Eustratius Garidas
Encyclopedia
Eustratius Garidas was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople between 1081 and 1084. A monk, he was elevated to the patriarchal throne through the influnce of mother of the emeperor Alexios I, Anna Dalassene, to whom he had become an intimate advisor. He was a eunuch
.
Anna Comnena and other writers describe him as uneducated and of weak character.. Due to his illiteracy and apparent gullibility he was involved in the case of John Italus
, whom his predecessor, Patriarch Cosmas I of Constantinople
had condemned. Alexios had to take over the case against Italus as Eustratius, in his words,"rather dwelt at leisure and preferred peace and quiest to noisy throngs, and turned to God alone."
During the war against the Normans
, at the beginning of the reign of Alexios in 1081-1082, Garidas did not resist the expropriation of artworks and consecrated treasures of the capital's churches, destined to be melted for currency to pay the army of Alexios I. This lack of reistance was not forgiven by Leo of Chalcedon
who sought to expel him from his throne, at one point also accusing him, without evidence, of diverting part of the appropriate treasure for his own use. Finally accused of heresy, Eustratios was cleared by a commission of inquiry established by Alexios in 1084, but chose to abdicate.
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
.
Anna Comnena and other writers describe him as uneducated and of weak character.. Due to his illiteracy and apparent gullibility he was involved in the case of John Italus
John Italus
John Italus, also Johannes Italos, Ioannis Italos, Ioánnes Italós was a Neoplatonic Byzantine philosopher of the eleventh century. He was Calabrian in origin, his father being a soldier. He came to Constantinople, where he became a student of Michael Psellus in classical Greek philosophy. He...
, whom his predecessor, Patriarch Cosmas I of Constantinople
Patriarch Cosmas I of Constantinople
Cosmas I of Jerusalem was Patriarch of Constantinople from 2 August, 1075 to 8 May, 1081. Originally from Antioch, he was educated and resided in Jerusalem for a large part of his life, earning his geographic epithet. He may have been appointed to the patriarchate out of monastery near or in...
had condemned. Alexios had to take over the case against Italus as Eustratius, in his words,"rather dwelt at leisure and preferred peace and quiest to noisy throngs, and turned to God alone."
During the war against the Normans
Byzantine-Norman Wars
A number of wars between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire were fought from c. 1050 until 1185 when the last Norman invasion of Byzantine territory was defeated...
, at the beginning of the reign of Alexios in 1081-1082, Garidas did not resist the expropriation of artworks and consecrated treasures of the capital's churches, destined to be melted for currency to pay the army of Alexios I. This lack of reistance was not forgiven by Leo of Chalcedon
Leo of Chalcedon
Leo of Chalcedon was an 11th-century Eastern Orthodox bishop at Chalcedon who opposed the appropriation of church treasures by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos between 1081 and 1091.Alexios I was in a desperate situation upon ascending the throne in 1081...
who sought to expel him from his throne, at one point also accusing him, without evidence, of diverting part of the appropriate treasure for his own use. Finally accused of heresy, Eustratios was cleared by a commission of inquiry established by Alexios in 1084, but chose to abdicate.
Source
- Ecumenical Patriarchate
- Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. New York: Penguin, 2003.
- Hussey, J.M.. The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire. Oxford: University Press, 1986.