Nuove evidenze sulla tradizione slava della "Responsio ad fratres minores" di Germano II Patriarca

This study presents new findings concerning the Slavic transmission of the Responsio ad fratres minores, a theological polemical treatise composed by Patriarch Germanus II of Constantinople as part of the Byzantine– Latin theological disputes during the Nicaea–Nymphaeum encounter in 1234. The work later became a significant text in the Orthodox defense against Latin Trinitarian doctrine. Despite its limited attention in modern scholarship, the Responsio enjoyed wide dissemination in both the Greek and Slavic worlds. Following a new examination of the complex Greek manuscript tradition – previously almost unknown – several recensions and epitomized versions of the text have been identified, some heavily interpolated and adapted for didactic and anthological purposes. The paper then turns to the Slavic corpus, focusing on the nine oldest manuscript witnesses, predominantly marked by Serbian linguistic features. These contain a distinct Slavic redaction not directly corresponding to any known Greek version. It is argued that the Slavic translation derives from an otherwise lost epitome, enriched with patristic quotations from other anti-Latin sources. Particularly significant is the identification of appended texts in Slavic manuscripts, unrecorded in the Greek tradition, including a sermon-like piece misattributed to Germanus. Previously believed to be a fragment of a lost Greek account of the debates, it is shown to be a translation of an unedited Greek treatise against Hugh Etherianus and thus unrelated to the Nicaea–Nymphaeum dispute. Through philological and textual analysis, the paper outlines the transmission of the Responsio in the Slavic world, placing its translation in the Serbian Athonite milieu in the early 14th century, and tracing its diffusion through hesychast circles. The Slavic tradition not only preserves a unique textual witness to the Responsio, but also sheds light on its adaptation and reception. Moreover, it underscores the critical importance of Slavic manuscript traditions in reconstructing the transmission and reception of Byzantine polemical texts.