Demetrios Kydones
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Demetrios Kydones, latinized as Demetrius Cydones or Demetrius Cydonius (; 1324,
Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...
– 1398,
Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
), was a Byzantine Catholic theologian, translator, author and statesman. He served an unprecedented three terms as '' Mesazon'' (Imperial
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
or
Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
) of the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
under three successive emperors:
John VI Kantakouzenos John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (; ;  – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byza ...
,
John V Palaiologos John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391) was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. His long reign was marked by constant civil war, the spread of the Black Death and several military defea ...
and
Manuel II Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the name Matthaios (). Manuel was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, which ...
. As Imperial Premier, Kydones' ''West-Politik'' effort during his second and third stints was to bring about a reconciliation of the
Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
and
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Churches, in order to cement a military alliance against the ever-encroaching
Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
conquests, a program that culminated in John V Palaiologos' reconciliation with
Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. His younger brother and somewhat-collaborator in his efforts was the noted anti-Palamite theologian Prochoros Kydones.


Career


First Premiership

Kydones was initially a student of the Greek classical scholar, philosopher and Palamite Nilos Kabasilas. Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, a staunch follower of Palamism, the Hesychast doctrine of
Gregory Palamas Gregory Palamas (; ; – 1357/1359) was a Byzantine Greek theologian and Eastern Orthodox cleric of the late Byzantine period. A monk of Mount Athos (modern Greece) and later archbishop of Thessalonica, he is famous for his defense of hesyc ...
, had befriended Demetrios Kydones as a young man and had employed him as his Imperial
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
or Mesazon (1347–1354) at the age of 23; at the Emperor's request, Kydones began to translate Western polemical works against
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, such as the writings of the Dominican Ricoldo da Monte Croce, from Latin into Greek, and which the Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos used as references in his own writings against
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
and Islam (although his own daughter was married to the Turkish Muslim Emir
Orhan Orhan Ghazi (; , also spelled Orkhan; died 1362) was the second sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1323/4 to 1362. He was born in Söğüt, as the son of Osman I. In the early stages of his reign, Orhan focused his energies on conquering mos ...
of
Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...
). At Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos' urging, Kydones acquired knowledge of Latin, and learned to speak, read and write it well. This led Kydones to undertake a deeper study of Latin theology, particularly St. Thomas Aquinas, and he attempted to introduce his compatriots to Thomistic Scholasticism by translating some of Aquinas' writings into Greek. John VI Kantakouzenos also encouraged him in his Latin studies and he himself read some Thomist literature. However, this put Demetrios Kydones on a journey that eventually ended with his conversion to Catholicism. Anxious to concentrate on his Latin studies, Kydones retired for a time to private life from the Imperial Premiership in 1354, just before John V Palaiologos succeeded in ousting John VI Kantakouzenos. When Kydones entered the service of Emperor John V Palaiologos, as he soon did, he remained friendly to his former employer Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. On the other hand, he found himself unable or unwilling to follow the Palamist doctrine espoused by John VI Kantakouzenos. His younger brother Prochoros Kydones was a monk on
Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
, and he too learned Latin, but did not follow Demetrios to Rome. Prochoros admired and translated some of the works of
Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
and
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
, but parted company with Kantakouzenos by becoming an argumentative anti-Palamite. On retiring from public office in 1354, Demetrios Kydones went to Italy where he studied the writings of the leading medieval philosophical theologians, and made Greek translations of the major works of Western writers, including tracts by
Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
(5th century) and
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
' ''
Summa theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main t ...
''. He also realized the first two Greek translations of the ''Quaestiones disputatae'', ''De potentia'', ''De spiritualibus creaturis'', and the '' Summa contra Gentiles'', the latter translate on behalf of the theologian emperor
John VI Kantakouzenos John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (; ;  – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byza ...
. By 1365 he had made a profession of faith in the Catholic Church.


Second Premiership

In 1369, Emperor John V Palaiologos recalled Kydones to
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
and named him Imperial Prime Minister or '' Mesazon'', the second time he held this position, 1369–1383. At the same time, Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos of Constantinople was removed and his deposed predecessor Patriarch Kallistos of Constantinople restored. In the spring of 1369 John V Palaiologos set sail from Constantinople with Demetrios Kydones and a large retinue. The destination was Italy; their immediate goal was to meet with
Pope Urban V Pope Urban V (; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death, in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the only Avignon pope ...
and his cardinals in Rome. The purpose of that extraordinary journey, however, and the subsequent meetings between Pope and Emperor in the fall of that year, was twofold: to assure Pope Urban V that the Byzantine Emperor was no longer a schismatic, and to persuade the Pope and his Curia to support a new military initiative that would aid the Byzantines in fending off the ever-increasing threat to the Empire from the
Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...
. Kydones' efforts culminated in Emperor John V's profession of faith as a Catholic in the presence of the Pope and cardinals in Rome on October 18, 1369. However, with the weakening of Byzantine resistance to the Turks, Kydones retired to private life about 1383. In 1390 he journeyed to
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, which helped introduce Greek culture to Italy, and is credited with fostering the nascent
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
. He formed, moreover, the nucleus of a group of Byzantine intellectuals that strove to propagate Uniatism.


Third Premiership

Recalled to Constantinople in 1391 by his former pupil Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, the son of Emperor John V Palaiologos, Kydones resumed the position of Prime Minister ("Mesazon"), but in 1396 hostility to his Catholicism compelled him to retire permanently to the island of
Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
, then ruled by the Venetians. He died there the following year, in 1398.


Anti-Palamism

With the support of his younger brother Prochoros, Demetrios opposed as
polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...
or
pantheistic Pantheism can refer to a number of Philosophy, philosophical and Religion, religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arise ...
the Palamites' commitment to
hesychasm Hesychasm () is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Christian traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in ...
(Greek, ''silence'' or ''stillness''), at the time a controversial practice of mystical contemplation through uninterrupted prayer, taught by the Orthodox monks of
Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
and articulated by the 14th-century ascetic theologian
Gregory Palamas Gregory Palamas (; ; – 1357/1359) was a Byzantine Greek theologian and Eastern Orthodox cleric of the late Byzantine period. A monk of Mount Athos (modern Greece) and later archbishop of Thessalonica, he is famous for his defense of hesyc ...
. Applying Aristotelian logic to hesychasm (sometimes claimed by Latin critics to be rooted in
Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary Platonists do not necessarily accept all doctrines of Plato. Platonism has had a profound effect on Western thought. At the most fundam ...
), the Kydones brothers accused Palamas of promoting pantheism or polytheism, only to be condemned themselves by three successive synods that concurred with Palamas' theology and affirmed hesychastic practice. He is the author of the moral philosophical essay ''De contemnenda morte'' ("On Despising Death"), an ''Apologia'' for his conversion to Catholicism, and a voluminous collection of 447 letters, valuable for the history of Byzantine relations with the West. One of the principal documentary sources for the Eastern Roman Empire's gradual submission to the Turks is Kydones' ''Symbouleutikoi'' ("Exhortations"), urging the Byzantine people to unite with the Latins in order to resist the Turkish onslaught.


Against the Greek Schism

Kydones' most famous statement against the Greeks who opposed his efforts at reuniting the East and the West is from his ''Apologia'': :"So when someone comes along and says the Pope is in error and everyone ought to abjure such error, we really have been given no proof for such an allegation, and it makes no sense for anyone to pass judgment on what has first to be proven. What is more, we will not succeed in finding out why and by whom the Pope is to be judged, no matter how earnestly we try. But aside from the prospect that the one who has the Primacy in the Church is in error, what confidence can be placed in those of lower rank? If we continue to carry on like this, all shepherds of the Christian people will become suspect because what we accuse the Head Shepherd of is even more likely to befall all those who are less than he. Would not every matter of faith have to end with a question mark if there indeed be no final seat of authority in the Church? There can be no certitude anywhere, if none is worthy of credibility. Then we are no longer talking about the religion which St. Paul described as one; rather there will be as many religions as there are leaders, or worse still, none at all! Every believer will suspect everyone else and will proceed to pick and choose whatever belief suits him. Then, as in a battle fought in the dark, we will be striking at our own friends, and they at us. How the non-believers will enjoy our antics, because we Christians are now engaged in endless bickering among ourselves, since none of us wants to concede anything to anyone else. The whole missionary effort to spread Christian beliefs will be stopped in its tracks since no one will pay any attention to those who cannot even agree among themselves."Demetrios Kydones, ''Apologia''


References


External links

* *Downloadable Greek OCR of Heinrich Deckelmann's Teubner edition o
''De contemnenda morte oratio''
(1901) from the Lace collection at
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.
''Encyclopædia Britannica''Martin A. Jugie ''The Palamite Controversy''
https://www.academia.edu/51518604/Demetrius_Cydones_and_his_Times_%CE%91_Study_of_his_Life_and_his_Writings_with_emphasis_on_his_Correspondence_%CE%9F_%CE%94%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%AE%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%9A%CF%85%CE%B4%CF%8E%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CE%B7_%CE%95%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%87%CE%AE_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%9C%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%AD%CF%84%CE%B7_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%92%CE%AF%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%A3%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%8D_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%88%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%85_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_%CE%BC%CE%B5_%CE%AD%CE%BC%CF%86%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%B7_%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD_%CE%95%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%AF%CE%B1_%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85_ Literature Evangelos C. Pringipakis, Demetrius Cydones and his Times. A Study of his Life and his Writings with emphasis on his Correspondence, Thessaloniki : K. & M. Stamouli Publications, 2022 [in Greek : Ε.Κ. Πριγκιπάκη, Ο Δημήτριος Κυδώνης και η Εποχή του. Μελέτη του Βίου και του Συγγραφικού του Έργου με έμφαση στην Επιστολογραφία του, Θεσσαλονίκη: Aντ. Σταμούλης, 2022]. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kydones, Demetrios 1324 births Byzantine theologians Greek Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy People excommunicated by Eastern Orthodox Church bodies Anti-Hesychasm Byzantine Thessalonian writers Medieval Athos 1398 deaths Byzantine letter writers Latin–Greek translators 14th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 14th-century Roman Catholic theologians 14th-century Byzantine writers 14th-century Greek writers 14th-century Greek educators