02 — The Vita

The Life of St Andrew the Fool is nearly the whole of what we have. This section examines the text itself — its attribution to Nikephoros of Hagia Sophia, its structure and content — and the literary frame that carries much of its teaching: Andrew’s long conversations with his disciple Epiphanios.

Tradition: Byzantine (Constantinopolitan)

Because the Life is the sole substantive source for Andrew, understanding the text as a text is the precondition for everything else in this collection. These files describe what the Life is and how it is built; the question of when it was written and whether its hero existed is the business of 05 — Hagiography vs. History.

Files

File Description
the-life-of-saint-andrew.md The text: its attribution to Nikephoros, its manuscript identity (BHG 115z–117i), Rydén’s critical edition, its length, structure, and contents
disciple-epiphanios-and-the-dialogues.md The narrative frame of Andrew’s teaching: the disciple Epiphanios, the dialogues, and the patriarch-prophecy

See Also