Per Leone di Centuripe e i suoi encomi di s. Nettario (BHG 2284) e di s. Giacomo Maggiore (BHG 786D)

Leon of Sicily or of Centuripe is the enigmatic author of two hagiographical texts, the Encomium to St Nektarios, patriarch of Constantinople, edited by F. Halkin, and the still unedited Hypomnema to St James the Apostle and brother of St John the Evangelist (BHG 2284 and 768d). Enrica Follieri, who is the only scholar to have written extensively on Leon, plausibly dates him between the second half of the eleventh and the early twelfth century. This article delves into the places where he might have taught as a grammatikos (southern Italy-Sicily and Constantinople) and comments on the titles and literary aspects of his extant work. The discussion focuses on his use of prosimetrum (here the alternation of segments of prose with verse), a rare feature in Greek hagiography itself as well as in Byzantine literature at large.