Looted Manuscripts from Greek Monastery Rediscovered In Manhattan

A Manhattan auction house has returned 16th-century manuscripts to a Greek monastery from where the rare artifacts were looted during World War I.

According to the New York Times, the manuscripts were rediscovered by chance during office renovation works at the auction house, where they had been forgotten in a plastic bag for years.

Precious manuscripts traced back to Greek monastery

The three Greek-language manuscripts from the 16th and 17th centuries were sold in 2008 by Swann Auction Galleries to an antiquities dealer, who returned them two years later after concluding they might have been looted.

The buyer was reimbursed but the auction house was unable to reach the person who had consigned the items, which ended up forgotten on a shelf for more than a decade until Swann’s chief financial officer went through his office before a renovation.

Reading through the research notes that the antiquities dealer had sent them when returning the manuscripts, Swann’s experts could confirm that the writing within the manuscripts identified their source as Kosinitza.

They notified the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, whose records verified that the rediscovered manuscripts were listed among the looted treasures from the Theotokos Eikosiphoinissa Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery, also known as Kosinitza, in northern Greece.

The manuscripts were lost in 1917, when Bulgarian combatants are said to have plundered nearly 900 items from the monastery, their spoils carted off on 24 mules, per New York Times.

Archbishop Elpidophoros: “an example for other institutions to follow”

The repatriation process for the manuscripts, which are being sent back to the monastery, started with a repatriation ceremony Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in Lower Manhattan.

After the ceremony, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America will travel to Constantinople to deliver the manuscripts to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America called the act of returning the artifacts to their rightful owner, the Eikosifoinissa Monastery, “an extraordinary example of honesty and responsibility” on behalf of Swann Auction Galleries. 

“These manuscripts possess a value that cannot be purchased by any amount of silver or gold,” the Archbishop said in his remarks at the Repatriation Ceremony at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in NYC, NY.

“The confusion and violence surrounding the First World War, found these treasures and many others looted from the monastery,” his Eminence described.

“Swan Auction Galleries has set an example for others to follow, including academic institutions,” Archbishop Elpidophoros added, apparently hinting at the monastery’s ongoing lawsuit with Princeton University, where a collection includes some of the lost manuscripts from Kosinitza.

“The fact that the oldest continuously operating specialist auction house in New York has demonstrated such leadership in this regard speaks volumes of its integrity, and we thank them.”