Both the celebration of Easter and the march from Holy Week to it offer a first-class opportunity for religious reflection and certainly plenty of free time. A time when bibliophiles can’t wait to turn to their unread books and new publications that will get them in the spirit of the season.

From the annotated, stand-alone edition of the Gospel of Matthew (University Studio Press, Christos Th. Krikonis) to the browsing that draws the reader into the vortex of the world of Nikolaos Masteropoulos (Mount Athos Center) and the historical review of Byzantine Palestine (Kyriakidis Publications), the next few weeks will be an occasion for reflection on the texts of the New Testament as well as a less expected and more academic approach to theological literature.

One of the most useful tools for the modern scholar is the work of Polydoros Goranis, “Old Slavic translations of the work of John Chrysostom: Serbian Manuscripts, Philological and Theological Approaches,” which can be obtained from University Studio Press. According to the author of the book, the first two chapters analyze the issue of the genesis and development of literary production, as well as its character among Slavic peoples, with emphasis on the case of Serbia. Then, the role of copyists and translation activity in Serbia, which was primary and decisive in the consolidation and development of its literature, is analysed. The work is complemented by a complete cataloguing of Old Slavonic manuscripts of Serbian orthography with a chronological classification of the works of John Chrysostom-a valuable compass for any interested academic study.

Lovers of the New Testament readings will find an unparalleled poetic interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew by Christos Th. Krikonis and University Studio Press. According to the professor emeritus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, “There is an objective relationship between the divine word and the human word, which judges the themes of the New Testament, inasmuch as the divine word of the New Testament is addressed to man, but is expressed and formulated by the human word.” This phrase encapsulates all the essence, magic and religious piety that permeates the Gospel of Matthew – for many scholars the pinnacle of New Testament discourse, and a work that has inspired everything from painters to the cinematography of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Dimitrios K. Tsoulkanakis’ work Byzantine Palestine (Kyriakidis Publications) is a rare study that highlights the image of Palestine from the 4th-7th century AD. The central aim of the historical tracing of the Holy Land was to present the policy of Byzantium in the wider region of Palestine from 324-the year that marks the monarchy of Constantine the Great-until 641, when the fall of Caesarea completed the conquest of Palestine by Islam. Apart from the historiographical study, what makes Tsoulkanakis’s work special is his approach to the data that emerged from time to time from archaeological excavations.

For those who are fascinated by the art of painting, the publication of Mount Athos Center, “Artistic Journey to Mount Athos”, is an ideal reading for the days. According to Dr. History of Art, Katia Kilesopoulou, through the eyes of artists such as L. Kogevinas, E. Papadimitriou, P. Valsamakis, and others, “a panorama unfolds, a peculiar narrative of multiple significance for art, our land, the sacred space of Mount Athos. In this way we travel to distant yet familiar and endearing regions, where space-time takes on its spiritual value. It is a different kind of journey, in which Mount Athos invites us to participate, so that from the artistic representational image, from the visible, we can pass from the visible to the invisible“.

Remaining on the subject of Mount Athos, of particular interest to any scholar who would like to delve into its history, are the Athonite and Athonite Studies collected by the important historian, folklorist and theologian M.G.Varvounis (Kyriakidis Publications). In an impressive, hardbound volume, texts and studies on Mount Athos and its holy catholic monasteries, their archives, relics, libraries and history are collected. Studies are also collected on the contribution of Mount Athos to the Nation, through a series of neo-martyrs it has highlighted, who express the spiritually rallied reaction of Hellenism to the Ottoman conquest and domination, but also to the current of Islamism, which seriously threatened our religious and national identity.

An additional jewel of the publications of Mount Athos Center is the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition-tribute to the work of the painter Nikolaos Masteropoulos. In February 2023, Mount Athos Center inaugurated the exhibition entitled “Nikolaos Masteropoulos:  The road from beauty to spirituality“. It was the first major retrospective exhibition on Nikolaos Masteropoulos in Greece and was organized on the occasion of the twenty-year anniversary of the death of the expatriate artist from Russia. In the present, enlarged edition, the curators present a comprehensive presentation of all the techniques and media with which Masteropoulos created, while highlighting in various ways the importance of his artistic genius.