Scholarios, Gennadios

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SCHOLARIOS, GENNADIOS (c. 1400–1478), born Georgios Scholarios and also known as Georgios Kourtesios, was a patriarch of Constantinople (1454–1456; 1463; 1464–1465), educator, philosopher, theologian, and defender of Orthodox Christianity. Born in Constantinople, Scholarios began as a student of Mark Eugenikos, metropolitan of Ephesus, an opponent of the papacy. Later, Gennadios schooled himself in the humanities, philosophy, and theology. Unlike most Greeks of the time, Gennadios also learned Latin and was an admirer of Thomas Aquinas, some of whose works he translated into Greek. While still a layman, he preached regularly at court, taught in his own school, and served the Byzantine emperor John VIII (1425–1448) as imperial secretary and Judge General of the Greeks.

Gennadios has usually been pictured as a supporter of the union of the Latin and Greek churches at the abortive Council of Florence (1438–1439), but he subsequently made an about-face following the death of his teacher, Mark of Ephesus, and became the leader of antipapal forces during the last days of Byzantium. In fact, his complete change in attitude had caused some scholars to believe that there was more than one person named Georgios Scholarios. Recent scholarship, however, has unanimously discarded the latter notion. Moreover, the latest substantive study on Scholarios questions the authenticity of some of the pro-Latin writings attributed to him, so that according to this view, Scholarios was consistent in his opposition to Latin theology, and, therefore, to the union of churches based on the acceptance of Latin doctrines.

Shortly before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (1453), Scholarios became a monk, and according to tradition changed his name from Georgios to Gennadios. Taken captive following the capture of the city, he was released at the instigation of Sultan Mehmed II, who saw in Gennadios, because of his antipapal views, the ideal candidate for the vacant patriarchal throne. Enthroned on January 6, 1454, Patriarch Gennadios maintained a friendly relationship with the sultan, and together they worked out the terms under which Orthodox Christians would live under the Ottomans for the next five centuries.

Despite the friendship of Mehmed II, however, Gennadios's tenure as patriarch was a stormy one. He strove to retain order within the Orthodox church, and in order to prevent conversions to Islam attempted to relax marriage canons; however, he was opposed by those who demanded strict adherence to the letter of the law. Gennadios was successful in reorganizing the Patriarchal Academy in Serres (present-day Serrai, Greece), recognizing the important need of a higher institution of learning for the training of the future leaders of the Greek people and church. After serving as patriarch for three brief terms, he finally abandoned the throne and took up residence in the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Serres.

Joseph Gill's Personalities of the Council of Florence and Other Essays (Oxford, 1964) presents the traditional view on Scholarios. The revisionist perspective can be found in Theodore Zissis's Gennadios II Scholarios: Bios, sungrammata, didaskalia (Thessalonica, 1980).