Digenis (scribe)

Digenis was a scribe in Skopentzana during the reign of Maleinos II. He was a middle-aged man who was able to continue in his profession due to short-sightedness. Normally, as vision lengthened with age, scribes would be forced to give up their profession as they were no longer able to read the small scrawl of a manuscript.

Because of Digenis' experience, he was one of the better scribes of the city and so the prelate Rhavas chose him to transcribe his manuscript on the precise relationship between Phos and Skotos with supporting quotations from sacred scripture and analysis from previous theologians. At first, Digenis treated it as any other commission, transcribing without thought from eye to hand. But as he admitted to Rhavas, he found his arguments fascinating and began paying attention to what he was transcribing.

Digenis also found Rhavas' hand difficult to read, as Rhavas readily acknowledged, and indicated he would prefer to make his second copy from his first rather than Rhavas' original. Rhavas agreed but only after he had proofread Digenis' work. This was a test by Rhavas to see if Digenis would arrogantly claim to not make any transcription errors as many scribes would do. Digenis passed the test, modestly expressing his hope that Rhavas would not find too many mistakes.