Joseph Lazaropoulos

1. Biographical information - Activity

Joseph Lazaropoulos was born in Trebizond ca. 1310. His baptismal name was John. He was married and had two children, Theophanes and Constantine. Shortly before 1340 he became skeuophylax at the church of Haghia Sophia in Trebizond. In 1340, subsequent to the death of the emperor of Trebizond,,Basil Grand Komnenos and the rise to the throne of his first wife, Eirene Palaiologina, Lazaropoulos was forced, due to the civil conflicts, to abandon his hometown and follow the empress Eirene of Trebizond, widow of Basil Grand Komnenos, and her two under-age children to Constantinople during their period of exile. He was accompanied by his eldest son Constantine, while his wife and youngest son remained in Trebizond.1

In 1349, when the emperor Michael Grand Komnenos was sick and old, Lazaropoulos, at the recommendation of the Byzantine emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (1347-1354), returned to Trebizond in order to prepare the ground for the return and rise to the throne of Alexios III Grand Komnenos, son of Basil Grand Komnenos and Eirene of Trebizond.2 After the new emperor's accession, Joseph's contribution was rewarded. Thus, after the death of the metropolitan of Trebizond, Niphon Pterygionites (March 1364), Joseph Lazaropoulos was chosen to succeed him. His ordination took place the following year (April 1365) in Constantinople by the patriarch of Constantinople Philotheos. He returned to Trebizond on Easter Sunday (13 April 1365) and his enthronement took place on the following Tuesday. During his ordination he seems to have taken the name Joseph.

There is no evidence of his activity as metropolitan of Trebizond. He shepherded the people of Trebizond until 12 November 1367 at which time he resigned from the metropolitan throne for unknown reasons. It is possible that Joseph came into conflict with Alexios III, hardly an unusual event for the relations between emperors and the bishops of Trebizond. Initially the bishop retreated to the Eleousa monastery, a coastal monastery in Kerasounta, while later, because of pirate incursions by the Turkmen, he sought refuge in Constantinople where he most probably formally offered his resignation. The hypothesis that Lazaropoulos offered his resignation in Constantinople is further strengthened by the fact that he appears to have signed the act of the permanent synod of January 1368, with which the metropolis of Pyrgion was transferred to the metropolitan of Ephesos, Theodoretos. It is thought that he returned afterwards to Trebizond until July 1368, at which time he fianly departed for Constantinople.3 He died before December 1369.

2. Oeuvre

Joseph Lazaropoulos was the author of two versions of the Life of St. Eugenios.4 Opinions vary concerning the dates these two works were written. The metropolitan of Trebizond Chrysanthos5 suggests that both works were written after his official resignation from the bishopric throne, while J.O. Roseqvist6 claims that they were written during his stay at the Eleousa Monastery. Both works are written in flowing archaic language, and contain valuable historical, ethnographical, geographical and topographical information.

In the speech he wrote for the birth day of St. Eugenios, Joseph Lazaropoulos included an encomium to the emperor Alexios II Grand Komnenos,7 who according to the author was also responsible for the revival of the feast day of St. Eugenios, which had been consecrated during the reign of Basil I. In his encomium, Joseph records the flourishing of the empire during the reign of Alexios II, while he highlights the intellectual development which was taking place in Trebizond during that period thanks to the nurturing of the arts and sciences, especially of astronomy and mathematics. Also impressive are the images of majesty and opulence which rise out of the descriptions of the feasts of St. Eugenios, which according to the author included the participation of emperors, lords, the clergy and masses of people.

In Joseph’s second work, a synopsis of the miracles, the vivid and detailed description of the siege of Trebizond in 1222-1223 by the Seljuk sultan Melik8 is of particular interest. Joseph attributes the lift of the siege to the miraculous intervention of St. Eugenios and the Panagia Chrysokephalos,9 but at the same time offers many important details about the conflict between Andronikos I Grand Komnenos and the sultan.10

1. His wife followed him to Constantinople after the death of their son Theophanes. See Georgiades, Th. (ed.), Εγκυκλοπαίδεια του Ποντιακού Ελληνισμού. Ο Πόντος. Ιστορία, Λαογραφία και Πολιτισμός 1 (Thessaloniki 1991), p. 230.

2. During his return to Constantinople it is said that he had a vision with St. Eugenios, in which the saint told him that Alexios would rise to the throne of the Grand Komnenoi. See Georgiades, Th. (ed.), Εγκυκλοπαίδεια του Ποντιακού Ελληνισμού. Ο Πόντος. Ιστορία, Λαογραφία και Πολιτισμός 1 (Thessaloniki 1991), p. 230.

3. See Chrysanthos, Metropolitan of Trebizond, «Η Εκκλησία της Τραπεζούντας», Αρχείον Πόντου (1933), p. 253.

4. Joseph’s two works are: Λόγος ως εν συνόψει διαλαμβάνων την γενέθλιον ημέραν του εν θαύμασι περιβόητου και μεγαλάθλου Ευγενίου [Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A. (ed.), Fontes Historiae Imperii Trapezuntini 1 (Amsterdam 1965), pp. 52-67] and Έτι σύνοψις των του αγίου θαυμάτων μερική εκ των πλείστων [Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A. (ed.), Fontes Historiae Imperii Trapezuntini 1 (Amsterdam 1965), pp. 78-136].

5. See Chrysanthos, Metropolitan of Trebizond, «Η Εκκλησία της Τραπεζούντας», Αρχείον Πόντου (1933), p. 254.

6. See Rosenqvist, J.O., The Hagiographic Dossier of St Eugenios of Trebizond in Codex Athous Dionysiou 154. A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, Commentary and Indexes (Uppsala 1996), pp. 35-36.

7. Fallmerayer, J. Ph. [Original-Frarmente, Chroniken, Inschristen und anderes Materiale zur Geschichte der Kaisertum Trapezunt (Abhandlungen der historischen Classe der K. Bayerischen Akademie 1, Munich 1843-1847), p. 35] and Papadopoulos, I. [Γρηγορίου Χιονιάδου του Αστρονόμου επιστολαί (Thessaloniki 1929), p. 10-11] believe that the metropolitan Joseph’s eulogy is addressed to Alexios III Grand Komnenos.

8. The name Melik mentioned in the sources is not the name of the sultan of Ikonion, but some honourary title which had been given to the sultan. The identity of the sultan who participated in the 1222-1223 campaign is not clearly defined. On the differing opinions which have been brought forward see Savvidis, A., «Για την ταυτότητα του Μελίκ στην σελτζούκικη εκστρατεία του 1222-1223 κατά της Τραπεζούντας», in Πρακτικά ΙΔ΄Πανελλήνιου Ιστορικού Συνεδρίου 1993 (Thessaloniki 1994), pp. 79-88.

9. See Chrysanthos, Metropolitan of Trebizond, «Η Εκκλησία της Τραπεζούντας», Αρχείον Πόντου 4-5 (1933), pp. 399-409.

10. The pretext had been given when a Trebizond ship sought refuge due to bad weather in Sinopi and its cargo was confiscated by the town’s Armenian governor. See Georgiades, Th. (ed.), Εγκυκλοπαίδεια του Ποντιακού Ελληνισμού. Ο Πόντος. Ιστορία, Λαογραφία και Πολιτισμός 1 (Thessaloniki 1991), p. 122.