John Komnenos Molyvdos

John Komnenos Molyvdos (Greek: Ιωάννης Κομνηνός Μόλυβδος), also known by his monastic name Hierotheos (Ιερόθεος), was an Ottoman Greek scholar and physician, who later in life became a monk and Eastern Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Side and Dristra. He claimed to be a descendant of the Byzantine imperial dynasty of the Komnenoi, specifically of the branch that ruled the Empire of Trebizond, and is often regarded as the last member of the family. This claim is most likely a fabrication.

Origin

Based on the date of his baptism (26 January 1658), John was born in mid-December 1657 at Heraclea Perinthus.^[1] The Romanian scholars Nicolae Iorga and N. Vatamanu considered John to hail from Lesbos, but it is securely attested that John was born in Heraclea; in a work whose edition he supervised, he calls himself "Perinthian" after the city's ancient name.^[2]

According to a document he commissioned from the Metropolitan of Heraclea, Neophytus III, in September 1695, John was the son of Alexios Komnenos, surnamed " Molyvdos", who had been consecrated as a priest in 1656. Alexios in turn was the son of Theodore Komnenos, who died in 1637; the document traces the ancestry through four more generations to another Theodore Komnenos, who in 1480 settled with his family at Heraclea. According to the document, this Theodore was the great-grandson of the Emperor of Trebizond Basil Megas Komnenos (reigned 1332–1340).^[3]

The accuracy and validity of the document have been questioned by modern research: not only is there no other source corroborating the establishment of a branch of the Komnenos family at Heraclea, but the document itself contains several errors or spurious assertions. Thus Theodore Komnenos who settled in Heraclea is supposed to have been the grandson of Emperor Basil's son Isaac, whereas the sources only mention two sons of the emperor, John and Alexios, without any indication that there might have been a third one. In addition, two of the metropolitans of Heraclea mentioned in the document in connection with events related to the family are unknown from other sources.^[4] It is therefore likely that the document is a forgery commissioned by John to raise his social status. Indeed John is called only "Molyvdos" until the time he went to study in the University of Padua, and only from then on started using the surname "Komnenos".^[5] On the other hand, given John's prominent status as a scholar and the publicity of his use of the surname "Komnenos", it is remarkable that no contemporary authority seems to have challenged the document's validity. There remains therefore the possibility that John was indeed a descendant of the Komnenoi, albeit from a matrilineal branch, and that the document was commissioned to solidify his claims to the surname.^[6]

Early life and career

After completing his elementary education in his home town, John left to attend the Patriarchal Academy in the nearby capital of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople. He probably attended the school in 1676–80—the exact dates are unknown—and studied theology, philosophy, grammar, and medicine.^[7] His enrolment in the school was a decisive moment in his career, as he made many acquaintances from among the circle of Ottoman Greek scholars of Constantinople, with whom he would maintain close relations in later years; among them were his teachers Sevastos Kyminitis and Antonios Spandonis, the Metropolitan of Adrianople Neophytus Filaretos, the Archbishop of Nyssa Germanus, the future Patriarch of Jerusalem Chrysanthos Notaras, and Ioannis Karyofyllis.^[8]

Following his graduation, John was appointed a notary to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but soon left the city for Iași, capital of Moldavia, where in October 1683 he published his first work, a collected edition of the works of Symeon of Thessalonica, together with Markos Eugenikos' treatise Exposition of the Church's Daily Prayer. It was dedicated to the voivode of Moldavia, George Ducas, who along with Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem had sponsored the establishment of a Greek printing press in the Cetățuia Monastery in the previous year. John had probably been recruited to staff the new enterprise. At the same time, he served as tutor to George Ducas' son Constantine, alongside the Phanariote scholars Azarias Kigalas and Skarlatos Spandonis.^[9] Moldavia entered a period of instability after 1683 with the fall of Ducas and a Tartar raid; the printing press seems to have suspended its operation until 1694, with the exception of a brief period in 1685 after the appointment of Constantin Cantemir to the voivodeship. John's activity during this period is unclear, but from a couple of letters to Neophytus of Adrianople it emerges that at least during the first year of Cantemir's rule he was at Iași, working as tutor to the new voivode's son Dimitrie Cantemir.^[10]

Nevertheless, by the autumn of 1686 John had left Moldavia and gone to Padua, to study medicine at the local university,^[11] which at the time was a popular destination for Greeks wishing to pursue a university education.^[12] Although already in 1686 Germanus of Nyssa offered him the position of court doctor in the Wallachian capital, Bucharest, in succession to the retiring Iakovos Pylarinos, John continued his studies at Padua despite his great financial difficulties, which were partly overcome with the financial support of the Karyofyllis family.^[13] During his studies at Padua he became a friend of the local English embassy official, as a result of which he participated in an official trip to England in early 1687.^[14] In December 1687 he succeeded in entering the Greek Palaiokapas college, and became a member of the Greek Community of Venice.^[15] Finally, on 23 January 1691, John received his diploma as a "doctor-philosopher" and left Italy.^[16]

References

Sources

• Nicol, Donald M. (1971). "The Doctor-Philosopher John Comnen of Bucharest and His Biography of the Emperor John Kantakouzenos". Revue des études sud-est européennes. 9: 511–526. 
• Pantos, Dimitrios (2007). Ιωάννης-Ιερόθεος Κομνηνός μητροπολίτης Δρύστρας (1657-1719): βίος - εκκλησιαστική δράση - συγγραφικό έργο (in Greek). National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. doi:10.12681/eadd/22408.