Arsenius Apostolius ( el, Ἀρσένιος Ἀποστόλιος or Ἀρσένιος Ἀποστόλης; c. 1468 – 1538) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
scholar who lived for a long time in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. He was also bishop of
Monemvasia
Monemvasia ( el, Μονεμβασιά, Μονεμβασία, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located on a small island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. The island is connected t ...
in the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
.
Life
Arsenius Apostolius was born about 1468 in
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
and in 1492 he moved to Italy. He was the son of
Michael Apostolius
Michael Apostolius ( el, Μιχαὴλ Ἀποστόλιος or Μιχαὴλ Ἀποστόλης; in Constantinople – after 1474 or 1486, possibly in Venetian Crete) or Apostolius Paroemiographus, i.e. ''Apostolius the proverb-writer'', wa ...
and grandson of Theodosius, count of Corinth (''Theodosios Komis Korinthios''). His first name of birth is Aristobulus (Ἀριστόβουλος) and he took the name of Arsenius at the moment of his adherence to the episcopate (which is a conduit of former authors to avoid of committing the mistake of distinguishing two "brothers", Aristobulus and Arsenius.
Like his father, Apostolius was reduced to poverty after the
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...
to the
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
(1453), and he earned his living by copying manuscripts: about fifty are attributed to him, of which only three are dated, the oldest being from 31 March 1489. A contract signed in Crete in April 1492 shows him collaborating with
Janus Lascaris
Janus Lascaris (, ''Ianos Laskaris''; c. 1445, Constantinople – 7 December 1535, Rome), also called John Rhyndacenus (from Rhyndacus, a country town in Asia Minor), was a noted Greek scholar in the Renaissance.
Biography
After the Fall of Con ...
in his quest for Greek manuscripts for the library of
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
, being then deacon. He resided at that period in Florence, according to an allusion which he made in a later letter. When
Aldus Manutius
Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...
began his Greek impressions in 1495, he was one of his first collaborators with
Marcus Musurus
Marcus Musurus ( el, Μάρκος Μουσοῦρος ''Markos Mousouros''; it, Marco Musuro; c. 1470 – 1517) was a Greek scholar and philosopher born in Candia, Venetian Crete (modern Heraklion, Crete).
Life
The son of a rich merchant, Musur ...
: he composed an
epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...
of four verses (called Thesaurus Cornucopiæ and horti Adonis) for a volume of Greek grammarians from the aldine presses in 1496. About the same time, an edition of
Theodore Prodromus
Theodore Prodromos or Prodromus ( el, Θεόδωρος Πρόδρομος; c. 1100 – c. 1165/70), probably also the same person as the so-called Ptochoprodromos (Πτωχοπρόδρομος "Poor Prodromos"), was a Byzantine Greek writer, wel ...
' ''Galeomyomachy'', published by the same press, without date, contains a preface signed by him. But soon afterwards he quarreled with the printer and a lawsuit ensued.
In 1506 the
Roman Curia appointed Arsenius as
Eastern Rite Eastern Rite or Eastern liturgical rite may refer to:
* liturgical rite used in Eastern Christianity:
** liturgical rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which mainly use the Byzantine liturgical rites
** liturgical rites of the Eastern Catholic Ch ...
bishop of
Monemvasia
Monemvasia ( el, Μονεμβασιά, Μονεμβασία, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located on a small island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. The island is connected t ...
, at that time part of the
regions subjected to the
Venetian Republic
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
. Arsenius declared himself in
communion both with the
Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
and with the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. This position was untenable for the Church of Constantinople and
Patriarch Pachomius I of Constantinople
Pachomius I ( el, ), (? – 1513) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1503 to 1513, except for a short period in 1504.
Life
Before his election as Patriarch of Constantinople, Pachomius was Metropolitan of Zichna. When Patriarch J ...
invited Arsenius to abdicate. The issue went on for more than two years until June 1509, when Pachomius
excommunicate
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
d Arsenius, who retired to Venice.
In Venice Arsenius became a friend of
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
and collaborated with
Aldus Manutius
Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...
.
A few years later,
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.
Born into the prominent political an ...
named Marcus Musurus in his place, who died before he joined his siege. Apostolius later returned to Malvoisie, where he was surely in 1527.
In 1521 he was the head of a Greek college then founded in Florence, but was no more here in February 1525 when an edition of
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...
by Antonio Franchini came out by the
Giunti's Florentine print. A preface was the contribution made by Apostolios to the work evoking his stay in the Greek college of the city in the past.
On March 30, 1534, in Venice, he was appointed by the
Council of Ten
The Council of Ten ( it, Consiglio dei Dieci; vec, Consejo de i Diexe), or simply the Ten, was from 1310 to 1797 one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice. Elections took place annually and the Council of Ten had the power to i ...
, with the support of the Holy See, preacher of the
San Giorgio dei Greci
San Giorgio dei Greci ( el, Ἅγιος Γεώργιος τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ´Agios Geórgios ton Ellínon, Saint George of the Greeks) is a church in the ''sestiere'' (neighborhood) of Castello, Venice, northern Italy. It was the center of ...
church, but he again saw to arise an hostility of his compatriots to all Catholic priests appointed there. He died four years later, and was buried in the church, where one of his nephews had him raise a tomb.
[[The Greeks of Venice had received the right to build their own church in the city by a decree of the Council of Ten of 30 April 1514 (approved by Pope Leo X). Then a land was acquired, and a provisional construction permitted the celebration of the first office on 4 March 1527. The present church of San Giorgio dei Greci was built between 1539 and 1573. Arsène Apostolios knew only the provisional building.]]
He has written several prefaces to editions of ancient authors to which he was associated. He has also published a collection of Maxim (philosophy), apophthegms of philosophers, generals, orators, and poets, drawn from the Ἰωνιά (his field of violets) of his father Michael, which he has published in Rome in 1519 whom
Zacharias Calliergi
Zacharias Calliergi ( el, Ζαχαρίας Καλλιέργης, Zacharias Kalliergēs) was a Greek Renaissance humanist and scholar.
He was born in Crete, then a Venetian colony, but emigrated to Rome at a young age. In 1499 he helped bring ou ...
completed. The volume also contains a small dialogue of its composition, between a bibliophile, a bookseller and the book personified. Many, then, simply attributed the collection to him (Christian Waltz reproduced it in Stuttgart in 1832 under the title Ἀρσενίου Ἰωνιά / Arsenii Violetum). He also left letters. Several texts, including a choice of letters, can be found in the Hellenic Bibliography of Émile Legrand (Paris, 1885).
Bibliography
* Alessandro Pratesi, article "Apostolio, Arsenio", Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. III, 1961.
* Constantin Sathas, Βιογραφίαι τῶν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι διαλαμψάντων Ἑλλήνων ἀπὸ τῆς καταλύσεως τῆς Βυζαντινῆς Αὐτοκρατορίας μέχρι τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ἐθνεγερσίας, Athens, Andreas Koromilas, 1868, p. 126-130.
* Constantin Sathas, Unpublished documents relating to the history of Greece in the Middle Ages, t. IV, Paris, 1883.
See also
*
Greek scholars in the Renaissance
The migration waves of Byzantine Greek scholars and émigrés in the period following the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 is considered by many scholars key to the revival of Greek studies that led to the development of the Renaissance ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apostolius, Arsenius
16th-century Greek people
1538 deaths
Greek Renaissance humanists
Greek Eastern Catholics
Converts to Eastern Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy
Former Greek Orthodox Christians
Scholars from Crete
1460s births
Bishops of Monemvasia
16th-century Greek writers
16th-century male writers
15th-century Greek educators
15th-century Greek writers
16th-century Greek educators