No More Learning

II. (1255-1258) had intended to give his daugh- He is styled Bishop of Alexandria, and it is the
ter in marriage ; an alliance the prospect of which opinion of those who have examined into the
tended to make him, during the minority of Joannes matter that he lived after the commencement of
Lascaris, the son of Theodore, insufferably arrogant. the seventh century. A George was Catholic
(Georg. Pachymer, De Michael Palaeol. i. 21, vol. bishop or patriarch of Alexandria from A. D.
i. p. 65, ed. Paris. )
616 to 630, and as no other patriarch appears
17. PALAEOLOGUS. (PALAEOLOG US. ] under that name between A. D. 600 and the time of
18. PEGANES, military chief of the thema Ob- Photius, he was probably the writer. The life of
sequium, was the chief supporter of Symbatius, Chrysostom occupies above a hundred folio pages,
rival of Basil the Macedonian [Basilius I. MA- in Savile's edit. of Chrysostom (vol. viii. pp. 157,
CEDO), in the revolt to which he was led by his 265). It abounds in useless and fabulous matter.
jealousy of Basil's elevation to the rank of Augus- The writer in his preface professes to have drawn
tus by the reigning emperor Michael III, A. D. 866. his account from the writings of Palladius and
Symbatius and George ravaged the open country Socrates, and from the oral statements of faithful
about Constantinople, and while they reviled Basil, priests and pious laymen. Oudin ascribes to this
and denied his claim to the throne, spoke with great writer the compilation of the Chronicon Paschale,
respect of Michael. Being deserted by their troops, but without foundation. (Georgius, Vita Chrys. ;
they fed, and George sought refuge in Cotyaeium, Phot. Bibl. Cod. 96; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. vii. p. 451,
one of the cities of his government, where he was vol viii. p. 457, vol. x. pp. 210, 707; Allatius, Dia-
soon after taken by the emperor's troops: he was trib. de Gcorg. apud Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. xii. p. 16;
scourged, blinded, and either exiled or detained in Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 577, ed. Ox. 1740-43. )
custody in his own house. On the accession of 4. AMYRUTZA, or AMYRUTZES, a native of Tra-
Basil as sole emperor, he was restored to his former pezus or Trebizond. He was high in favour at
honours. (Theophan. Continuat. Chronog. lib. v. Constantinople with the emperor Johannes or
de Basilio Macedone, c. 19; Symeon Mag. de John II. Palaeologus, and was one of those whom
Michaele et Theodora, c. 44 ; Georg. Monach. de the emperor consulted about his attendance at the
Michaele et Theodora, c. 31. )
council of Florence, A. D. 1439. George afterwards
19. PROBATA (IIpobaras) was sent as ambas- returned to Trebizond, and was high in favour with
sador by the emperor Michael IV. , the Paphlago- David, the last emperor of Trebizond, at whose
nian, to the Saracen Emir of Sicily (A. D. 1035), court he seems to have borne the offices of Logo-
to treat of peace. In 1040, in the same reign, he theta and Protovestiarius. His intellectual attain-
commanded an army against the Servians. (Cedren. ments obtained for him the title of “the philoso-
Compend. vol. ii. p. 513, 526. )
pher. ” On the capture of Trebizond by the Turks
20. SYRUS (Eupos) was sent by the emperor (A. D. 1461), he obtained the favour of the sultan,
Justinian II. , with a few ships and 300 soldiers, Mohammed I1. , partly by his handsome person
against the town of Chersonae, in the Cherson and his skill in the use of the javelin, but chiefly
nesus Taurica, the inhabitants of which were in a through a marriage connection with a Turkish
state of insurrection. George, with his party, was pacha. Mobammed often conversed with him on
admitted into the town, and there he was killed by philosophy and religion, and gave him some con-
the townsmen, with Joannes, one of his chief siderable posts in the seraglio at Constantinople.
officers, and the rest of his troops taken prisoners, He embraced the Mohammedan religion, together
A. D. 711. (Theophian. Chronog. vol. i. p. 580, ed. with his children ; and his death, which occurred
Bonn. )
suddenly, while he was playing at dice, is repre-
Beside personages belonging to the Byzantine sented by some Christian writers as the punish-
empire, there were many Georges in the states ment of his apostasy ; from which we may perhaps
which were formed out of it during its decay, or at infer that it followed that event after no great in-
its fall. The name occurs in the notices of the terval.
Servian, or Bulgarian, or Albanian provinces and He wrote in Greek, apparently in the early part
chieftains. The most eminent was George Cas- of his life, at any rate before his renunciation of
triota, better known by the epithet Scanderbeg, Christianity, a work the title of which is rendered
who lived about the time of the final capture of into Latin by our authorities, “ Ad Demetrium
Constantinople (4. D. 1453). Among the Com- Nauplii Ducem de iis quae contigerunt in Synodo
neni of Trebizond (COMNENUS] there was one Florentina. " In this he opposed the projected
emperor George (A. D. 1266 to 1280), and there union of the Greek and Latin churches. “Allatius
were several Georges members of the imperial mentions this work in his De Consensu utriusque
family.
(J. C. M. ] Ecclesiae, and quotes from it. Two other works,
GÉOʻRGIUS (reápolos), literary and ecclesias- of which the titles are thus given, Dialogus de
tical. The following list contains only the prin. Fide in Christo cum Rege Turcarum, and Epis-
cipal writers of that name. Those whose works tola ad Bessarion Cardinalem, are or were extant
are lost, or exist only in MS. , may be found by al in MS. (Gery, Appendix to Cave's Hist. Litt.
I'
12
1
1
R 4


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218
GEORGIUS.
GEORGIUS.
p. 182, ed. Oxon. 1740-43 ; Bayle, Dictionnaire, not zealous enough in the support of Arianism.
&c. , s. 0. Amyrutzes. )
He was therefore removed, and George was ap-
6. ANEPONYMUS, or without a surname. (See pointed by the council of Antioch (A. D. 354, or,
the PERIPATETIC, No. 41. )
according to Mansi, A. D. 356) in his place. It is
6. Aristinus, an historian. Joseph, bishop of probable that George was appointed from his sub-
Modon (who flourished about A. D. 1440), in his serviency to the court, and his readiness to promote
defence of the council of Florence, in reply to any fiscal exactions, and his general unscrupulous-
Mark of Ephesus, cites Georgius Aristinus as an ness ; and he was induced to accept the appoint-
authority for the statement, that the addition of ment by the hope of guin, or, as Athanasius ex-
the words “ filioque” to the Nicene creed had been presses it," he was hired” to become bishop.
made shortly after the second oecumenical council Count Heraclian was sent by Constantius to gain
(that of Constantinople, A. D. 381), in the time of the support of the heathen people of Alexandria to
Pope Damasus. (Allatius, Diatrib. de Gorg. apud George's election ; and he succeeded in his ob
Fabr. Bibl. Gr. vol. xii. p. 21. )
ject, by giving them hopes of obtaining toleration
7. Of CAPPADOCIA, a man of bad character, a for their own worship; and the emperor, in a letter
heretic and a persecutor, and an intruder into the preserved by Athanasius, recommended the new
see of the orthodox Athanasius, then in banish- prelate to the support and favour of the Alexan-
ment, and yet, strange to tell, a saint in the Roman drians generally. But a persecution of the Tri-
Calendar, and the patron saint of England. It is nitirian piirty had commenced even before the ar-
possible, indeed, that his moral delinquency has rival of George, which took place during Lent,
been aggravated by the party spirit of the ecclesi- A. D. 355. They were dispossessed of the churches;
astical historians, and other writers to whom his and Sebastian, commander of the troops in Egypt,
Arianism made him odious ; but it is hard to be publicly exposed some women, who had devoted
lieve that their invectives are without considerable themselves to a life of religious celibacy, naked
foundation. He was born, according to Ammianus, before the flame of a large fire, to make them re-
at Epiphaneia, in Cilicia, but our other authorities nounce orthodoxy. On George's arrival, the perse-
speak of him as a Cappadocian. His father was a cution continued as fiercely as before, or even more
fuller. Gregory Nazianzen, whose passionate in- so. Widows and orphans were plundered of their
vective is our chief authority for his early history, houses and of their bread ; several men were so
says that he was of a bad family (Tovmpos to cruelly beaten with fresh-gathered palm branches,
gévos); but it does not appear whether it was dis- with the thorns yet adhering to them, that some
creditable for anything more than its humble occu- were long before they recovered, and some never
pation. George appears to have been a parasite, a recovered at all ; and many virgins, and thirty
hanger-on of the wealthy, “one that would sell bishops, were banished to the greater Oasis, or
himself,” according to Gregory, " for a cake. ” He elsewhere : several of the bishops died in the
obtained an appointment connected with the place of exile, or on the way. Athanasius, how-
supply of bacon to the army ; but being detected ever, escaped, and remained in concealment till
in some unfaithfi 8s, was stripped of his charge George's death. George and his partisans refused
and his emoluments, and was glad to escape with at first to give up to their friends for burial the
out bodily punishment. According to Gregory, he bodies of those who died, "sitting," says Theodo-
afterwards wandered from one city or province to ret, “ like daemons about the tombs. " His perse-
another, till he was fixed at Alexandria, “ where cutions led to a revolt. The Trinitarian party
he ceased to wander, and began to do mischief. " rose against him, and would have killed him. He
It is probable, however, that he held office as a re-escaped, however, and fled to the emperor; and
ceiver of some branch of the revenue at Constan- the Trinitarians re-occupied the churches. A no-
tinople, having by bribery obtained the favour of tary was sent, apparently from Constantinople ;
the eunuchs who had influence at the court of the orthodox were again expelled; the guilty were
Constantius II. , the then reigning emperor. Atha punished, and George returned, rendered more ty-
nasius, who notices this appointment, calls him rannical by this vain attempt to resist him.
ταμειοφάγος, « a peculator ;” but it is not clear While his bitter persecution of the orthodox was
whether he refers to his former official delinquency embittering the anger of that numerous party, his
or to some new offence.
rapacity and subserviency to the court offended all.
Thus far it does not appear that George had even He suggested to Constantius to require a rent for all
professed to be a Christian: we have certainly no the buildings which had been erected at the public
intimation that he sustained any ecclesiastical cha-cost, and ministered to the emperor's cruelty, as
racter before his appointment to the see of Alexan- well as his rapacity, by accusing many Alexandrians
dria. Athanasius says it was reported at the time of disobedience to his orders. Mindful of his own
of his appointment that he had not been a Christian interest, he sought to obtain a monopoly of nitre
at all, but rather an idolator ; and there is reason and of the marshes where the papyrus and other
to believe that Athanasius is right in charging him reeds grew, of the salterns, and of biers for the
with professing Christianity for interest sake. dead and the management of funerals in Alexan-
Ariarism was patronised by Constantius, and George dria His luxury and arrogance tended further to
consequently became a zealous Arian; and was, after increase the hatred entertained towards him. A
his appointment to Alexandria, concerned in assem- passage in Athanasius (De. nod. c. 12) gives some
bling the Arian councils of Seleuceia (A. D. 359) and reason to think that sentence of deposition was
Constantinople (A. D. 360). According to Socrates pronounced against him at the Council of Seleuceia
and Sozomen, Gregory, whom the Arian party had (A. D. 359); but if so, it was not carried into
appointed to the see of Alexandria, vacant by the ex- effect.
pulsion of Athanasius, had become unpopular, through
The immediate cause of his downfal was his
the tumults and disasters to which his appointment persecution of the heathens. He had excited their
had led ; and was at the same time regarded as fears by exclaiming at the view of a splendid


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GEORGIUS.
249
GEORGIUS.
temple, " How long shall this sepulchre stand ? " heretics ; a probable intimation that the facts of
But the crowning provocation was this: there was his history had not yet been sufficiently perverted
a spot in the city occupied by the ruins of a for- to be received. As time proceeded, various fabu-
saken temple of Mithras, or the Sun, and still re- lous and absurd “ Acta” were produced, which
garded by the beathens as sacred, though filled Papebroche admits to be unworthy of credit. The
with the refuse and off-scouring of the streets. This Greek “ Acta” are considered by him as more
spot Constantius had given to the church at Alex. trustworthy ; but he does not place even them in
andria ; and George determined to clear it out, and the first class ; though a Latin version of them is
build a church upon it. The workmen, in clearing given in the Acta Sanctorum, with a long Com-
it out, found in the adytum, or sacred recess of the mentarius Praevius, by Papebroche. The distor-
old temple, statues, sacred utensils, and the skulls of | tions of the history are singular. St. George still
numan victims, either slain in sacrifice, or that the appears as a Cappadocian and a layman, but he is
soothsayers might examine their entrails, and fore made a soldier of Diocletian, under whom he is
tell future events thereby. Some zealots brought described as suffering martyrdom. The length,
these things out, and exposed them to the mockery variety, and intermission of his sufferings are a
and jeers of the Christians. This irritated the probable distortion of the various inflictions of the
heathens; and as the news had just arrived of the enraged multitude before and after his imprison-
death of Constantius (Nov. A. D. 361), and the ac. ment, The magician Athanasius, successively an
cession of Julian as sole emperor, and also of the opponent of Christianity, a convert, and a martyr,
execution of Artemius, ex-governor of Egypt, they is his chief antagonist ; and the city of Alexandria
thought their time ascendancy was come, and appears as the empress Alexandra, the wife of
rose in insurrection. George, whose persecutions Diocletian, and herself a convert and a martyr. The
seem to have been directed against all who differed story of the dragon appears only in later legends ;
from him, was at the time presiding in a synod, the monster, who is, we suspect, nothing else than
where those who held the sentiments of Aëtius a still more distorted representation of the fugitive
(AETIUS) were compelled to subscribe a condemna- Athanasius, is described as lurking about a lake as
tion of their own opinions. The rioters rushed into large as a sea (Mareotis ? ), near the city of Silena
the church where the synod was assembled, dragged (Alexandria ? ), in Lybia. St. George was known
him out, and would have killed him on the spot. among the Greeks as Tporalopópos, or the Victori-
He was, however, rescued by the authorities, and ous; and he was one of the saints who were said
apparently to satisfy his enemies, committed to to assist the first Crusaders. He was reverenced
prison. But not many days after, at day-break, the in England in the Anglo-Saxon period ; during the
mob forced the prison, dragged him out, bound him Norman and earlier part of the Plantagenet dy-
(it is doubtful whether living or dead) on a camel, nasty his reputation increased ; and under Edward
and, after parading him through the city, tore him 111. , or perhaps earlier, he came to be regarded as
to pieces, and burnt his mangled remains. His the patron saint of the nation. (Ada Sanctorum,
murder appears to have taken place about the end 230 April; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. ch. 21,
of the year 361. Though described by Athanasius 23; Heylyn, Hist. of St. George. )
as a man of coarse manners and ignorant, at least 8. CEDRENUS. [CEDRENUS. )
in theology, he left a valuable library, which the 9. CERAMEUS. Some MSS. give the name of
emperor Julian ordered to be sent to Antioch for George to the writer, better known as Theophanes
his own use. He had formerly, while in Cappa- Cerameus. (CERAMEUS. )
docia, borrowed some books of George. The general 10. CHARTOPHYLAX [Of NICOMEDEIA, No.
batred entertained towards him was evidenced by 36, and of Pisidia, No. 44. ]
the absence of any attempt to rescne him. The 11. CHARTOPHYLAX, a writer so called, distinct
Arians subsequently charged the Athanasian party from either George of Nicomedeia, or George of
with instigating his murderers; but Sozomen Pisidia, and sometimes designated “ Callipolita-
“ rather thought" it was the spontaneous act of the nus ;" lived apparently in the 13th century. He
Gentiles. (Amm. Marc. xxii. 1]; Gregor. Naz. wrote some Greek jambics referring to events in
Oratio XXI. ; Epiphan. Adv. Haeres. ii. Haeres. the history of Italy about the middle of that cen-
48, or 68, iii. Haeres. 56 or 76; Athanas. His- tury, quotations from which are given by Bandini.
toria Arianorum ad Monachos, c. 51, 75, De (Bandini, Catal. Cod. Laurent Medic. vol. i. p. 25,
Synodis, c. 12, 37, Epistola ad Episcopos Aegypti &c. ; Allatius, Diatrib. de Georg. apud Fabr. vol.
et Lybiae, c. 7, Apolog. de Fuga sua. c. 6, 7, Ad xii. p. 14. )
Imp. Constantium Apolog. c. 30, Petitio ad Imper. 12. CHOEKOBOSCUS. (CHOEROBOSCUS. )
Jovian, apud Athanas. Opera, vol. i. 782, ed. 13. CHRYSOCOCCES. (CHRYSOCOCCES. )
Benedictin. ; Socrat H. E. ii. 14. 28, iii. 2, 3, 4; 14. CHUMNUS. (Chumnus. )
Sozom. H. E. ïi. 7, iv. 10, v. 7; Theodoret, H. E. 15. CODINUS. (CODINUS. )
ii. 14; Philostorg. H. E. (apud. Phot. ) vii. 2; 16. Of CORCYRA, or CORPU. Two archbishops
Vita Athanasii, apud Phot. Bibl. Cod. 258. ) of the name of George occupied the see of Corcyra,
It is difficult either to trace or to account for the one in the twelfth, and one in the thirteenth cen-
introduction of the odious George among the saints tury. The elder of the two was in favour with
of the Romish and Greek churches ; and it is to the emperor Manuel Comnenns, who gave him the
be observed that the identification of the bishop of charge of fortifying the town of Corfu, which
Alexandria with the St. George of the calendar is Manuel had taken from the Normans of Southern
stoutly objected to by some Roman Catholic and Italy. The emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who
some Anglican writers - for instance, Papebroche had hostile intentions against Manuel, endeavoured
and Heylyn. In A. D. 494 (or perhaps 496) his to induce George to betray the island to him, but
rank as a canonised saint was recognised by Pope in vain. George's answer is preserved by Baro-
Gelasius I. at a council at Rome, but his "gesta" | nius. George was sent A. D. 1178 by Manuel to
were rejected as Apocryphal, and written by l attend the third Lateran (eleventh General) Council
9


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250
GEORGIUS.
GEORGIUS.
a
at Rome, and also to meet Frederick Barbarossa ; peror, by tampering with some of the bishops, ob
but he was detained six months by sickness at tained his purpose ; and George, after being rapidly
Brindisi or Otranto, and the council was closed hurried through the successive stages of monk,
before his recovery. He was therefore recalled by reader, deacon, and priest, was consecrated pa-
Manuel. Baronius gives a Latin version of several triarch (April, A. D. 1283), and took the name of
of George's letters. (Baron. Annal. Eccles. ad Annos Gregory. The Arsenians, however, refused to re-
1176, 178, 1179, 1180, 1188; Allatius, ibid. p. turn to the church, unless upon the testimony of
38, &c. ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 217; Oudin, heaven itself ; and it was arranged at a synod or
Comment de Script. Eccles. vol. ii. col. 1536. ) conference at Adramyttium, apparently just after
17. Of CORCYRA, or CORPU, the younger, was the consecration of Gregory, that they and the
the author of several works, especially of one party now predominant in the church (called Ja
against the Minorite Friars, and of another on the sephites from the late patriarch) should each pre
use of leavened bread in the eucharist. Allatius pare a book in support of their respective views,
and Cave confound this George of Corfu with the and that the two volumes should be submitted to
preceding, but Oudin has shown that they must be the ordeal of fire. Both books, as might be ex-
distinguished, and fixes the date of the younger pected, were consumed ; and the Arsenians regard-
about A. D. 1236. Allatius, in some of his works, ing this as a token that heaven was against them,
has quoted passages from George of Corfu on the submitted, and were at once led by the emperor in
procession of the Holy Spirit, and on the fire of person, through a violent snow storm, to receive the
purgatory, but we have no means of ascertaining to communion from the hands of the patriarch Gre
which of the two these passages belong. (Allatius gory. They soon, however, repented of their sub-
and Cave, Il.