20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The distribution of the Minee of Buda throughout Moldavia... 57bought a set of the Minee “for my own use and profession”, on December1 st 1807 the volumes were bought for the Slatina Monastery, and on January1 st 1808, the great Chancellor Nicolae Balş donated the Minee to the Sf.Neculai Church of Hulboca, near Iasi. Archimandrite Arsenie Filipopolitu(Spînu), the Abbot of the Cetăţuia Monastery, frequently bought the booksthat were brought to Moldavia through the subscription system. It is infact possible that Archimandrite Arsenie, as well as Sofronie from theMitropoly, was a book pedlar, meaning that he put himself up for severalcopies, which he later sold to others. According to the annotations that werefound on several volumes of the Minee of Buda, Arsenie, Abbot of theCetăţuia Monastery, sold a set of Minee on November 28 th 1807, while aDecember Minei (Buda, 1805) states that on December 20 th 1807 anotherset of Minee “were bought by out faithful father, the Archimandrite andAbbot of the sacred Cetăţuia Monastery, Arsinii, for a price of 140 lei" 14 .The Minee of Buda are also mentioned in documents of the tradersof that time. Thus, on December 5 th 1808, Gheorghe Hârs, who traded inMoldavia, had “the 12 Minee" among his merchandise; also, among thebooks that great trader and polyglot scholar Toma Leca left in the “deadman’s chest” in Iasi, in 1811, there was “a set of Minee, worth 140 florins" 15 .The books that were edited in Transylvania, especially in Blaj, werereceived with scepticism in Moldavia. There is knowledge of a leaflet thatwas printed in Iasi in 1805: Notice about books that are printed in Ardealwas edited, it appears, by Meletie, the Bishop of Roman. According tothis leaflet, certain books should not have been bought, nor read, as theypreached the beliefs of the Orthodox Christians that had joined Rome’sChurch and they had been edited by the Episcopacy of Rîmnic. The leafletalso informed its readers that “those that bring these books and sell themthroughout the country, to fool the people, tear the first page so that we donot know where they are printed. But if you observe the print, you’ll realise itall too quickly” 16 . This document is odd enough, as in 1805 Gherasim Clipawas the Bishop of Roman and Melentie (Brandaburul) was the Bishop ofHusi. We cannot know for sure how the Notice influenced the distribution of14Ioan Caproşu, Elena Chiaburu 2009, Însemnări de pe manuscrise şi cărţi vechidin Ţara Moldovei. Un corpus, vol. III: 1796-1828, Iaşi: "Demiurg" Press, 229-231, 236;Constantin A. Stoide, Comerţul cu cărţi, 206, 228, 233.15Constantin A. Stoide, op. cit., 177, 188; idem, Ioan Caproşu, Relaţiile economiceale Braşovului cu Moldova, 173.16BRV, IV, 122-123; Dimitrie Coravu, Aspecte ale activităţii de tipărire şi răspîndirea cărţilor bisericeşti în Transilvania, Muntenia şi Moldova, în Biserica Ortodoxă Română,year XVIII (1967), no. 11-12, 1225.