The Autograph Neomartyrologium Collection of Monk Caesarius Daponte (1713-1784) [Νεομαρτυρολογικά Σύμμεικτα Α΄] is published by "Mygdonia", Thessaloniki 2012, and involves a critical edition of the autograph (in its majority) manuscript of Caesarius Daponte – now belonging to the Public library of St Petersburg – the cod. Petropolitanus gr. 253 (ff. 97r-149v) - , which contains a very important, unknown hagiologic work: a neomartyrologium collection prepared by himself, which failed to attract the attention of those who were dealing with the neomartyrological literature.
This Daponte collection has a two-fold interest. First, it records the suffering of 38 neomartyrs previously unknown. These neomartyrs were either known to Daponte or they came from relevant sources. Second, he was also the pilot who directed the iconography of the neomartyrs contained in the liti of the new Katholikon of Xeropotamou Monastery on Mount Athos in 1783. In this way it becomes a classic, perhaps unique, example of speech and image interpretation in the late Ottoman Empire and attracts the interest not only of hagiologists or of historians but also the art historians.
414 pp. [+ 34 Images + 8 tables (photo manuscripts)], shape 24 × 17, ISBN 978-960-7666-71-0.
