ABSTRACT
Book Title – Greek Monasticism in Southern Italy: The Life of Neilos in Context (edited by Barbara Crostini and Ines Angeli Murzaku)
Chapter Number & Title – Chapter 16 : St Bartholomew of Grottaferrata Between Tradition and Innovation (by Angela Prinzi)
In 1230 the praepositus of the monastery of Grottaferrata, Pankratios, promoted a plan of liturgical development of the cult in honor of St Bartholomew, fourth hegumen of the community of Grottaferrata and beloved disciple of Neilos. Within this liturgical plan, the work in both prose and verse by the monk and copyist John from Rossano takes shape. John was active at Grottaferrata in the first half of the thirteenth century. He composed four canons and an Enkomion, in order to expand Bartholomew’s limited hagiographical dossier and hymnographic proprium.
The comparison of this earlier tradition with the original compositions by John shows that the canons and the Enkomion report details and information that were missing from the oldest texts. These new elements concerning the saint are the original contribution of John from Rossano to the renewal of Bartholomew’s previous biographical tradition.
