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[German Version] (Nikolaos Pelopidas; 1605, Kandia, Crete – Jul 14, 1676, St. Michael’s Monastery, Jerusalem). After elementary education under Meletios Makres, in 1625 Nectarius entered St. Catharine’s Monastery (Sinai) as a monk. In 1645, he studied for a year under Theophilos Korydaleus in Athens. In May 1660, he was elected archbishop of Sinai. Without having assumed this office, he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem on Jan 25, 1661 (consecration on Apr 9). Together with the patriarch of Const…

[German Version] (baptismal name Manuel; c. 1549, Chandakas [?], Crete – Jul 1, 1602, Venice), theologian, philologist, and a supporter of ecumenism. His mother was descended from the well-known Colonna family of Rome. He took his first lessons under Gaspare Viviani, the Latin vicar general in Candia, and was thus attuned to the symbiosis of Latin and Greek intellectualism at an early age. He began higher studies in Padua around 1569 (philology, philosophy, Scholastic theology, medicine). His fell…

[German Version] (or Zigadenos; 12th cent.), monk, theologian, and exegete in Constantinople. His magnum opus is a refutation of all heresies throughout church history, written in response to a directive from Emperor Alexius I (Πανοπλία δογματική/ Panoplía dogmatikḗ, comparable to the roughly contemporaneous Θησαυρός/ Thēsaurós of Nicetas Choniates). Also important are his commentaries (the last for Byzantium) on the Psalms, Gospels, and Epistles, outstanding for their philological precision, though otherwise they simply build on the work of John Chrysostom. Gerhard Podska…

[German Version] (Oct 8, 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – Mar 12, 1733, Paris), church historian, philologist, and controversial theologian. In 1681, he entered the Dominican order. In 1690 he published a monograph defending the Hebrew text of the Bible and the Vulgate translation, and between 1725 and 1731 he wrote several works on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations. In 1712, he had already published the works of John of Damascus in two volumes (PG 94–96; a third volume of “traces” never appeared). A…

[German Version] (Ioannikios: c. 1633/1635, Kephalonia, Greece – Aug 7, 1717, Moscow; Sofronios: c. 1652/1657, Kephalonia – Jun 19, 1730, Moscow), Greek theologians from a Byzantine aristocratic family, who were mainly active in Russia. After studying in Venice with Gerasimos Vlachos and at the University of Padua, they moved to Constantinople in 1683. In 1685, Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem appointed them to the newly established Academy in Moscow (fields: grammar, rhetoric, philosophy). In 1691, Scholastic theology was added (in Latin, following Thomas Aquinas, Quaestio de…

[German Version] (baptismal name: Michael; 1751, Corinth – Apr 16, 1805, Chios), relative of Chrysanthos Notaras. First a monk in Mega Spelaion (Peloponnese) monastery, then teacher in his home town; appointed as its metropolitan in 1764. Because of military conflicts with the Turks he was obliged to flee to Zakynthos, where he met Nicephorus Theotokis. His flight led to his deposition in 1773. Meanwhile he had got to know Nicodemus the Hagiorite on the island of Hydra; in later years (1777 and 17…

[German Version] (Georgios Scholarios or Curtuses; between 1400 and 1405, Constantinople – c. 1472, Prodromos Monastery, near Sérrai, Greece), Patriarch of Constantinople from Jan 6, 1454 to Jan 6, 1456, in April/May(?) 1463, and from August 1464 till fall 1465. He studied with Mark of Ephesus, Johannes Chortasmenos, and Josephos Bryennios. Around 1438, he became a teacher of physics/logic in Constantinople. He participated in the Council of Ferrara, and of Florence (Basel, Council of) as secretar…

[German Version] (c. 1320/30 – c. 1402) was the last Bulgarian patriarch of the Middle Ages (from 1375), a saint. Sometime after 1371, he founded the Trinity Monastery near Tŭrnovo; he was a great hagiographer. During the Ottoman capture of Tŭrnovo (Jul 17, 1393), he led the people abandoned by the tsar; after a fictive execution, he was banished and probably died in the monaster…

[German Version] (Jan 2, 1403, Trabzon – Nov 18, 1472, Ravenna) came to Constantinople around 1415 and became a monk in 1417/1418. He studied literature under John Chortasmenos and rhetoric under George Chrysokokkes; from 1431 to 1436, he studied philosophy with G. Gemisthos Plethon in Mistra. Ordained deacon in 1425 and priest in 1431, he became archbishop of…

[German Version] (c. 1324/1325, Thessaloniki – 1398, Crete), Byzantine minister of state, humanist, translator and theologian, and a productive author in many areas. So as to be able to dispense with translators in political negotiations, he learned Latin at the inspiration of a Dominican from Pera using the Summe contra Gentiles of Thomas Aquinas, which he later translated into Greek along with other works of Latin theology (from Augustine to Anselm of Canterbury to the Summa theologiae of Thomas and an anti-Islamic tractate) and defended in his own writings (esp. on the Filioque …

[German Version] (c. 1600, Karyai, Thracia – after 1693, Bucharest), an Orthodox lay theologian, Grand Logothet of the Ecumenical patriarchate (1676–1691), student of the Aristotelian Theophilos Korydaleus, and teacher. Since Caryophylles belonged to the circle surrounding Patriarch Cyril Lucaris, who was suspected of Calvinism, he also was subject to the same suspicion for more than a decade, primarily because, owing to his conservative rejection of a mixture of philosophy and theology and a more spiritual doctrine of the Eucharist ¶ preserving its mystery, he was unwillin…

[German Version] Archbishop of Caesarea (Cappadocia; 6th/7th cent.). The first extant commentary on the Apocalypse in Greek, after those of Melito of Sardis (Eus. Hist. eccl. IV, 26.2) and Origen (TU 38/3), was the work of Oecumenius, which Andrew attacked in his own anti-Origenistic and anti-dispensationalist commentary (between 563 and 614). At the same time, he defended the canonicity and inspiration of thi…

[German Version] (2nd half of the 14th cent., Constantinople – Sep, 1429, Thessalonica) was made archbishop of Thessalonica between June of 1416 and April of 1417; while there he had to endure the siege of the city by Sultan Murad II from 1422 until his death. His extensive writings include liturgical, dogmatic, and heresiological works. In the natural sciences, he recognized the superiority of the Latins; theologically, however, he was a convinced Palamite. His commentary on the Divine Liturgy and other services is still read. Gerhard Podskalsky Bibliography Works: PG 155 Συμεώv ἀρχι…

[German Version] (c. 1360, Constantinople – Jun 26, 1452, Mistra, Pelepponese), the last Byzantine philosopher (Neoplatonist; Neoplatonism) and social reformer. He studied Judaism and Zoroastrianism (Zarathustra) in Bursa; some time before 1414 he moved (banished?) to Mistra, where his students included Bessarion, Mark of Ephesus, and Laonicus Chalcocondyles. He participated in the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1437–1441; Basel), where he translated his original name Gemistos (“filled”) as Plethon, with deliberate echoes of Plato. He influenced the Italian Rena…

[German Version] (Markos Eugenikos, baptismal name Manuel; born Constantinople, 1391, died Constantinople, Jun 23, 1444/1445), conciliar theologian and ecclesiastical politician. He received a humanistic education in rhetoric from John Chortasmenos (Metropolitan Ignatius of Selymbria) and in philosophy from G.G. Plethon, but he was not an original thinker. His temperament led him in the direction of the monastic theology of G. Palamas. After becoming archbishop of Ephesus in 1437, as a delegate at the Council of Ferrara-Florence, he led the debate on the Filioque …

[German Version] (c. 1225, Nicea? – 1297, in the fortress of St. George near Nicomedia). After ordination to the diaconate, Beccus served as chartophylax (archivist) and chief sacristan of the Hagia Sophia; ultimately he became patriarch following the Second Council of Lyon (1274), which approved reunion with the Western Church. Beccus initially opposed the un…

[German Version] (c. 1290, Seminara, Calabria – 1348, Avignon) came to Constantinople as a monk in 1325, where he conducted a debate over philosophy and astronomy in 1330. He discussed theological issues with legates from Pope John XXI in 1334/1335 and wrote a series of treatises directed against the Filioque and papal primacy. He used a political mission to Avignon (1339) as an opportunity for unification discussions (Unions with …

[German Version] (1197/1198, Constantinople – 1271/1273) studied trivium/quadrivium at different places (Smyrna, Skamandros, Ephesus, Nymphaion, Nikaia), studied theology at Latros (1233). Blemmydes defended Greek interests position in union negotiations in 1234 and 1250. He made many journeys, including to Palestine (1237). In 1248 Blemmydes founded a monastery …

[German Version] (born 1300, Prilep, died before May, 1348, in exile) studied in Pelagonia (Bitola) and Thessalonica; he was acquainted with Palamas and NicephorusGregoras. After meeting with Barlaam of Calabria, he mediated between Barlaam and Palamas (1336) with regard to the former's anti-Latin writings concerning the indemonstrability of revelation. In 1337, after the start of the Palamite controversy, he engaged in another attempt at mediation; the final break came after the synod of 1341, which condemned Akindynos ( RAPC 2212). He was ord…

[German Version] (1669, Lixuri, island of Kefalonia – Aug 1, 1714, Patras), Greek preacher and controversial theologian, at first in the city of Venice, where he was studying (theology, Gk, Lat.); he officiated as bishop of Kernitza (Kalavryta, Peloponnese) from 1711 onward. His sermons, which became famous, were influenced by the great pulpit orators of France and Italy (Paolo Segneri the Elder SJ, J.-B. Bossuet, Louis Bourdaloue SJ, Jean-Baptiste Massillon), and were regarded as models by succee…

[German Version] (Neilos, also Nilus the Younger; c. 910 Rossano, province of Cosenza, Calabria – Sep 26, 1004, abbey of Sant’Agata, on the Via Latina). Probably married in his youth, he became a Basilian monk in 940, initially as a hermit. Later he founded a monastery in Rossano, but Saracen raids induced him to leave Calabria. After a period in the monastery of Vallelucio (from 979), in 994 he founded the monastery of Serperi near Gaëta, where in 999 he received Emperor Otto III after Otto’s pil…

[German Version] (before 1540, Monemvasia, Greece – Oct 21, 1616, Venice) was the most important metropolitan of Philadelphia (see: Venice). In 1572, he came to Venice as a monk and became the pastor of the Greek parish there. Gabriel corresponded with many scholars, including Martin Crusius, and advocated the Gregorian calendar reform and the common celebration of Easter (Paschal/Easter calendrical controversies) with the Latins (1589/90). He became entangled in a long polemic with Maximus Margunius over the egression of the Holy Spirit ( Filioque ). Signifi…

[German Version] 1. Johannes (1498, Nauplion, Peloponnesus – 1580, Constantinople). After studying in Padua, Zygomalas worked as a notary in his native town; after 1555 he served at the patriarchal academy in Constantinople as rhetor and didaskalos. His theological work was insignificant (an attack on the use of unleavened bread); he was only marginally involved in the correspondence with the Tübingen theologians. At the behest of the patriarch, in 1576/1577 he pursued the totally unrealistic plan of trying to persuade the German …

[German Version] 1. Neilos Metropolitan of Thessalonica 1361–1363 (baptismal name: Nikolaos; end of the 13th cent., Thessalonica – 1363, Thessalonica), was the uncle of the more famous theologian Nikolaos Kabasilas (2.). After the synod of 1341, he changed from a fervent admirer of Thomas Aquinas ( Summa theologica; Summa contra Gentiles, in the translation by his student D. Cydones) to a polemical adherent of Palamism which radically rejected the scholastic method (on the major points: filioque , papal primacy), and, consequently, was also elected…