Matthew Blastares
Matthew Blastares (Greek: Ματθαῖος Βλαστάρης or Βλάσταρις, translit. Matthaios Blastares/Blastaris; fl. 1335–1346) was a 14th-century Byzantine Greek monk in Thessalonica and early scholarly opponent of reconciliation with Rome. He was also the writer of the Syntagma Canonum.
Contents
Life
Blastares was a hieromonk in the monastery of Kyr Isaac in Thessalonica, where he died after 1348.[1][2]
Works
He is best known for his Syntagma kata stoicheion (lit. Alphabetical Treatise), completed in 1335.[1] The chief innovation of the Syntagma was Blastares' ambition was to reconcile canon law with civil law, whereas previous treatises had focused on one of the two, ignoring the other.[1]
The Syntagma is subdivided into 24 sections, each on a specific legal topic, and usually further subdivided into chapters.[1] It became very popular even outside the Byzantine Empire, and was translated into Serbian during the Serbian Empire of Stephen Dushan.[1]
Apart from the Syntagma, Blastares was also the author of a number of other legal works, including a lexicon of Latin legal terms, and synopses of the nomocanons of Niketas of Heraclea, patriarchs Nikephoros I and John Nesteutes.[2] His further work includes a poem on the offices and titles of the Byzantine court, a synopsis of rhetoric; theological treatises against the Latin Church, azymes, the Jews, and Palamism; a work on Divine Grace; a letter to Constantine II Lusignan on the Holy Spirit; as well as liturgical hymns and epigrams.[2]
References
Sources
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- 1340s deaths
- 14th-century Byzantine monks
- 14th-century Byzantine writers
- 14th-century jurists
- Byzantine jurists
- Byzantine Thessalonian writers
- Canon law of the Eastern Orthodox Church
- Greek Christian monks
