Anekdota patriarchika eggrafa peri tou Leimoniakou Zetematos (1881-1888)

The Archives at Leimonos Monastery, Lesbos, Hellas, consist of some 2,500 documents. A part of the Archives, namely the Archives of Nicephoros Glykas, the Bishop of Methymna [1881–1896], that consist of 332 documents, is related to the so-called Leimoniakon issue. By Leimoniakon issue is meant a composite conflict between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Diocese of Methymna on the one side, and the local authorities and the monks of Leimonos Monastery on the other. The main point of the Leimoniakon issue was the claim of the local authorities to use a part of the revenues of the rich Leimonos Monastery to build up a new school in the conterminous village (today: Kalloni) and to support the educational needs of the area. This conflict should be considered within the framework of the rise of the bourgeoisie in Lesbos in the second half of the 19th c. and its effort to share some of the authority that the Church was exercising over the Greek people. The whole problem influenced the social, educational, economic, political, and ecclesiastical life of the province for some twenty years and resulted in acts like the occupancy of the monastery by local people and the monks(!) and the excommunication of the protagonists by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This paper presents the edition of thirty-seven patriarchal letters related to the Leimoniakon issue. The majority of them is addressed to the abbot and the brotherhood of the Leimon monastery, while some are sent to the bishop of Methymna Nikephoros Glykas and the local authorities. Most of these letters were hitherto unpublished. Their content demonstrates the efforts of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to find a solution to the problem, which arose because of the claims and movements of the local authorities