Agallianos, Theodore
(also known as Theophanes of Medeia), patriarchal official and writer; born Constantinople ca.1400, died before Oct. 1474. A student of Mark Eugenikos, Agallianos (᾽Αγαλλιανός) became a deacon in ...
Apostle
From the Greek apostolos, meaning one who is sent and enjoys the authority of the agent who instructs him. There was already a Jewish functionary, called a shaliach, who was trusted with the ...
Charsianeites Monastery
Founded in Constantinople in the mid-14th C. by John (monastic name: Job) Charsianeites (Ξαρσιανείτης), a supporter of John VI Kantakouzenos. It was dedicated to the Virgin Nea Peribleptos. Its ...
Cheilas
(Ξειλα̑ς), also Prinkips Cheilas, a family of Peloponnesian origin, known from the 13th–15th C. The Cheilades produced several ecclesiastical leaders and intellectuals: Theodosios Prinkips Cheilas ...
George Gemistos Pletho
(c.1360–1452),Byzantine Neoplatonic philosopher. The first 50 years of his long life are not well documented. His detractor Gennadios II Scholarios, who is a suspect but possibly accurate source, ...
John Chortasmenos
Writer, teacher, and bibliophile; born ca.1370, died before June 1439.Chortasmenos (Ξορτασμένος) was a man of diverse interests, whose career was shaped by his love of books and literature. He ...
John Dokeianos
Rhetorician, copyist, and bibliophile; fl. mid-15th C.Our knowledge of Dokeianos (Δοκειανóς) is based almost exclusively on the evidence of his own writings. His earliest work that can be dated ...
Kamariotes, Matthew
Writer, scribe, and teacher; born Thessalonike, died Constantinople 1490. Kamariotes (Καμαριώτης) came to Constantinople during the final years of the Palaiologan dynasty and studied with Gennadios ...
Mehmed II
(1430–81)Ottoman sultan (1451–81). He was frustrated while ruling briefly (1444–46) during the retirement of his father, Murad II, but on coming to power backed expansionist factions, and by 1453 had ...
orthography
Deriving from the Greek ortho (‘correct’) and graphē (‘writing’), ‘orthography’ is the formal term for spelling or for the subject of spelling as a linguistic study.
Pronoia
Pronoia, literally “forethought,” “care,” or “provision,” was the common Byzantine theological term for divine providence. To speak of imperial pronoia was to liken the emperor’s care for his ...
simony
The buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, for example pardons or benefices, from the name of Simon Magus, in reference to his attempt to buy the power of the Holy Spirit from Peter and Paul.
