Gregory Tsamblak or Grigorij Camblak ( bg, Григорий Цамблак, sr-Cyr, Григорије Цамблак; c. 1365–1420) was a Bulgarian writer and cleric. He was the pretended Metropolitan of Lithuania between 1413 and 1420. A Bulgarian noble, Tsamblak lived and worked in Bulgaria, but also in

Medieval Serbia Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second hal ...

and

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

. His literary works represent a heritage of the national literature of Serbia, particularly the style of Old Serbian ''Vita'' made popular in the monasteries of the 12th century.

Life

He was born in Tarnovo, the capital of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conqu ...

, the son of a rich family. His cousin was

Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev Cyprian ( bg, Киприан, russian: Киприан, be, Кіпрыян, uk, Кипріан) (c. 1336 – 16 September 1406) was the Metropolitan of Kiev, Russia and Lithuania (2 December 1375–12 February 1376) and the Metropolitan of K ...

. Tsamblak was a disciple of the prominent Bulgarian hesychast writer Patriarch Evtimiy of Bulgaria. Bulgaria fell under Ottoman domination following the Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars. Following this, he emigrated first to

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 ( ...

, then became presbyter of the Church of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

and

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centra ...

. He then went to

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

where he was abbot of Visoki Dečani. Tsamblak stayed in Serbia from 1402 until his departure for Rus. During his sojourn in Serbia at Visoki Dečani, he wrote a biography of

Stephen Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

, a hymn for the church service honoring Stefan of Dečani, and a report on the transfer of the remnants of Saint Paraskeva to Serbia, and he also rewrote the Service to St Petka (Paraskeva).

Kievan Rus

In 1409, Gregory Tsamblak came to Kyiv, then ruled by

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

. In 1414, Grand Duke

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great (Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', Ol ...

attempted to re-establish the Metropolis of Lithuania. He arranged for a synod of bishops to elect Gregory as the Metropolitan of Lithuania. The consecration took place without the consent of Patriarch Euthymius II of Constantinople who deposed and anathematized him and who confirmed the same in letters to Metropolitan Photius of Kiev, Emperor Manuel II Palaeologos and Grand Prince Vasily I. After Gregory’s death in the winter of 1419–1420, Photius made peace with Vytautas. As a result, the entire Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus', including Halych, was unified under Photius until his death in 1431. Gregory participated in the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...

. The rivalry between

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

and Moscow effectively ended in 1448 when Moscow began selecting the metropolitans independently without approval from the Ecumenical Patriachate, which collapsed in 1453. Tsamblak Hill on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60� ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

, is named after Gregory Tsamblak.

References

External links

Gregory Tsamblak
at

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was crea ...

Bulgarian male writers Metropolitans of Kiev and all Rus' 1365 births 1420 deaths 14th-century Bulgarian writers 15th-century Bulgarian writers People from Veliko Tarnovo Tarnovo Literary School Hesychasts {{Ukraine-bio-stub

Life

Kievan Rus

See also

References

External links