John Apokaukos ( el, Ἱωάννης Ἀπόκαυκος, ca. 1155 – 1233) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

churchman and theologian. Having studied at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, he became bishop of Naupaktos and played a major role in the rivalry between the

Epirote Epirus (; el, Ήπειρος, translit=Ípiros, ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region in northwestern Greece.Π.Δ. 51/87 “Καθορισμός των � ...

Church and the

Ecumenical Patriarchate The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

, exiled in the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

Life

John Apokaukos was born in ca. 1155. He studied in the

capital,

, where he was a fellow student with Manuel Sarantenos, later

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 ...

. Appointed a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

, he served under his uncle,

Constantine Manasses Constantine Manasses ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Μανασσῆς; c. 1130 - c. 1187) was a Byzantine chronicler who flourished in the 12th century during the reign of Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). He was the author of a chronicle or historic ...

metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the b ...

Naupaktos Nafpaktos ( el, Ναύπακτος) is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mornos. It is named for Naupaktos (, Latinize ...

in Greece. By 1186, he had returned to Constantinople, where he served as a notary in the patriarchate, a post in which he is again attested in 1193. In 1199 or 1200 he was appointed as metropolitan of Naupaktos, a post he continued to hold until 1232, when he retired to a monastery at Kozyle near

Arta Arta, ARTA, or Artà may refer to: Places Djibouti * Arta, Djibouti, a regional capital city in southeastern Djibouti * Arta Mountains, a mountain range in Djibouti * Arta Region, Djibouti Greece * Arta, Greece, a regional capital city in northwes ...

, where he died the following year. During his tenure, he initially clashed with the local ruler

Constantine Komnenos Doukas Constantine Komnenos Doukas ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος Κομνηνός Δούκας, Kōnstantinos Komnēnos Doukas; – after 1242), usually named simply Constantine Doukas, was a son of the ''sebastokrator'' John Doukas and brother of the ...

, the younger brother of the ruler of the

Despotate of Epirus The Despotate of Epirus ( gkm, Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claim ...

Theodore Komnenos Doukas Theodore Komnenos Doukas ( el, Θεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Δούκας, ''Theodōros Komnēnos Doukas'', latinisation of names, Latinized as Theodore Comnenus Ducas, died 1253) was ruler of Despotate of Epirus, Epirus and Thessaly#Late M ...

. Apokaukos protested Constantine's authoritarian rule and extortionate tax demands from the populace. The clash led to the forcible deposition and exile of Apokaukos in 1220, and was resolved only in May 1221 after a synod including representatives from most of the senior sees in Greece and the Epirote domains. Indeed, the relations between Constantine and Apokaukos became cordial thereafter, and the bishop even composed an

encomium ''Encomium'' is a Latin word deriving from the Ancient Greek ''enkomion'' (), meaning "the praise of a person or thing." Another Latin equivalent is ''laudatio'', a speech in praise of someone or something. Originally was the song sung by the c ...

in his honour. During the same period Apokaukos also emerged, along with

Demetrios Chomatenos Demetrios Chomatenos or Chomatianos ( el, Δημήτριος Χωματηνός/Χωματιανός, 13th century), Eastern Orthodox Archbishop of Ohrid from 1216 to 1236, was a Byzantine priest and judge. His comprehensive legal education allowed ...

and

George Bardanes George Bardanes ( el, Γεώργιος Βαρδάνης, died. ca. 1240) was a Byzantine churchman and theologian from Athens. A pupil of Michael Choniates, he later became bishop of Corfu and played a major role in the rivalry between the Epirote ...

, as one of the leading supporters of Epirote political and ecclesiastical independence from the

, where the exiled Patriarch of Constantinople resided after the city had fallen to the Crusaders. This conflict even led to a schism between the Epirote Church and the Patriarchate.

Writings

A considerable body of Apokaukos' correspondence and documents survive. According to

Ruth Macrides Ruth Iouliani (Juliana) Macrides (1949 – 27 April 2019) was a UK-based historian of the Byzantine Empire. At the time of her death, she was Reader in Byzantine Studies at the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Greek Studies at the University of B ...

, " isletters and decisions, like those of Chomatenos, are of central importance for the legal and social history of the period. His writings, which show him to be less knowledgeable in the law and less exacting in its application than his colleague, are remarkable for their clear and humorous portrayals of daily life and popular culture".

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Life

Writings

References

Sources

Further reading