Archon (Byzantium)
Archon was a Byzantine official title that was used from late antiquity to the end of the empire, but its meaning changed over time.
If archon was still the name for a high government official in antiquity (see also Archon (office) ), the term was used very flexibly in the Eastern Roman / Byzantine Empire. In general, higher officials, including strategoi (generals) or governors, could be called archons . The main characteristic of the Archon was above all his prominent social position, be it in the secular or ecclesiastical area.
In a narrower sense, archons were primarily referred to as persons who had official powers and exercised them, such as governors and the heads of imperial or ecclesiastical administrative offices. It could also be used to designate foreign rulers who were dependent on the empire.
Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The tradition of the Byzantine title is followed by an award given by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople . He appoints lay people who have made a special contribution to one of the Orthodox churches to be archons.
literature
- Jadran Ferluga : Archon . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , column 911.
- Alexander P. Kazhdan : Archon . In: Derselbe (ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Volume 1, Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 160.
Footnotes
- ↑ What is an Archon? , accessed November 20, 2017.