Basil I, surnamed Scamandrenus or Skamandrenos ( el, Βασίλειος Σκαμανδρηνός), (? – March 974) from the Skamandros Monastery, which he founded, was

Ecumenical 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 ...

J. M. Hussey (2010). ''The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire''
The list of the Patriarchs
from 970 to 974. Before his election as Patriarch, he was a monk in Olympus of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and continued his monastic life after his election. As a Patriarch, he was accused as a conspirator against the Emperor

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general, he strengthened the Empire and expanded its borders during his short reign. Background John I Tzimiskes ...

and as a violator of holy rules, but he refused to appear in front of a royal court. He was exiled and went to the Skamandros Monastery, where he died. During his patriarchate, the so-called ''Tragos'', the first Charter of the monastical state of

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

, was written and ratified. It was named after the animal whose skin was used for the parchment on which the text was written, namely a male goat.

Sources and references

10th-century patriarchs of Constantinople {{Byzantine-bio-stub