This volume gives the text of the contributions presented at the Second International Congress on Eastern Christianity organised in Madrid in April 2008. The focus of the conference was on the written heritage ("manuscripts, scribes and context") of Eastern Christians in different periods and from different confessional backgrounds, but it was thought appropriate to include some contributions on the Jewish written heritage as well. Part I of the volume is devoted to manuscript collections and archives in Spain, Portugal, Alexandria and St Petersburg. Part II deals with Christian Arabic, Coptic, Greek and Slavonic manuscripts written by members of different religious communities. Part III discusses a variety of contextual issues such as the Egyptian monastic environment (book binding and manuscript illumination, women readers), schools (school texts on papyri) and Christian sources in Ibn Giqatela's psalm commentary.
