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27-541: As a synkellos , George stood high in the ecclesiastical establishment of Constantinople. The position carried no defined duties, but the incumbent would generally serve as the patriarch's private secretary, and might also be used by the Emperor to limit the movements and actions of a troublesome patriarch (as was the case during the reign of Constantine VI , when several of George's colleagues were set as guards over Patriarch Tarasius). The office would be an imperial gift by

54-545: A synkellos succeeded to the patriarchal throne when it fell vacant. This was certainly the expectation by the 9th–10th centuries, when the synkellos was an official appointed by the Emperor , and became a tool for imperial control of the patriarchal succession. Thus, although its members were lower-ranking clergymen—priests and deacons —in the Kletorologion of 899 he is listed among the senior secular officials of

81-498: Is unknown whether the synkellos in question was George himself or a colleague/successor, but the attack on the clergy, including George's friends and colleagues, would not have endeared the Emperor to George, and is suggested as the motivating factor in the "pathological hatred" towards Nikephoros I in the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor The date of his death is uncertain; a reference in his chronicle makes clear that he

108-413: The antilegomena (including Revelation ) and the apocrypha . Next to each book is the count of its lines, his stichometry , to which we can compare our accepted texts and judge how much has been added or omitted. This is especially useful for apocrypha for which only fragmentary texts have survived. The principal works of Nikephorus are three writings referring to iconoclasm : Nikephoros follows in

135-592: The Palaiologan period on, the synkellos of the Patriarch of Constantinople was designated as megas protosynkellos (μέγας πρωτοσύγκελλος, "grand protosynkellos ). Saint Nicephorus Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I ( Greek : Νικηφόρος; c. 758 – 5 April 828) was a Byzantine writer and patriarch of Constantinople from 12 April 806 to 13 March 815. He was born in Constantinople as

162-529: The Stoudites , and this opposition intensified into an open break when Nikephoros, in other respects a very rigid moralist, showed himself compliant to the will of the emperor by reinstating the excommunicated priest Joseph. After vain theological disputes, in December 814, there followed personal insults. Nikephoros at first replied to his removal from his office by excommunication, but at last, under Leo V

189-531: The rhaiktor ; in the overall hierarchy, which included ecclesiastical offices and holders of semi-imperial titles like Caesar , he came eighth after the rhaiktor and before the Archbishop of Bulgaria and the various patrikioi . The synkellos of the Patriarch of Rome took precedence over that of Constantinople, if present, and the synkelloi of the other patriarchates followed. The prestige of

216-494: The Armenian was obliged to yield to force, and was taken to one of the cloisters he had founded, Tou Agathou , and later to that called Tou Hagiou Theodorou . From there he carried on a literary polemic for the cause of the iconodules against the synod of 815 . On the occasion of the change of emperors, in 820, he was put forward as a candidate for the patriarchate and at least obtained the promise of toleration. He died at

243-737: The Byzantines, and were also circulated outside the Empire in the Latin version of Anastasius Bibliothecarius , and also in Slavonic translation. The Chronography offered a universal history from the time of Adam and Eve to his own time. To it he appended a canon catalog (which does not include the Revelation of John ). The catalog of the accepted books of the Old and New Testaments is followed by

270-720: The West. Meanwhile, in the East George's fame was gradually overshadowed by that of Theophanes. Synkellos Synkellos ( Greek : σύγκελλος ), latinized as syncellus , is an ecclesiastical office in the Eastern Rite churches. In the Byzantine Empire , the synkellos of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople was a position of major importance in the state, and often was regarded as

297-501: The chronicle of Trajan the Patrician but deliberately chose not to name the source so as to connect himself to the historical tradition of Theophylact Simocatta. The Short History is thematically focused around the matter of the offices of emperor and patriarch. Nikephoros attempted to salvage the reputation of the patriarchate by criticizing iconoclast patriarchs for submitting to the emperor, not for being iconoclasts. Herakleios

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324-418: The day of his death. Compared with Theodore of Stoudios , Nikephoros appears as a friend of conciliation, learned in patristics , more inclined to take the defensive than the offensive, and possessed of a comparatively chaste, simple style. He was mild in his ecclesiastical and monastical rules and non-partisan in his historical treatment of the period from 602 to 769 ( Historia syntomos, breviarium ). He used

351-558: The fragments of ancient writers and apocryphal books preserved in it make it especially valuable. For instance, considerable portions of the original text of the Chronicle of Eusebius have been restored by the aid of George's work. His chief authorities were Annianus of Alexandria and Panodorus of Alexandria , through whom George acquired much of his knowledge of the history of Manetho ; George also relied heavily on Eusebius, Dexippus and Sextus Julius Africanus . George's chronicle

378-552: The largest hospital for the destitute in Constantinople. After the death of the Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople , there was great division among the clergy and higher court officials as to the choice of his successor. Although still a layman , Nikephorus was chosen patriarch by the wish of the emperor ( Easter , 12 April 806). The uncanonical choice met with opposition from the strictly clerical party of

405-625: The monastery of Saint Theodore ( Hagiou Theodorou ), revered as a confessor . His remains were solemnly brought back to Constantinople by Methodios I of Constantinople on 13 March 847 and interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles , where they were annually the object of imperial devotion. His feast is celebrated on this day both in the Greek and Roman Churches; the Greeks also observe 2 June as

432-481: The relation of each event to other events, and as such is continually interrupted by long tables of dates, so markedly that Krumbacher described it as being "rather a great historical list [ Geschichtstabelle ] with added explanations, than a universal history ." George reveals himself as a staunch upholder of orthodoxy , and quotes Greek Fathers such as Gregory Nazianzen and John Chrysostom . But in spite of its religious bias and dry and uninteresting character,

459-486: The same fashion, as well as the Alexandrians Annianus and Panodorus (monks who wrote near the beginning of the 5th century), George used the chronological synchronic structures of Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius of Caesarea , arranging his events strictly in order of time, and naming them in the year which they happened. Consequently, the narrative is regarded as secondary to the need to reference

486-528: The service of the Empire. Under Empress Irene he took part in the synod of 787 as imperial commissioner. He then withdrew to one of the cloisters that he had founded on the Thracian Bosporus. There he devoted himself to ascetic practices and to the study both of secular learning, as grammar, mathematics, and philosophy, and the Scriptures. Around 802 he was recalled and appointed director of

513-440: The son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly Orthodox family, which had suffered from the earlier Iconoclasm . His father Theodore, one of the secretaries of Emperor Constantine V , had been scourged and banished to Nicaea for his zealous support of Iconodules , and the son inherited the religious convictions of the father. While still young Nikephorus was brought to the court, where he became an imperial secretary and entered

540-536: The state. The synkellos was one of the "special dignities" (ἀξίαι εἰδικαί, axiai eidikai ), between the rhaiktor , and before the chartoularios tou kanikleiou . His exact duties are unclear, but he was considered a member of the Senate and was accorded a role in imperial ceremonies. In the Kletorologion , the synkellos was placed third of all secular offices in hierarchy, after the basileopator and

567-420: The successor-designate to the reigning patriarch. The term is Greek and means "one who lives in the same cell " in a monastery. It is attested from the 5th century onward for the closest advisor of a bishop or archbishop, who then lived in the same residence or cell. In the Byzantine Empire , the synkellos of the Patriarch of Constantinople quickly acquired a pre-eminent position, and it often happened that

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594-487: The time of Basil I , and was probably so earlier; as such, George may well have owed his position to the Empress Irene . Many synkelloi would go on to become Patriarchs of Constantinople, or Bishops of other sees (for example George's colleague, John, another synkellos under Patriarch Tarasius, who became Metropolitan Bishop of Sardis in 803). George, however, did not follow this path, instead retreating from

621-432: The title was such that from the 10th century, it began to be sought by, and awarded to, ambitious metropolitan bishops , as well. Consequently, the title was gradually inflated to more grandiloquent forms like protosynkellos (πρωτοσύγκελλος, "first synkellos ") or proedros ton protosynkellon (πρόεδρος τῶν πρωτοσυγκέλλων, "president of the protosynkelloi ), and the original title lost its erstwhile significance. From

648-545: The world to compose his great chronicle. It would appear that the Emperor Nikephoros I incurred George's disfavour at around the same time: in 808, Nikephoros discovered a plot against him, and punished the suspected conspirators, amongst whom were not only secular figures "but also holy bishops and monks and clergy of the Great Church, including the synkellos ...men of high repute and worthy of respect"; it

675-605: Was continued after his death by his friend Theophanes; Theophanes's work was heavily shaped by George's influence, and the latter may have had a greater influence on Theophanes's Chronicle than Theophanes himself. Anastasius, the Papal Librarian , composed a Historia tripartita in Latin , from the chronicles of George Syncellus, Theophanes Confessor, and Patriarch Nicephorus . This work, written between 873 and 875, spread George's preferenced dates for historical events through

702-469: Was still alive in 810, and he is sometimes described as dying in 811, but there is no evidence for this, and textual evidence in the Chronicle of Theophanes suggests that he was still alive in 813. His chronicle , as its title implies, is more of a chronological table with notes than a history. Following on from the Syriac chroniclers of his homeland, who were writing in his lifetime under Arab rule in much

729-753: Was the ideal emperor in Nikephoros’ scheme because of how he worked alongside patriarch Sergios, but also how Sergios helped to defend Constantinople from the Avars in 626 as well as the patriarch’s ability to discipline the emperor for his marriage to his niece Martina. Herakleios failure to heed the Egyptian patriarch’s advice is what ultimately brought about the Arab conquest of Egypt. His tables of universal history, Chronography or Chronographikon Syntomon , in passages extended and continued, were in great favor with

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