An introduction to the current Byzantine hagiographical studies and projects In recent years Byzantine hagiography has attracted renewed interest of the international community of Byzantine scholars and not only thanks to studies dedicated to this subject and critical editions of individual texts, but also because hagiography has been the main focus of numerous major research projects: databases, new repertories, a new version of the Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca and some very useful handbooks dedicated to this literary genre during the Byzantine Empire. These researches have analysed Byzantine hagiography in relation to the hagiographic writings composed in neighbouring areas, the West, the Syriac and Arabic Middle East, the Southern Slavs, etc. but also the relations between the hagiographical texts and other literary genres. This volume introduces the current developments of hagiographical studies and on-going projects on the subject, and investigates a variety of texts and authors from the Patristic period to the end of Byzantium. Antonio Rigo is Professor of Byzantine Philology and Christianity at Ca' Foscari - University of Venice. His research focuses on religious life in Byzantium, with special emphasis on ascetical and mystical literature, heresiology, and theology during the Paleologan period. Table of Contents Bernard Flusin, L?hagiographie byzantine et la recherche?: tendances actuelles Xavier Lequeux, La Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca?: origine, developpements et mise a jour Donatella Bucca, ?«Codices hymnographici Byzantini antiquiores?»: descrizione del database Francesco d?Aiuto, Il ?«Menologio Imperiale?» un secolo dopo (1911-1912) l?editio princeps di Vasilij Laty?ev? Andrea Luzzi, Un canone ?«giambico?» per Basilio di Cesarea e la circoncisione del Signore e il suo raffinato acrostico tetrastico fra critica filologico-letteraria e teologia Darya Penskaya, Hagiography and Fairytale Paradise and the Land of Blessed in Byzantium Yulia Mantova, Space Representation in the Life of St?Gregentios and the Life of St?Nikon the Metanoite Marina Detoraki, Recits edifiants et hagiographie. A propos du Pre spirituel? Sophie Metivier, Peut-on parler d?une hagiographie aristocratique a Byzance (VIIIe-XIe siecle)?? Denis Kashtanov, Alexander Korolev, Andrej Vinogradov, The Chronology Relating to the Hagiographic Tradition of St Clement of Rome Sergey Ivanov, The Vita of the Patriarch John the Faster as a Historical Source? Vincent Deroche, Les deux Vies de Theodose le cenobiarque? Katerina Nikolaou, The Depiction of Byzantine Woman in Hagiographical Texts (Eighth-Eleventh Centuries) Andre Binggeli, La reception de l?hagiographie palestinienne a Byzance apres les conquetes arabes Sergey Frantzouzov, La reception et le developpement de l?hagiographie byzantine dans le milieu arabe orthodoxe (d?apres un recueil hagiographique arabe de la Bibliotheque de l?Academie Roumaine) Albrecht Berger, Serienproduktion oder Autorenwettbewerb? Einige Bemerkungen zu Byzantinischen hagiographischen Texten des zehnten Jahrhunderts? Alice-Mary Talbot, Some Observations on the Life of St. Basil the Younger Dmitry Afinogenov, Integration of Hagiographic Texts into Historical Narrative. The Cases of the Lives of St. Stephen the Younger and Niketas of Medikion Lev Lukhovitsky, Perception of Iconoclasm in Late Byzantine Hagiographical Metaphraseis? Nike-Ekaterini Koutrakou, ?he Hagiographers? Pen. Painting Social Unrest and Civil Strife in Late Byzantium Eleonora Kountoura-Galake, Ideological Conflicts in Veiled Language as Seen by the Palaiologan Hagiographers. The Lives of St. Theodosia as a Case Study Andrea Babuin, Il dittico di Cuenca e l'Epiro in epoca tardo-medievale? Smilja Marjanovi?-Du?anic, Le changement de la fonction du genre anachoretique?: l?hagiographie balkano-slave dans le cadre de la fin du XIIIe siecle Antonio Rigo, Marco Scarpa, The Life of St Theodosius of Trnovo reconsidered