In 2008, the Swann auction galleries in Manhattan sold three manuscripts in 16th and 17th century Greek to an antiquities dealer who returned them two years after he concluded they had been stolen.

The official repatriation ceremony took place on Friday, April 28 at 15:00 (local time) at the Church of Agios Nikolaos in Ground Zero, Manhattan, documents were received by the Archbishop of America, Mr. Elpidophoros.

Repatriation ceremony
PTR, Apr. 28, 15.00, st. Nicholas
Greek Orthodox Church and
national shrine pic.twitter.com/jQXi45n2Ui

— GOARCH Press Service (@GOARCH_Press) April 28, 2023

Mr. Elpidophoros will hand them over to the Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Bartholomew, during his next trip to Constantinople, in May.

Swann Galleries expert and executive director Devon Eastland spoke about the history of the manuscripts and the decision to return them, while the keynote speaker was Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, head of antiquities, who went into more detail about the Icosifinissa relic case. the historical context of trade in cultural heritage.

The extent of systematic looting during World War II by Nazi forces overshadowed by the fact that works of art were systematically looted in past centuries as well. “Roman generals, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte looted art during campaigns,” said Leila Amineddoleh, a lawyer specializing in arts and cultural heritage law.

According to her, the sacking of the monastery was carried out by “individuals, opportunistically.” As a spokesman for the Eastern Orthodox Church wrote in a 2015 letter, in 1917 the monastery was attacked by “Bulgarian partisan detachments” who ransacked its library. Four days after the attack, a letter from a local official to the Hellenic Foreign Affairs Mission in Sofia stated that about 60 robbers entered the monastery, attacked the men, and used 24 mules to transport their booty.

Letters to Princeton

On December 4, 2015, Ecumenical Patriarch M. Bartholomew, in his letter to Princeton, requested the repatriation of four manuscripts. In his letter, he mentioned that the monastery of Eikosifonissa was founded in the 5th century AD. and by the 18th century it contained 430 valuable religious manuscripts. He further explained that, under the Treaty of Neigi, Bulgaria had to transfer, among other things, all the treasures it seized from other states. In this context, Bulgaria handed over 259 manuscripts to Greece, a very small number compared to the total number of those stolen.

In his letter to the American University, the Ecumenical Patriarch also mentioned the ongoing attempts to take possession of the manuscripts. For example, he wrote about the cancellation of the auction of the manuscript at Sotheby’s International House on June 24, 1987. He also cited the return of a manuscript by Duke University in 2015 when it was discovered that it had been stolen. from a monastery on Mount Athos. Princeton did not return four items, and the Greek side decided to sue.

On December 13, 2018, Ecumenical Patriarch M. Bartholomew, the Eikosifonisis Monastery and the Diocese of Dramatic Representation by New York lawyers George Tsogarakis and Eric Blumenfeld filed a lawsuit in the United States. against Princeton University demanding the repatriation of four religious manuscripts.

Source: New York Times.