Gennadius Scholarius - Return To Constantinople

Return To Constantinople

Despite his advocating the union (and berating many of the Orthodox bishops for their lack of theological learnedness), when he came back to Constantinople, like most of his countrymen, he changed his mind, apparently at the behest of his mentor Mark of Ephesus, who converted him completely to anti-Latin Orthodoxy, and from this time till his death he was known (with Mark of Ephesus) as the most uncompromising enemy of the union. He then wrote many works to defend his new convictions, which differ so much from the earlier conciliatory ones that Allatius thought there must be two people of the same name (Diatriba de Georgiis in Fabricius-Harles Bibliotheca Græca, X, 760-786); to whom Gibbon: "Renaudot has restored the identity of his person, and the duplicity of his character" (Decline and Fall, lxviii, note 41).

After the death of John VIII in 1448, Georgios entered the Pantokrator monastery in Constantinople under Constantine XI (1448–1453) and took, according to the invariable custom, a new name: Gennadius. Before the fall of the city he was already well known as a bitter opponent of the union. He and Eugenikos were the leaders of the anti-Latin party. In 1447, Mark of Ephesus on his deathbed praised Gennadius's irreconcilable attitude towards the Latins and the union (P.G., CLX, 529). It was to Gennadius that the angry people went after seeing the Uniate services in the great church of Hagia Sophia. It is said that he hid himself, but left a notice on the door of his cell: "O unhappy Romans, why have you forsaken the truth? Why do you not trust in God, instead of in the Italians? In losing your faith you will lose your city", and so on (quoted by Gibbon, ibid., ed. Bury, VII, 176).