1. Biographical elements and education

George was born in Lapithus of Kyreneia around 1241, when Cyprus was under Latin rule. His family was wealthy and had high social position.¹ He received basic education in his birthplace under Greek speaking teachers and later he went to Nicosia for his encyclical education. He completed his education in a Latin school, under Latin speaking teachers. However, he was not satisfied with his education. He criticized school saying he did not learn grammar properly and as far as philosophy is concerned. He believed that he had attended only a introduction in Aristotelian logic and believe that his gaps is due to the insufficiency of his teachers and the foreign language in which the classes were taught. He searched for a teacher to continue his studies in Greek but with no success, so he asked his parents to send him to Nicaea of Bithynia, the centre of the intellectual life of his time where he believed he could have high standard education, since he considered that the spirit of ancient Greece survived there.² After they denied that he left in secret and through Acra (Ptolemais) of Palestine he travelled to Anaia and then to Ephesos, trying to contact Nikephoros Blemmydes in order to become accepted to the school of higher education that was located in the monastery of the Lord-Christ-Who-Is.³ But the locals prevented him from doing so emphasizing on his young age and his poorness, so after six months of difficult travels he reached Nicaea where he attended classes, mainly grammar and rhetoric. However his teachers then did not satisfy him.

His next stop was Constantinople. He moved there after the recapture of the city by the Byzantines in 1261, with the intention to complete his studies under George Acropolites. In 1266/7, he was finally accepted to the school directed by Acropolites, which was under the control of the emperor. He was taught rhetoric and mathematics from Acropolites: the foundation of rhetoric was the Aristotelian philosophy, while the works of Nikomachos Gerasenos and of Eucleides were used in the teaching of mathematics and of geometry, respectively.⁴ He studied under Acropolites for seven years, until 1273/4.⁵

After completing his education, George began to teach himself, around 1273/4; he probably resided in the monastery of Christ Akataleptos⁶ and undertook the place of his teacher. At the same time he held the offices of anagnostes and protospatharios and became an official adviser of the emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.⁷ In 1283 Andronikos II Palaiologos made him patriarch, but after a troubled period in this office he resigned in 1289. He went to the small monastery of Aristene, owned by Theodora Raoulaina, where he lived until his death in 1290 and was concerned only with his literature interests.

2. Teaching activity

George of Cyprus proved very successful as a teacher. He gained the appreciation of the imperial cycle and most of his pupils took high offices. He taught grammar, rhetoric, geometry and mathematics and he considered Aristotelian philosophy as the highest level of his teaching.⁸ According to Nicephorus Choumnos for the teaching of rhetoric he used works of Plato, Aristotele and Thycucides.⁹ Most of the surviving texts where written to cover his own needs as a teacher. As himself says he did not accept everybody but those who would make a good effort and wanted to study.¹⁰ Apart from Nicephorus Choumnos, some of his pupils were Theodore Mouzalon, subsequent megas logothetes, John XIII Glykys, who would become patriarch of Constaninople (1316-1320), Manuel Neokaisarites, protasekretis, Kaloeidas, the protégé of the metropolitan of Ephesos Isaac, Melitas and the monk Mark.¹¹ It is possible that Constantine Acropolites and Maximus Planoudes were his also his pupils. He remained friends with many of his students and he corresponded with them when they were away. He taught for ten years until he became patriarch of Constantinople.

3. Ecclesiastical career

Already before the death of Michael VIII and while he continued his teaching activity, George was appointed protapostolarios of the palace by the patriarch Joseph. He was in favour of the union of the churches and had adopted the political views of Michael VIII as well as the decisions of the Council of Lyon (1274).

After the ascend of Andronikos II to the Byzantine throne (1282) and the change of the imperial policy in ecclesiastical matters, the emperor chose George as the new patriarch. It was a choice aimed to ease the tensions inside the Church: George had been ordained by Joseph which meant that he would be accepted by the Josephites, while the emperor reassured the Arsenites that their condamnation by Joseph would be considered invalid. George was appointed patriarch under the name Gregory II in Hagia Sophia, on Palm Sunday of 1283.¹² In the follownig days¹³ an ecclesiastical council was held in the church of Blachernai for the condemnation of the heretics and the punishment of the hierarchs that were in favour of he union or had been ordained by John XI Bekkos (1275-1282). The council issued a Tomos, on Gregory II's responsibility, which provided that all unionist priests should be disordained.¹⁴

To face the problem with the Arsenites, an ecclesiastic council was held in Adramyttion, on April 8, 1284.¹⁵ However, instead of easing the differences, the council aggravated them. Gregory found himself accused by both the Arsenites and the unionists under Bekkos. In the following years, the dispute continued and the patriarch, who did not manage to put an end to the tumult and the controversies, resigned from the patriarchal throne in 1289. However, during the time he was patriarch, he took particular care for the education of the church officers.

4. Œuvre

George of Cyprus is considered as the introducer of the humanistic ideal which the scholars of the Palaiologan renaissance followed. He influenced his contemporary and subsequent scholars, although as he writes he was not particularly eager as an author.¹⁶ Three factors may have caused this: a lack of time and money, the fear for his life because of his involvment in ecclesiastical controvercies and his shattered health. Despite all these, many works of him survive; some of them aimed to cover his instructive needs, while others were copies made under his guidance.

4.1. Instructive works

George wrote 17 myths, 3 short stories and one ethopoiia (description of characters), a Praise to the sea and a chreia. In these works seem to have been modelled on the Progymnasmata of Aphthonios. His wrote three rhetoric speeches, which constituted the next level in the teaching of rhetoric and was taught after the progymnasmata. To this genre also belongs a collection of proverbs that he wrote.

4.2. Vitae of saints

George was very interested in the hagiology, just like his teacher George Acropolites. Five Vitae survive: of saint George, of Dionysios Areopagites, of Euthymios of Madyta, of Marina of Antioch and of Lazaros of Mt. Galesios. According to a letter of his, he also wrote a canon for St. Christopher.¹⁷

4.3. Letters

The letters of George, written in the attic dialect, are a rich source of information for him and his era. He sometimes refers in details to what was going on when he was patriarch. The receivers of the letters are various scholars and notable personalities of the administration and the ecclesiastic hierarchy of his time. Among them is Andronikos II Palaiologos, the sebastokrator John Palaiologos, Andronikos’s brother, Theodore Mouzalon the megas logothetes, the metropolitans of Ephesos Isaac and John Cheilas, the grand archdeacon Constantine Meliteniotes, the scholars George Pachymeres, Manuel Neokaisareites, John Pediasimos, Manuel Holobolos and Nikephoros Choumnos. George himself collected the 197 letters and put them in chronological order. Later on Andrew Lopadiotes used the letters for the compilation of the Lexicon Vindobonense,¹⁸ and Makarios Chrysocephalos added some of them in his Rhodonia, an anthology with citations by ancient Greek and Byzantine authors which he compiled in the years 1326-1336.¹⁹

4.4. Autobiography

His autobiography (Γρηγορίου τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου καὶ μακαριωτάτου οἰκουμενικοῦ πατριάρχου περὶ τοῦ καθ’ ἑαυτὸν βίου ὡς ἀπ’ ἄλλου προσώπου)²⁰ in which he speaks of his youth, was probably influenced by the one of Nikephoros Blemmydes. It is a vivid presentation of the situation in the empire of Nicaea and Constantinople as far as education is concerned. It is a rich source of historical information but also a way to approach George’s personality through his thoughts and considerations. It is noteworthy that Georgre wrote in the third person, thus probably meaning to keep a distance from the text an to remain as much objective as possible in his description.

5. Influences

George had influence on both his contemporary and subsequent scholars. Theodore Mouzalon refers to him as the most important scholar of his era, and Nicephorus Choumnos compares him Gregory of Nazianzos.²¹ Pachymeres, who did not belong to his cycle, however, emphasized on his spirituality.²² Nikephoros Gregoras, a pupil of John Glykys, believes that George played a significant role in the revival of the attic dialect²³ and Gennadios Scholarios considers him an important theologian, philosopher, mathematician and rhetor.²⁴ The works of George were very popular, although today we do not know his work on the whole.²⁵