Enarxis

All’origine di un equivoco

Abstract

This study investigates the origins of the interpretation in our contemporary times of the Greek term enarxis (lit. beginning) as synonymous with a celebratory macro-structure prior to the entry with the Gospel in the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. The examination of the manuscript sources of the 10^th–11^th centuries shows that this interpretation is arbitrary. According to the current state of research, it seems that the first author to make the semantic expansion from beginning to initial macro-structure was Frank E. Brightman.