The project, led by Uta Heil, is a cooperation project with Department of Christian History, Art and Archaeology at the University of Vienna.
The Expositiones in Psalmos appeared in the fourth or fifth century and circulated under the name of Athanasius of Alexandria. It is a foundational source for the development of patristic exegesis in the tradition of Origenes and Eusebius of Caesarea.
The Expositiones in Psalmos offer comprehensive interpretations of Psalm verses in the genre of compiled scholia: An introductory hypothesis for each Psalm is followed by an explanation, which is in the form of discrete remarks rather than running commentary; each entry consists of a carefully considered explanation, with historic-philological commentary kept to a minimum. Besides the literal meaning, a particular emphasis is laid on the spiritual (ascetic) interpretation, within the broader spectrum of allegorical interpretative methods. The more than 2000 scholia cover almost the entire book of Psalms. However, the work itself has not been preserved in a direct transmission, but must instead be reconstructed with the aid of the Greek Psalm catenae, i.e. collections of excerpts, which were designed to be used instead of direct transmitted commentaries – since probably Prokope of Gaza invented this genre at the beginning of the 6th century.
The given edition fulfills a central role in catenary research, undertakes pioneer work for the evaluation of pseudepigraphy in the context of the works of Athanasius, and contributes significantly to the history of exegesis, theology, and spirituality. The project aims to establish a critical digital edition meeting todays standards.
The ACDH-CH is responsible for data modeling, data managing, data archiving and for developing the database as well as the web application.
Uta Heil, University of Vienna | Department of Christian History, Art and Archaeology
FWF 10.55776/P32988
07/2020–12/2025