METROPOLITAN PASSIONAL MR 164 AND BASILICA SANIT’APOLINARE NUOVO IN RAVENNA: CONTENT ANALYSIS AND HEINZER’S METHOD OF SAINTS’ NAME SELECTION

Sa？etak Passional MR 164 is our oldest hagiographical codex. Moreover it is also the oldest codex kept in the Metropolitan Library of the Archbishopric of Zagreb. Therefore, it is not surprising that various researchers wrote about it in several occasions. However, its true nature and exact provenance still have remained unknown. This manuscript consists of two parts, the ？rst written in beneventan scrip and the second in Carolingian minuscule. The beneventan part embraces literary text: Discussion about Psalm 119 by St Jerome (fragment) and Vita Marie Egipcicae (Life of Mary of Egypt). The foreword of this part, written by deacon Majon, reveals that these texts were written according to the orders of Paul the archbishop of Split at the beginning of the eleventh century. On the other hand, the Carolingian part consists of hagiographical texts that were hitherto extensively debated within the Croatian scholarly community, but without any de？nite conclusion. Therefore, this contribution describes former analyses of the Passional, paying exceptional attention to the investigations during the last few years. Moreover, author proposes a new dating and a new interpretation of provenance of the manuscript based on the content of the sanctorale and its certain codicological speci？cs. Consequently, the author suggests that this manuscript MR 164 could originate from the Sant’Apollinare Nuovo basilica in Raven