Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης circa 730, Constantinople. Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου February 18, 806, Constantinople

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1 Περίληψη : The patriarch of Constantinople Tarasios ( ) was among the leading figures during the first restoration of icons after fifty years of iconoclastic policy pursued by the Byzantine emperors. He was the first secular who ascended the patriarchal throne without previously being a priest, as he had served exclusively in the imperial administration. This is a fact of particular historical importance for Tarasios. He was sainted by the Orthodox Church thanks to the role he played in the restoration of icons, but his case showed that the character of the spiritual power had changed and a new relation with the secular power had was established, which was to become even more evident in the case of his relative Photios more than half a century later. Τόπος και Χρόνος Γέννησης circa 730, Constantinople Τόπος και Χρόνος Θανάτου February 18, 806, Constantinople Κύρια Ιδιότητα clergyman, patriarch of Constantinople 1. Birth Parentage Patriarch Tarasios (served from December 25, 784 until February 18, 806) was possibly born around 730, 1 in any case much before 750, 2 in Constantinople. As it happens with several leading figures between the 7 th and the 9 th centuries, little biographical information about Patriarch Tarasios has survived. The only verified dates of his life concern his tenure. Tarasios was born into a Constantinople-settled eminent family, whose members held senior titles and key posts in the Byzantine society. His father Georgios was a patrikios, quaestor and prefect of Constantinople (praefectus urbi). His paternal grandfather was Sisinios, a patrikios and comes ton Exkoubiton. His mother was Egkrateia and her father, also called Tarasios, was reportedly a patrikios too. 3 As a result, Tarasios was descended from two families of patrikioi, while his name possibly indicates that his mother s family was from Asia Minor and supposedly related to the Isaurians. 4 The subsequent Patriarch Photios ( , ) was also descended from Tarasios family. Photios considered his ancestor his father s uncle, although Tarasios was possibly his grandfather s uncle Education Upbringing Due to the lack of sources and historical evidence the nature and extent of education Tarasios had cannot be exactly assessed. On the other hand, it is absolutely certain that in the Byzantine capital he received an excellent secular education, which offered him a brilliant secular career, senior administrative posts and a position very close to the emperor. It is known that at some point Tarasios held the titles of consul and protasekretis, although the period he assumed these posts remains unclear. According to a subsequent hagiographical text, his Life, Tarasios also studied theology, but the accuracy of the information is questioned. 3. Activities Tarasios was consecrated patriarch of Constantinople at Christmas of 784, when the imperial throne was occupied by Eirene Athenaia, the widow (from September 780) of Emperor Leo IV. Eirene was an Iconoclasm and determined to take the decisive step towards restoring icons, thus hoping to put an end to the political and religious dispute of Iconoclasm, which had lasted for more than fifty years. The consecration of the former imperial servant Tarasios, who held the secular post of protasekretis before he became a patriarch, was a move aiming at securing the support of the ecclesiastical leadership for the imperial plans. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 1/7

2 Τhe fact that Tarasios was a layman when he became a patriarch, which means that he received the three ranks of the clergy in a very short period, did not provoke any reactions in Byzantium, where his election took the form of a referendum, 6 with the exception of the weak protest of Pope Hadrian I ( ), who also desired the restoration of icons. However, the decision of Eirene Athenaia to offer the patriarchal throne to a layman had no precedent and must have made a strong impression on her contemporaries, as evidenced by the relevant quotation from Chronographia of Theophanes, who quotes the speech Tarasios delivered on the day he was elected. The writer reports that Tarasios at first had refused to accept the highest spiritual office. 7 Patriarch Tarasios and Empress Eirene began the preparations for the ecumenical council that was to restore icons. On July 31, 786 the council was convened in Constantinople only to be abruptly interrupted by iconoclast soldiers of the imperial guard, for Iconoclasm had always fervent supporters among the army, who chased out the participating bishops. The proceedings continued in the following year 787 in Nicaea, where in seven meetings from September 24 until October 13 the decisions of the iconoclastic 754 council were cancelled and the restoration of icons was decided. This clause of the seventh Ecumenical Council was read on October 23, 787 before Empress Eirene and her seventeen-year old son Constantine VI in the palace of Magnaura; it was ratified and signed by the emperors. However, his role in the restoration of icons did not prevent Patriarch Tarasios from disputing with the fanatical monks of Byzantium, the so-called zealots, due to their inflexible views and their devotion to the strict monastic rules. The zealots criticised Tarasios for his moderate attitude towards the iconoclast bishops, who, after they were banned from exercising their duties for one year as a light penalty, were accepted again by the Church. The stern monastic circles were against the prevalence of the generally moderate attitude of the ecclesiastical leadership towards the state purposes and the secular power in general and this dispute was to last for a long time within the Church. 8 The most important and eminent rivals of Tarasios in this dispute were Plato, abbot of Sakoudion Monastery, and his nephew Theodore, later known as Theodore of Stoudios, abbot ( ) of the monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople. A new conflict broke out in 795 on the occasion of the second wedding of the young Emperor Constantine VI. Constantine had managed to throw off the guardianship of his ambitious mother and was ruling as the only emperor supported by the iconoclast soldiers of Asia Minor, therefore he was bitterly opposed by the monastic circles. But his decision to get married for a second time selecting the bride all by himself (as his first wife had been chosen by his mother, Eirene, in 788) provoked the resentment of the fanatical Orthodox ecclesiastical side and its final rupture with the emperor. Plato and Theodore of Stoudios accused Patriarch Tarasios, who was quite conciliatory, of approving the adultery. The emperor exiled them to Thessaloniki but the dispute ended in 797, when Empress Eirene assumed power again as the only ruler after blinding her own son Constantine VI. Plato and Theodore returned from the exile and Patriarch Tarasios sent an apologetic letter to Plato asking for unity. Despite the professed resentment of monastic circles against him, Tarasios generally pursued a pro-monastic ecclesiastical policy. He was the donor and patron of the monastery of Agii Pantes on the European coast of the Bosporus and possibly maintained a close relationship with the monastic centre of Olympos, Bithynia. In addition, Tarasios was an important philanthropist who financially supported and took care of the poor by giving them a monthly allowance, food and clothes. At Easter he used to entertain the poor and provide them with lavish meals served in the ruins of the old palace. Besides, he founded a hospital and houses for the poor. Finally, he adopted drastic measures against simony (bishops getting illicit gain in order to ordain priests) by introducing the free ordination and promotion of priests. 4. Last References to Patriarch Tarasios Death In 802, after Eirene was deposed from the throne, Nikephoros, serving as logothetes tou genikou until then, was crowned emperor by Patriarch Tarasios. Next summer Tarasios probably collaborated with Nikephoros I in the suppression of the rebellion of Bardanes Tourkos. Shortly later, at Christmas of 803, he crowned Nikephoros son, Staurakios, co-emperor of the empire in Hagia Sophia. This is the last reference to Patriarch Tarasios. He died on February 18, 806, run down by the disease that towards the end of his life deprived him of the ability to speak. His dead body was taken on the fourth day of the first week of the Great Lent to the Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 2/7

3 monastery of Agii Pantes he had built. Tarasios was sainted after his death. The Orthodox Church celebrates his memory on February 25. In the mid-9 th century the monk Ignatios wrote a hagiographical Life of the patriarch titled Ιγνατίουμοναχούμερικήεξήγησιςειςτονβίοντουεναγίοιςπατρόςημών TαρασίουαρχιεπισκόπουγεγονότοςτηςθεοφυλάκτουΚωνσταντινουπόλεως, where Tarasios is presented as a figure of elevated ascetic character, abstinence and zeal despite his secular roots Works Despite his education, Patriarch Tarasios left no important works. It is quite certain that the decisions of the iconoclastic council of 754 were refuted and retracted during the seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea to a large extent due to Tarasios, while his interventions during the council prove that he was an approved expert on canons. Some of his letters have also survived, as it happens with a Homily delivered on the Presentation of Virgin Mary and the speech he made when he was elected patriarch. However, there is no corpus revealing his character as a writer. In addition, some metrical dream-reading texts preserved in a manuscript kept at the Archaeological Museum of Herakleion, Crete (Cod. 22), and unknown until recently are also attributed to Tarasios. An annotated edition came out in 1996 by T. Detorakes Evaluation Tarasios was among the most important figures of ecclesiastical hierarchy in the early phase of Iconoclasm, which he managed to settle. He served as patriarch of Constantinople from 784 until 806 and was highly competent particularly in his diplomatic relations with the bishops of Southern Italy and Sicily, who were under the administration of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and had a great impact on the ecclesiastical conscience of the West. His ascension to the patriarchal throne and the policy he pursued as well as his dispute with the monks inaugurated a new era in the relations between the ecclesiastical and the secular power as well as a division within the Church, which was to last throughout the following centuries. 1. Beck, H.-G., Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich (München 1959), p Efthymiadis, St. (ed.), The Life of the Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon (Birmingham 1998), p Efthymiadis, St. (ed.), The Life of the Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon (Birmingham 1998), from p. 8 onwards. 4. Efthymiadis, St. (ed.), The Life of the Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon (Birmingham 1998), p Mango, C., The Liquidation of Iconoclasm and the Patriarch Photios, in Bryer, A. Herrin, J. (ed.), Iconoclasm (Birmingham 1977), pp [= C. Mango, Byzantium and its Image, V.R. (London 1984), no. XIII]. 6. Ostrogorsky, G., Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού Κράτους, vol. II (Athens 1997), pp de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia (Lipsiae 1883), pp Ostrogorsky, G., Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού Κράτους, vol. II (Athens 1997), p For a translated edition of his Life including comments and preface, see Efthymiadis, S. (ed.), Life of the Patriarch Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon. Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs 4, (Hampshire 1998). Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 3/7

4 10. Detorakes, Th., Τα βυζαντινά ονειροκριτικά. Δύο νέα χειρόγραφα, Palimpseston 16 (1996), pp Βιβλιογραφία : Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, Halkin, F. (επιμ.), Subsidia Hagiographica 8, Bruxelles 1957 Speck P., Kaiser Konstantin VI. Die Legimation einer fremden und der Versuch einer eigenen Herrschaft 1, München 1978 Θεοφάνης, Χρονογραφία, de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia, Leipzig 1883 Χριστοφιλοπούλου Α., Βυζαντινή Ιστορία 2:1, Θεσσαλονίκη 1993 Treadgold W.T., The Byzantine Revival , Stanford California 1988 Ευστρατιάδης Σ., Αγιολόγιον της Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας, Αθήνα 1960 Beck H.-G., Kirche und theologische Litteratur im Byzantinischen Reich, München 1959 Lilie R.J., Byzanz unter Eirene und Konstantin VI. ( ), Frankfurt am Main 1996, Berliner Byzantinische Studien 2 Kazhdan A., Sherry L., Angelidi C., A History of Byzantine Literature ( ), Athens 1999 Niavis P. E., The Reign of the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I (AD ), Athens 1987, Ιστορικές Μονογραφίες 3 Lilie R.J., Die Patriarchen der ikonoklastischen Zeit. Germanos I.- Methodios I. ( ), Frankfurt/M. u.a., Lang 1999, Berliner Byzantinistische Studien, 5 Rochow I., Byzanz im 8. Jahrhundert in der Sicht des Theophanes. Quellenkritisch - historischer Kommentar zu den Jahren , Berlin 1991, Berliner Byzantinische Arbeiten 57 Καραγιαννόπουλος Ι., Ιστορία του Βυζαντινού Κράτους, Θεσσαλονίκη 1987 Detorakes Th., "Τα βυζαντινά ονειροκριτικά. Δύο νέα χειρόγραφα", Palimpseston, 16, 1996, Efthymiadis S., "On the Hagiographical Work of Ignatius the Deacon", Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 41, 1991, da Costa - Louillet G., "Saints de Constantinople aux VIIIe, IXe et Xe siècles", Byzantion, 24, 1954, Janin R., "Tarasios", Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, 15, Paris 1946, Kazhdan A., "Tarasios", Kazhdan, Α. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3, New York Oxford 1991, 2011 Buchwald W., Hohlweg A., Prinz O., "Ταράσιος", Φούρλας Α. Λώλος Α. (επιμ.), Tusculum Λεξικόν Ελλήνων και Λατίνων συγγραφέων της Αρχαιότητας και του Μεσαίωνα, τόμ. Α, Αθήνα 1993, 467 Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 4/7

5 Ιγνάτιος Διάκονος, Βίος αγίου Ταρασίου Πατριάρχη Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Efthymiadis, S. (ed.), Life of the Patriarch Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon, Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs 4, Aldershot 1998 Ιγνάτιος Διάκονος, Επιστολαί, Efthymiadis, St. Mango, C. (επιμ.), The Correspondence of Ignatios the Deacon, Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. Series Washingtonensis 39 (=Dumbarton Oaks Texts 11), Washington, D.C Halkin F., Hagiologie byzantine.texts inédits publiés en grec et traduits en français, Subsidia Hagiographica 71, Bruxelles 1986 Λέων Γραμματικός, Χρονογραφία, Bekker, Ι. (επιμ.), Leonis Grammatici Chronographia, Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae, Bonn 1842 Γεώργιος Κεδρηνός, Σύνοψις Ιστοριών, Bekker, Ι. (ed.), Georgius Cedrenus Ioannis Scylitzae ope, Ι-ΙΙ, Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae, Bonn Ι: 1838 ΙΙ: 1939 Θεόδωρος Στουδίτης, Επιτάφιος εις Πλάτωνα, J. P. Migne (επιμ.), Patrologia Graeca 99 Δικτυογραφία : Tarasios Tarasios, Patriarch von Konstantinopel, Heiliger Γλωσσάριo : consul, -lis An official of the Roman state. In the period of the Republic, it was the highest military and political office: two consuls were elected each year. The consular office survived into the Imperial period (and further into the early Byzantine period), becoming a honorary post. logothetes tou genikou Συμπληρώστε την περιγραφή στην γλώσσα μετάφρασης patrikios (from lat. patricius) Higher title of honour, placed, according to the "Tactika" of the 9th and the 10th centuries, between anthypatos and protospatharios. It was given to the most important governors and generals. Gradually, however, it fell into disuse and from the 12th century did not exist any more. praefectus urbi (prefect of the city) (later referred to as the eparch of the city) Αdministrator and virtual governor of Constantinople in the Early/Middle Byzantine Era. He was responsible for the surveillance and the harmonius life of the Capital. One of his responsibilities was to control the commercial and manufacturing activities of Constantinople. After 1204, however, the office began to diminish, while from the 14th century, his responsibilities were assumed by two officers, the so-called kephalatikeuontai of the capital. questor (lat. quaestor, -oris) or quaesitor Antiquity. Elected officials who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers. Byzantium. Q. derived from the Latin quaestor; orginally high-ranking legal officials, drafter of laws, later a judicial official of lesser rank. In the Early Byzantine period q. was a powerful official. 1.) q. of the sacred palace (Lat. quaestor sacri palatii), high-ranking official of the late Roman Empire, an office created by Constantine I. The quaestor was originally responsible for drafting imperial laws. His judicial rights were relatively insignificant, but as the emperor's closest adviser in legal questions he acquired enormous influence. 2.) In 539 Justinian I introduced another office called quaesitor (called also simply quaestor), involving police and judicial power in Constantinople, esp. control over newcomers settling in the capital. During the Middle Byzantine period quaestor had lost his earlier prestige, some of his functions having been transferred to the Logothethetes tou Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 5/7

6 dromou, the Epi ton Deeseion. He was considered one of the judes (kritai). The quaestor survived at least until the 14th C., when he occupied 45th place in the hierarchy, but this was only an honorary position. Πηγές Valuable sources for Tarasios: a) ο Βίος του, Efthymiadis, St. (ed.), Life of the Patriarch Tarasios by Ignatios the Deacon, Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs 4 (Aldershot 1998), pp b) οι επιστολές του Ιγνατίου Διακόνου, Efthymiadis, St. Mango, C., The Correspondence of Ignatios the Deacon. Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. Series Washingtonensis 39 (Dumbarton Oaks Texts 11, Washington, D.C. 1997), no. 31, 33, 43. Other sources: a) historical works de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia (Lipsiae 1883), pp Bekker, I. (ed.), Georgius Cedrenus Ioannis Scylitzae ope, Ι, Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae (Bonn 1838), pp Bekker, Ι. (ed.), Leonis Grammatici Chronographia, Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae (Bonn 1842), pp Tafel, T. (ed.), Theodosii Melitene, Chronographia (Münich 1859), pp b) hagiological texts Bίος Θεοφύλακτου Nικομηδείας Bʹ (Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca 2452), in F. Halkin, Hagiologie byzantine. Texts inédits publiés en grec et traduits en français, Subsidia Hagiographica 71 (Bruxelles 1986), pp Bίος Eιρήνης Aθηναίας, in Halkin, F., Deux impératrices de Byzance, Analecta Bollandiana (1988), pp Θεοδώρου Στουδίτου, Επιτάφιος εις Πλάτωνα, in Migne, J. P. (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 99, col Παραθέματα Eirene Athenaia promotes Tarasios to the patriarchal throne Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει συναγαγοῦσα ἡ βασίλισσα Εἰρήνη πάντα τὸν λαὸν εἰς τὴν Μαγναῦραν ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς «γιγνώσκετε, ἀδελφοί, τί πεποίηκε Παῦλος ὁ πατριάρχης [...] ἐπὶ δέ, ὡς τῷ θεῷ ἀρεστὸν ἦν, τοῦ βίου μετέστη, φροντίσωμεν ἄνθρωπον, ὅς τις δύναται ποιμᾶναι ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιστηρίξαι λόγοις διδασκαλικοῖς.» πάντες δὲ ὁμοφρόνως εἶπον μὴ εἶναι ἄλλον, εἰ μὴ Ταράσιον τὸν ἀσηκρήτην. ἡ δὲ ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς «καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸν αὐτὸν ψηφιζόμεθα, ἀλλ ἀπειθεῖ. καὶ εἴπῃ δι ἣν αἰτίαν οὐ δέχεται τὴν ψήφον τῆς βασιλείας καὶ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ. de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia (Lipsiae 1883), p The Recessional of Saint Tarasios of Constantinople Ὀρθοδοξίας δόγμασι, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν φαιδρύνας, καὶ Χριστοῦ μακάριε, τὴν σεβασμίαν Εἰκόνα, σέβεσθαι καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι πᾶσιν διδάξας, ἤλεγξας Εἰκονομάχων ἄθεον δόγμα. διὰ τοῦτο σοὶ βοῶμεν. Ὢ Πάτερ, χαίροις σοφὲ Ταράσιε. Χρονολόγιο Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 6/7

7 circa 730 / much before 750: Birth of Tarasios in Constantinople before 784: Consul and protasekretis December 25, 784: Patriarch of Constantinople September 24 - October 13, 787: Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea presided by Patriarch Tarasios. Restoration of icons. February 18, 806: Death of Patriarch Tarasios in Constantinople Βοηθ. Κατάλογοι Preserved works by Tarasios of Constantinople Epistulae (Letters), in Migne, J.P. (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 98, col Apologeticus ad populum (Apology to the people), in Migne, J.P. (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 98, col , and in de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia (Lipsiae 1883), pp Oratio in SS. Dei Matrem in templum deductam (Speech delivered on the Presentation of Virgin Mary), in Migne, J.P. (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 98, col A liturgical canon attributed to Tarasios, in Pitra, J., Analecta sacra spicilegio Solesmensi parata I (Paris 1876), pp Two metrical dream reading works attributed to Tarasios, Th. Detorakes, Τα βυζαντινά ονειροκριτικά. Δύο νέα χειρόγραφα, Palimpseston 16 (1996), pp About the icon worshipping texts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, whose largest part is attributed to Tarasios, see Mansi, J.D., Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, ΧIII (reprint Graz 1962), pp Δημιουργήθηκε στις 12/2/2017 Σελίδα 7/7