Pr.Dr. PAUL MIHAIL - Jurnalul călătoriei de studii în Grecia

Pr.Dr. PAUL MIHAIL

Jurnalul călătoriei de studii în Grecia

This is a bilingual edition of the travel notes by Father Paul Mihail (1905-1994), an outstanding cultural personality boasting an impressive oeuvre.
The travel notes describe the trip to Greece, with the stay in Athens presented in detail, just as the trip to Mount Athos, via Thessaloniki and, finally, the 44 days spent in Constantinople, with the stopover at the archives of the Holy Sepulcher succursal monastery, which harboured a genuine treasure that the then young scholar would reveal to the Romanian scientific environment.
Beyond their literary value, the Travel Notes provide a vivid image of life in Athens from late March to late June 1931, a short time yet dense in point of events. The 32 days spent on the Holy Mountain prompted vibrant pages that hold pride of place in the wealth of Romanian memoirs about Mount Athos. Emotion comes to a peak as the author spends time in the onetime capital of Byzantium, discovering the Romanian manuscripts kept in the archives of the Holy Sepulcher succursal monastery.
During his fact-finding trip, the young scholar carried along a notebook where he jotted impressions and collected signatures from most of the personalities he met with. Precious testimonies, the signatures are reproduced for the first time in this edition.
The comprehensive addendum contains texts by Romanian specialists, meant to highlight the outstanding scientific contribution of the author. Along with texts by the late academician Virgil Cândea and Alexe Rău, former director of the National Library of Chișinău, there is a study by research scholars Maria Magdalena Székely and Ștefan S. Gorovei from Iasi, tracing the destiny of the manuscripts at the Holy Sepulcher succursal monastery that Paul Mihail studied for the first time in 1931. Another significant document reproduced here is a Register of Moldavian Documents in the Holy Sepulcher archives in Constantinople, published only three years after Father Paul Mihail’s return. The register certainly provides precious material to be studied by present-day specialists. Furhtermore, the Vatopedi Monastery 90 years after Father Mihail’s visit is pictured by Father Bogdan Burlacu.
The Chronology, the bio-bibliographical note drawn by Academician Florin Constantiniu, as well as the bibliography comprising the studies and articles on his work between 1975 and 2020 offer the necessary elements for the personality of Father Paul Mihail to be studied at present, when it is 115 years since his birth.