ON GREGORIUS, SURNAMED MAMMA, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND HIS WRITINGS
We present to the learned an hitherto unpublished work of Gregorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, which Leo Allatius had long ago wished to include in the third volume of his *Graecia orthodoxa* (1), yet which he never brought into the public domain (2). It seemed fitting to discourse briefly on the author himself and on his books, which have sometimes been attributed to Georgius Scholarios, from whom he must be strictly distinguished (3).
Gregorius, surnamed Mamma and also called Melissenus and Strategopulus (4) by some, having long ago professed the monastic life (5) and being adorned with the dignity of protosyncellus and penitentiary, attended the Council of Florence, where, together with Antonius, Metropolitan of Heraclea, he acted in place of the Alexandrian Patriarch (6); he subscribed to its decrees with a sincere mind, to which he clung with unmoved constancy throughout his entire life thereafter. Upon the death of Metrophanes on the Kalends of August in the year 1443 (7), and with the Constantinopolitan see long deprived of a shepherd amidst the most sorrowful military events, Gregorius was at length, though unwilling and reluctant (8), proclaimed patriarch, in the year 1445 (9) or, as others (10) maintain, in the year 1446, on the 7th of July. A At that time, there was the greatest confusion in regard to sacred matters in that city; difficulties and anxieties overwhelmed the learned and pious man on every side, as he was harassed by the calumnies and injuries of his adversaries; no further patronage could be expected from the Emperor for the cause of union, and the insane fury of the schismatics grew day by day. Hence, Gregorius III held the patriarchal see for but five years, and in the year 1451, whether unjustly driven out (11) or voluntarily yielding by abdicating his rule (12), he fled to Rome, where, as the negotiations B undertaken for his restoration achieved nothing (13), the illustrious exile died in the year 1459, not without a reputation for sanctity (14), and was buried at S. Giorgio in Velabro (15). Georgius Trapezuntius celebrates him with the highest praises (16) as a confessor and martyr, an athlete of the truth, and a pillar of the Church; multiple Greek writers relate that when he was departing from Constantinople, he foretold the sad destruction of that city (17); his writings, in which he vigorously defended the union against the machinations of so many adversaries, reveal the man's modesty C and humility. Furthermore, three works of this excellent Prelate are known to us above all: I. The Apologetic Book or Epistle to the Emperor Trapezuntius concerning the addition made to the Creed, of which D
A M. Allatius (1) published the beginning: *Ἡμεῖς, ὦ θειότατε βασιλεῦ*. II. An Apology written against the Confession of Marcus of Ephesus, beginning with these words: *Ἐγὼ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι*. This treatise, which begins: *Ὁ τῆς Ἐφεσίων πόλεως ἀρχιερεὺς κύριος Μάρκος*, was once read by Arcudius, but has not yet been published in print (2). III. An Apology against the encyclical letter of Marcus of Ephesus, which begins: *Ἐγὼ διὰ τὴν ἐπιταγὴν καὶ τὴν χρείαν τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίας*, written and already made public in the editions of the councils (3), the beginning of which is: *Τὸ μὲν προοίμιον τοῦ αἰδεσίμου Ἐφέσου*.
In the order we have described, these three books appear in many manuscripts that we have seen. Thus, in the Munich Greek Manuscript 27, from folio 97b to 114a, the book to the Emperor Trapezuntius is read; from 114b to 144a, the Apology against Marcus’ Confession; from 144a to 177b, the Apology against Marcus’ epistle. Likewise, Vatican codex Greek 1428, f. 81a–98b, exhibits the work we listed first; from f. 210b–241b, the second work; f. 242a–278b, the third work. Also in the Marciana library, which is in Venice, codex 589 (sign. lxxxviii, 3), f. 76a following, the book to the Emperor Trapezuntius precedes, and the Apology against Marcus’ confession is found from f. 205a. However, this order is certainly not chronological; rather, the book to the Emperor Trapezuntius seems to have been written after those two Apologies against Marcus, while the enemy of union had already departed from the living, as it openly challenges them (4). B These facts, if I am not mistaken, also sufficiently indicate the time when Gregory wrote these three works. Marcus of Ephesus is said to have died in the year 1447 (5); therefore, the Apologies against him had been published before this year; however, the book to Emperor Trapezuntius, which nowhere hints that the author had already abdicated the patriarchal see, must have been written before the year 1451, yet not before a. 1445, when the author openly commemorates his patriarchate (6), nor indeed before the year 1447, since it indicates not obscurely that Marcus was already dead. The book to the Emperor Trapezuntius can therefore be considered to have been written between the years 1448–1450.
That Gregory wrote other things besides these three works seems perfectly certain, and such is confirmed by what he himself affirms in the Apology *εἰς τὴν τοῦ Ἐφέσου ὁμολογίαν*, which we are now taking care to publish, ch. 20. We, however, do not concern ourselves for the present with the rest of his works, which have not appeared to us in any of the manuscripts we have perused thus far, and we now hasten to those which concern the aforementioned Apology, which we are now publishing for the first time.
The Confession of Marcus of Ephesus mentioned above, which Gregory wished to have placed, conveniently dissected into parts, before his own refutation, appears quite often in fifteenth-century manuscripts without Gregory’s Responses, specifically in those manuscripts that were written by schismatics who abhorred the union. Thus, in Vatican-Palatine codex no. 403, f. 99–101, where Marcus’ discourse against the Latins concerning purgatory (f. 1 seq.) and the above-mentioned epistle, *Ἐγὼ διὰ τὴν διαταγήν, etc.*, are found. Thus also in the Munich Greek codex 256 (7), which provides many writings of the Ephesian, on f. 118 the epistle *Ἐγὼ διὰ τὴν διαταγήν* is read; but on f. 123, the Confession *Ἐγὼ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι*. We have compared this Munich codex of excellent quality regarding the text of Marcus with the aforementioned Munich 27, and we have found little discrepancy between them.
The Apology of Gregory regarding this Confession of Marcus exists also in many manuscripts, of which we have perused for only a short space of time the one held in the Laurentian library in Florence, codex XIV, no. 12, 13, plut. x (8). We have described the text itself from the Munich codex 27, which we have also frequently used for others; this one, as far as the circumstances of time and affairs permitted, we compared with the Marcian 589; it was also permitted to inspect the Vatican 1428, but only cursorily. The reading, even if brief, of these two manuscripts taught us that they are scarcely different from the former in certain readings. Therefore, having inspected those places which Allatius had already used, and with that work C along with others of the same...