Joannes Zonoras as an exegete of hymnographic texts and his commentary on the first voice of the paschal canon from the octoechos by the St. John of Damascus

The twelfth century is considered one of the most interesting times in the history of byzantine literature, due to the great number of texts and trends that appeared during this period. This is particularly true for the hymnographic genre, which has its roots precisely in this era. This development is mainly linked to authors such as the poet Theodore Prodromos, the metropolitan Gregory of Corinth, St. Eustathius of Thessalonica, venerable Neophytos of Cyprus. These authors went down in the history of byzantine literature as authors of commentaries on the feasts of the liturgical cycle. Yet, we know of another twelfth-century author and commentator of liturgical texts whose literary work has been neglected by scholars. The present work tries to analyse the commentary by Joannes Zonaras on the first voice of the Paschal Canon from the Octoechos by John of Damascus. Joannes Zonaras went down in byzantine literary history as a prolific exegete of the Canons of the Orthodox Church, an annalist and a theologian. But his most eminent work, which remains unexplored to this day, is the comment of liturgical texts.