Demetrios Kydones

Demetrios Kydones (Greek Δημήτριος Κυδώνης, Latin Demetrius Cydones , rarely also Demetrius Cydonius ; * 1324 in Thessaloniki ; † 1397 or 1398 in Crete ) was a Byzantine theologian and long-standing leading minister (Mesazon) under the emperors John VI. Kantakuzenos , Johannes V. Palaiologos and Manuel II. Palaiologos .

In political terms, Demetrios Kydones is known for advocating a reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches in the face of the threat from the Turks and for convincing John V to convert, which, however, had no consequences because of the resistance of the Eastern Church.

Fonts

• Demetrios Kydones: letters . Translated and explained by Franz Tinnefeld . So far 4 volumes, Hiersemann, Stuttgart, 1981–2003 ( Library of Greek Literature ).
• Demetrios Kydones: Refutation of the Koran (Greek translation of the Confutatio Alcorani by Ricoldus de Montecrucis. Greek-Latin edition, German translation and commentary by Stephanie Lawall planned in the series Corpus Islamo-Christianum , Series Graeca)
• Apologia pro vita sua . Translated and explained by Hans-Georg Beck. In: Ostkirchliche Studien I / 3, Würzburg, September 1952.

literature

• John A. Demetracopoulos: Demetrios Kydones. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Schwabe, Basel 2019, ISBN 978-3-7965-2623-7 , pp. 158–164, 281 f.
• Dorothea Wendebourg : Kydones, Demetrios. In: Theological Real Encyclopedia . Volume 20, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1990, pp. 359-362 ( online in the Google book search).
• Christian Zgoll: Holiness - Honor - Power. A model for the change in the conception of rule in the late Middle Ages using the example of the Byzantine Kydones letters. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-20032-9 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Demetrios Kydones in the catalog of the German National Library