December 1025-1043 A.D. Alexius I the Studite—Constantinople’s 101st;
Alexius of Constantinople
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Alexius
Studites (Greek: Ἀλέξιος ὁ Στουδίτης), Patriarch of
Constantinople, was a member of the Monastery of
Stoudios(founded
462), succeeded Eustathius as Patriarch in 1025, the last of the Patriarchs appointed by the emperor Basil II.
Contents
Patriarchate
Alexius set out to reform the
church institution of the charistike.
The institution of the charistike
dorea (donation), which
recent research dates to the period just after the Triumph of
Orthodoxy (843). Effectively, it involved the donation of monasteries to private
individuals unrelated to the establishments founders, for a limited period of
time. Ostensibly undertaken so that the monastery buildings could be repaired
or conserved and the estate out to good use, while at the same time protecting
and preserving its spiritual functions, in actuality it was widely abused by
the landed gentry and so became a source of abused patronage by high church
officials and a tool against the powerful monastic establishment.[1] Alexius tried to temper the worst abused of the
notorious charistike by appointing through Synodal
legislation the patriarch's chancellor, the chartophylax, as the official to serve as the final point of
approval for all grants under the system. Alexius also restricted the granting
ofcharistike to
non-dioceesan monasteries. The fact that Alexius sought reform over abolishment
of the charistike dorea likely shows the inability of the
Church to claim back many of these properties from the powerful land-owning
elite who held them.[2]
He promoted the zealous
actions of John of Melitene whose interest it was to limit the influence of the Syro Jacobite
Church in the south east of the Byzantine Empire, especially in the newly
conquered themes of Mesopotamia and Telouch. For this reason the Syro-Jacobite Patriarch John VIII bar Abdoun was arrested and brought to trial in Constantinople
and then forced into a monastery on Mt. Ganos. In 1034 he crowned Michael IV
the Paphlagonian, the favorite of Byzantine empress Zoë, who, to make way for him, procured the death of
her husband, the Emperor Romanos III
Argyros. He
thwarted the attempts of John the
Orphanotrophos (the emperor's brother) to gain the patriarchal see in 1036, and died in
1043.
Typikon
Alexios Studites also
established a monastery for which he wrote the rule (typikon) which was then used as the rule for the Kiev
Monastery of the Caves.
Decrees of his are still extant.[3][4][5] He is noted for the elevated style employed in the
numerous decrees of his which have survived.
Synod decrees
The synod decrees are unusual
for their number and the fact they are dated precisely. 1027 (Grumel 832)
1027 (Grumel 833)
1027-1030 (Grumel 834)
1028 (Grumel 835)
1030 (Grumel 839)
1038 (Grumel 840)
1034 (Grumel 841)
1037 (Grumel 842)
1038 (Grumel 844)
1038 (Grumel 845)
1039 (Grumel 846)
1030-1040 (Grumel 848)
undated (Grumel 847,849, 850)
1027 (Grumel 833)
1027-1030 (Grumel 834)
1028 (Grumel 835)
1030 (Grumel 839)
1038 (Grumel 840)
1034 (Grumel 841)
1037 (Grumel 842)
1038 (Grumel 844)
1038 (Grumel 845)
1039 (Grumel 846)
1030-1040 (Grumel 848)
undated (Grumel 847,849, 850)
Bibliography
- F. Lauritzen, Against the Enemies of Tradition, Alexios Studites and the Synodikon of Orthodoxy in A. Rigo and P. Ermilov, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Byzantium, Roma 2010.
- J. Thomas and A. Constantinides, eds., Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks, 1998.
- A. Pentkovsky, Typikon Patriarxa Aleksija Studita v Vizantii i na Rusi, Moscow 2001,
References
1. Jump up^ Thomas and Constantinides, eds., pp. 49, 305. See also:
"The Middle Byzantine Period"", accessed athttp://www.fhw.gr/chronos/09/en/k/867/main/k10a.html, Jan 2011.
4. Jump up^ Christie, Albany James (1867). "Alexius I of Constantinople". In William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 131.
|
Preceded by
Eustathius |
Patriarch
of Constantinople
1025–1043 |
Succeeded by
Michael I Cerularius |
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