Andronikos was born in the early 13th century, probably in Paphlagonia. Under the Patriarch Manuel II (1243-1254) he was metropolitan of Sardis. He collaborated closely with the subsequent Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos (1254-1260, 1261-1265), while he also put himself at the head of a number of his followers. In 1260 he resigned his metropolitan throne; he was assigned to it again in 1283 but was removed from his post in the following year. Andronikos died in the very late 13th century.

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Arethas Patreus, the subsequent metropolitan of Caesarea, was one of the most important figures of the great intellectual flourishing of Byzantium after the end of Iconoclasm in the 9th century (843), which is often referred to as the "Macedonian Renaissance". His extensive efforts in transcribing and publishing the works of ancient authors, his education, as well as his political activity make him one of the most outstanding figures of the transitional phase between the 9th and the 10th...

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Clergyman and author. Asterios of Amaseia is included amongst the Fathers of the Church. He lived in the second half of the 4th and early 5th century and was a contemporary of the great Fathers of Cappadocia. During 380-390 he served as bishop of Amaseia. He wrote a series of orations. His oeuvre is characterized by an archaic and elegant style.

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Basil the Great was born in Caesarea, Cappadocia, in 329. He studied philosophy at the School of Athens and was a fellow student of the subsequent Emperor Julian and Gregory of Nazianzus. He later became bishop of Caesarea and taught rhetoric in Caesarea before he devoted his life to asceticism. Basil was an exegete of the Bible and a bitter opponent of Arianism; a pioneer of social welfare and a composer of monastic rules. He died in 379, probably in Caesarea.

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Bessarion was born around 1400 in the city of Trebizond of the Pontos. He studied in Constantinople and Mystra. In 1437 he was consecrated metropolitan of Nicaea. Because he supported the idea of the Union of the Churches, in 1440 he was forced to leave Byzantium and settle in Italy, were he became a prominent scholar, a patron of classical learning and a hierarch with rich ecclesiastical and political activity. In 1463 he was elected Latin patriarch of Constantinople. He died on November 18th,...

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