, to Otreius Sebasteia early 380 Letter 10, to Otreius Sebasteia early-mid 380 Letter 19, to a certain John Sebasteia? early-mid 380 Letter 5, to those who discredit his orthodoxy Nyssa autumn 380 Letter 29, to Peter Nyssa autumn 380 Letter 13, to Libanius Annisa late 380 Letter 30, to Gregory Nyssa c. 380–381 Letter 33, to Eustathius the physician Nyssa 380?
Letter 7, to Hierius the governor Caesarea early January 381 Letter 14, to Libanius Nyssa early 381 Letter 35, to Peter his own brother on the divine ousia Caesarea late 381 Letter 3, to Eustathia, Ambrosia and Basilissa Nyssa late 381–382 Letter 2, to Kensitor Nyssa? c. 380–381 Letter 33, to Eustathius the physician Nyssa
Letter 28 [no title] Nyssa early 380s Letter 9, to Stagirius Nyssa
Letter 15, to John & Maximian Nyssa c. 382 + Letter 25, to Amphilochius Osiana 382 + Letter 26, from the sophist Stagirius Nyssa 382 + Letter 27, Reply of the holy Gregory to the sophist Nyssa mid-late 383 Letter 24, to Heracleianus Nyssa mid 380s + Letter 16, to Strategius Nyssa mid 380s + Letter 8, to Antiochanus Nyssa mid 380s + Letter 11, to Eupatrius Nyssa Easter 387 Letter 4, to Eusebius ?? mid-late 380s Letter 8, to Antiochanus Nyssa? c. 385–c. 387
Letter 32, to the monk Philip
the letters: a general introduction Nyssa c. 390
Letter 17, to the presbyters in Nicomedia Nyssa c. 390
Letter 31, to Letoius Nyssa late 380s–394 Letter 36, to Theodore Nyssa? undated Letter 23, without title Nyssa undated Letter 21, to Ablabius the bishop
PRELUDE 1: THE LETTERS OF BASIL
The purpose of this section is to assemble all the references to St Gregory of Nyssa in St Basil's letters, representing as they do a period from which no letters of St Gregory (except perhaps one, letter 37) have survived. These bear witness to Gregory's own writing of letters at this period, as for example, in the first selection below.
For the most part only relevant sections are translated, omissions being indicated by: . . . . They are listed in the sequence of their relation to Gregory's chronology.
Translations are made from Yves Courtonne, Saint Basile Correspondence, 3 vols. 2nd ed. (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2003), Tome I: Lettres
I–C, Tome II: Lettres CI–CCXVIII, Tome III: CCIX–CCCLXVI.
Also consulted is Roy J. Deferrari's edition and translations St Basil, The Letters, in four volumes (London: Heinemann, 1926 1928 1930
1934), hereafter referred to as 'Def'.
Courtonne chose six mss. to collate for his edition.1 The two main branches in the stemma of Basil's correspondence: A and B, are further divided into subfamilies, three for A, and four for B. Courtonne followed the judgment of several scholars2 in regarding Aa as the best family. Accordingly he chose four mss from this family as the basis of his edition, but also chose two other mss. as superior representatives of the B branch. The following are the six principal mss used by Courtonne, with their relevant family noted:
V Vatopedinus 72, 10th cent. (Monastery of Vatopedi, Mt Athos), family Aa P Patmiacus 57, 10th cent. (Monastery of St John, Patmos), family
Aa B Barroccianus 121, 11th cent. (The Bodleian Library, Oxford), family Aa M Marcianus 61, 11th cent. (The Library of St Mark, Venice), family Aa 1 On the textual transmission of Basil's letters, see now P. J. Fedwick, Bibliotheca
Basiliana Vuniversalis I. The Letters (755 pp.). A new edition of Basil's letters is being prepared under Fedwick's guidance.
2 Bessières, Turner, Cavallin and Rudberg (Courtonne, xvi).