The ecumenical patriarch Saint Athanasiow I and his instruction to the inhabitants of Asia minor in 1303

The Patriarch of Constantinople Athanasios I, who was later on canonizedby the Church, was born c. 1235 at Adrianople. As a novice on Mount Athoshe was a disciple of Nicephorus the Hesychast. He died in Constantinoplebetween 1310 and 1323. Although a number of biographical details have survivedand a few studies have been recently devoted to the subject, the life andteaching of Saint Athanasios have come down to us marred by confusion andcontradictions. The simplicity and austerity of his character annoyed his contemporaryhistorians and officials who as a rule have judged him with severity.His determination regarding the literal application of scriptural and patristicteaching, provoked many adverse reactions as well among the clergy and hierarchy.Patriarch Athanasios I in collaboration with Emperor Andronicus II (1282-1328) worked for the restoration of the ecumenicity of the patriarchate throughthe strengthening of Orthodox tradition and faith. Te emperor employed thepatriarch’s appeals for «return to the faith» and «repentence» as the axis of apolicy which tended to empower Sacerdotium rather than Imperium in theByzantine domains. Andronicus’s policy, which as a rule was carried on by hissuccessors, secured the survival of the Orthodox flock, regardless of ethnicorigin, even after the fall of Constantinople. The patriarch’s interest was not limited to the Orthodox of the empire but it extended to other Orthodoxnations as well, including the Russians. The spiritual and cultural flowering ofthe Paleologan period, conventionally known as the «Paleologan Renaissance»could be seen as the outcome of the restoration of Orthodoxy by Andronicus IIand Athanasius I, rather than as a reorientation toward classical Greek antiquity.The present paper, after a survey of the life and work of Saint Athanasios,publishes for the first time the complete text of a letter by the Patriarch addressedto the Christian inhabitants of Asia Minor. The text is transmitted byCodex Vaticanus Grecus 2219. Three important pieces of information arecontained in this text, which appears on fols. 230r-232r of the Codex. First theteaching is dated to the Saint’s second patriarchate (after June 23, 1303),probably in July 1303. The Saint explains the reasons which led him to acceptthe patriarchate for a second time. Secondly the text describes in dramaticterms the living conditions of the Christian population of Asia Minor. Thepatriarch does not fail to point at the causes of these calamities. Finally thepatriarch calls upon the population of Asia Minor to close ranks and be readyfor action and hints at the imminent mission of an imperial envoy to whomthey were expected to show obedience and submission in order to be redeemed.The new text makes possible a new dating for another previously publishedletter by the Patriarch from the same Codex (fols. 17r-17v), which must now beredated not before the Spring but before the Autumn 1303, probably in Augustof that year. In that letter the patriarch criticised the emperor’s intention todeliver the defense of Asia Minor to Western warriors, apparently Catalans.The identity in content and attitude between the two letters dictates theirdating before September 1303, when the Catalans arrived in Asia Minor. Thegreat value of both texts from a historical point of view consist in the informationthey supply on conditions in Asia Minor and on the state of mind of thelocal inhabitants, while on the other hand they reveal clearly the propheticstature of the patriarch, his pastoral concern for his flock and his active involvementin public affairs