November 907-912 A.D. Euthymius I Synkellos—Constantinople’s 90th; Chaos in the Imperial & Church House
Euthymius I Synkellos (907–912) and Nicholas I Mystikos (912–925) was restored.
Euthymius I of Constantinople
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Euthymius I Syncellus (Greek: Εὐθύμιος Α΄ ὁ Σύγκελλος, ca. 834 – 5 August 917) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople from 907 to 912. A monk since his youth, he became spiritual father of the
future Leo VI the Wise, and was raised by him to the high ecclesiastical office of syncellus. Despite his turbulent relationship with Leo, in
907 he was appointed to the patriarchate and held the post until his deposition
shortly before or after Leo's death in 912.
Contents
Life
Euthymius was born in Seleucia in Isauria ca. 834, and became a monk at an early age.[1] Following stints at the monastic community of Mount Olympus and a monastery near Nicomedia, Euthymius came to the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, where he entered the monastery of St. Theodore, in the capital's
outskirts.[2] Euthymius had a relationship with the Patriarch Ignatius, whom he alludes to as his master, and it is
probably during Ignatius' second tenure on the patriarchal throne (867–877)
that he was appointed as the spiritual father of the prince Leo, the eldest son
of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian (ruled 867–886) and future emperor as Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). Indeed, as the historian Shaun Tougher argues in her study of
Leo's reign, Euthymius was possibly the spiritual father of all of Basil's
sons.[3]
Euthymius supported him in his
conflict with his father over his affair with Zoe Zaoutzaina, and after Basil's death Leo's accession to the throne, he was rewarded by
being appointed as abbot of a monastery in the Psamathia quarter in Constantinople, as well as becoming a
member of the Byzantine Senate.[1][4] Soon after (according to P. Karlin-Hayter in late 888 or early 889[5]) he was also named to the post of syncellus succeeding Leo's own brother Stephen, who since December 886 was also Patriarch.[1][6] This was an important office in the Byzantine ecclesiastical hierarchy, and
several of its holders had subsequently advanced to the patriarchate.[7] Despite his closeness to the new emperor, Euthymius' relationship with Leo
was "notoriously stormy" (S. Tougher), and perhaps explains why did
not succeed to the patriarchal throne until 907.[7]
Thus Euthymius supported Leo's
first wife, Theophano, and dissuaded her from seeking a divorce due to
the emperor's neglect and his continued cohabitation with his long-time
mistress Zoe Zaoutzaina.[8] After Theophano's death, Euthymius opposed Leo's second marriage to Zoe
Zaoutzaina due to her ill repute, which earned him a two-year confinement in
the monastery of St. Diomedes.[9] Euthymius was also an advocate of the traditional aristocracy, and at odds
with Leo's "foreign" (i.e. non-Byzantine Greek and of non-aristocratic origin) advisers, such as the Armenian minister Stylianos Zaoutzes, the Arab eunuch chamberlain Samonas, or the Italian Nicholas Mystikos, who preceded Euthymius on the patriarchal throne.[1] His rivalry with Stylianos Zaoutzes in particular is a major theme of his
hagiography, where Zaoutzes is represented as an all-powerful minister whose
ambitions and machinations are responsible for all errors and calamities of the
reign, and with whom Euthymius was engaged in a battle "for the prize of
Leo's soul". How far Stylianos' reported dominance reflects reality is
questioned by S. Tougher, who points out that Leo does not seem to have simply
followed Stylianos' initiative, but to have retained control of affairs
throughout his reign.[10]
As Zoe Zaoutzaina died in 899,
after giving birth to a daughter, Anna, Leo pursued a — normally un-canonical — third marriage, to Eudokia Baïana, in hopes of having a male heir. Indeed, a boy named Basil was born in
Easter 901, but Eudokia died during childbirth and was soon followed by the
baby.[11] Undeterred, the emperor took a mistress, Zoe Karbonopsina, and in September 905 he was finally able to celebrate the birth of the
future Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. The fact that the child's mother was the
emperor's mistress caused trouble with leading Church officials, and Leo was
forced to promise to separate from Zoe as a precondition for the infant's
ceremonial baptism by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos in the Hagia Sophia. Euthymius too was persuaded to act as one of Constantine's godfathers in
the ceremony, which took place in January 906.[12]Despite his pledge to separate from Zoe, however, Leo now was determined to
legitimize both her and their son by a fourth marriage, something utterly
forbidden by canon law on pain of excommunication. Patriarch Nicholas initially supported the emperor in his efforts to
secure a grant of economy, but the Church leadership was vehemently opposed, forcing Nicholas too to
change sides. As the impasse continued, in February 907 Nicholas was dismissed
by the emperor, and Euthymius was appointed in his stead.[1][13]
Despite Euthymius' notorious
stubbornness, which probably had discouraged Leo from raising him to the
patriarchate sooner, he proved willing to grant the emperor economy, aided by
the assent of the other patriarchates of thePentarchy. Leo nevertheless was forced to do penance to
atone for his marriage, and to pass a law excluding anyone from ever again
marrying for a fourth time. As a result of the settlement, on 15 May 908
Euthymius crowned the infant Constantine VII as co-emperor.[14]
Euthymius' tenure failed to
restore tranquillity in the Church, and after Leo's death in May 912, or
perhaps already before, he was deposed by a synod convened at Magnaura in favour of Nicholas, who was recalled from exile.
Euthymius was exiled to the monastery of Agathou, where he died on 5 August
917.[1][4]
Hagiography and writings
Euthymius' hagiography, the Vita Euthymii, or The Life of Euthymius, was
apparently written in the years 920/25 according to P. Karlin-Hayter, or,
according to D. Sophianos, soon after 932. Its author is unknown, but, in the
words of S. Tougher, "he had an insider's perspective on court affairs
during [Leo VI's] reign", and is consequently one of the "richest
sources for the period from the death of Basil I to the early years of
Constantine VII" (A. Kazhdan). However, despite offering a vivid portrait
of Leo and his court, with eye-witness anecdotes that illustrate the emperor's
character, as a source it is limited due to its focus on, and bias in favour
of, Euthymius, as well as due to the fact that several sections are missing.[1][15][16] The single surviving manuscript was kept in Berlin and vanished during World War II, but the Vita exists in several critical editions:[17]
- C. de Boor (1888). Vita Euthymii, Ein Anecdoton zur Geschichte Leos des Weisen (in German). Berlin.
- P. Karlin-Hayter (1955/57). "Vita St. Euthymii". Byzantion. 25/27: 1–172, 747–778. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - P. Karlin-Hayter (1971). Vita Euthymii Patriarchae CP: Text, translation, introduction and commentary. Bibliotheque de Byzantion 3. Brussels.
- A. P. Kazhdan (1959). Две византийские хроники X века: Псамафийская хроника — Иоанн Камениата, Взятие Фессалоники (in Russian). Moscow.
- A. Alexakis (2006). Γάμοι, κηδεῖες καὶ αὐτοκρατορικὲς μεταμέλειες. Ὁ βίος τοῦ πατριάρχη Εὐθυμίου (in Greek). Athens: Kanakis. ISBN 960-7420-91-8.
Euthymius' own writings are
few and relatively insignificant, comprising sermons on the conception of St. Anne and an homily on the Virgin Mary.[1] His contemporary Arethas of Caesarea also wrote a panegyric in his honour, but according to A. Kazhdan "it
is conventional and provides only limited data".[1]
References
4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Εὐθύμιος Α´" (in Greek). Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
Sources
- Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Euthymios". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 755–756. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Krönung, Bettina (2010). "Life of Euthymius, patriarch of Constantinople". In Thomas, David; Mallett, Alex. Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, Volume 2 (900-1050). Leiden and Boston: BRILL. pp. 192–195. ISBN 978-90-04-16976-0.
- Tougher, Shaun (1997). The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-10811-0.
Further reading
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Patriarch Euthymius I of Constantinople.
|
- Bees, Nikos (1944). "Η βιογραφία του Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχου Ευθυμίου Α' αντιβαλλόμενη προς τον Βερολίνειον κώδικα Graec. fol. 55 [ = 291 ]". Praktika tes Akademias Athenon (in Greek) 19: 105–120.
- Sophianos, Demetrios Z. (1971). "Ὁ Βίος τοῦ Ἁγίου Εὐθυμίου (Vita Euthymii), πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως († 917) καὶ ὁ χρόνος συγγραφῆς αὐτοῦ". Epeteris Etaireias Byzantinon Spoudon (in Greek) 38: 289–296.
|
Preceded by
Nicholas I Mystikos |
Patriarch
of Constantinople
907–912 |
Succeeded by
Nicholas I Mystikos |
No comments:
Post a Comment