VENERABLE EUSTATHIUS THE PROTOPSALT AND THE MATHEMA FOR SAINT PARASKEVA
VENERABLE EUSTATHIUS THE PROTOPSALT AND THE MATHEMA FOR SAINT PARASKEVA

Summary/Abstract: The present study examines the personality and contribution of Eustathios the Protopsaltes, founder of the Musical School of Putna Monastery and arguably the most important composer of Byzantine music in the medieval Romanian lands. The research highlights his decisive role in shaping an autochthonous musical idiom through the composition and adaptation of chants in Slavonic and Greek, integrated into a coherent liturgical system informed by Late Byzantine tradition and by Bulgarian-Serbian influences. The focal point of the investigation is the analysis of a calophonic matima composed by Eustathios in honour of Saint Parascheva, preserved in the 1511 Anthologion. This unique piece—lacking any known Byzantine or Slavonic prototype—is interpreted as the response to a concrete liturgical need and as evidence of the School of Putna’s capacity to generate original creations within the context of the adaptation of the Jerusalem Typikon. The study underscores the significance of this matima as an expression of the synthesis between Byzantine musical tradition, local consciousness of sanctity, and the Moldavian liturgical identity.

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