Cabinet 3: Commentaries

At times, commentaries on texts became more popular than the texts themselves, often circulating independently. Attributing commentaries to well-known authors also gave the works greater status and authority, even when the attribution was incorrect. In this example, the text is a commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, and it was erroneously attributed to St Athanasius (c.293-373), Doctor of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is now thought the work was actually composed by Theophylactus of Ohrid (c.1050-c.1109), Greek Orthodox bishop of Ochrida.

Theophylactis of Ohrid, Commentary on the Epistles of St Paul (Rome impressum, 1477) Shoults Ic 1477 T