Eustratios Argenti

Eustratios Argenti (Greek: 'Ευστράτιος Αργέντης; * around 1687 in Chios (city) ; † around 1757 in Chios ) was a Greek theologian, doctor and scholar, member of the Argenti family.

biography

Eustratios Argenti was born in Chios between 1685 and 1690 - perhaps 1687 in the Enkremos district of Chios town. His parents, Hadzi-Loukis and Viola Argenti, had six children, of which Eustratios was the third. The years of the Venetian occupation of Chios from 1694 to 1695, which led to violent conflicts between Catholics and Orthodox, fall in Eustratios' youth.

Argenti certainly received his first training at the local school in Chios , where theology lessons were of great importance. He was then sent to the Patriarchal School in Constantinople , where he will have studied ancient Greek literature, along with theology, philosophy, mathematics and physics.

From Constantinople, Argenti emigrated to Western Europe, where he spent perhaps up to ten years. He stayed mainly in Italy and Germany. He visited Livorno , probably studied in Padua . In 1719 he made a trip from Venice through Austria via Innsbruck possibly to Halle . It is said that he studied there.

On his travels he learned Latin, Italian and almost certainly German, and he also had some knowledge of Arabic and Hebrew. In addition to theology, he studied medicine, the latter probably primarily at the University of Padua . Possibly he practiced as a doctor in Halle.

Around 1720, around 30 to 35 years old, Argenti returned to Chios and practiced here for the next 25 years (until 1745). He is said to have practiced the art of healing there with success, and Chios was known for its doctors in Turkish times. He is also said to have taught in the then flourishing school of Chios . He may also preach in the local churches on his island.

Little is known of Eustratios' work as a doctor, but there is a manuscript that may have belonged to him. The Argenti family tradition wants it to be written by Eustratios. An author is not named. The book consists of two parts: the “Handbook for Doctors” ( Iatrosophion ) and the “Pharmacopoeia” ( Antidotarion ). The book was in the library of the late Philip Pandely Argenti , who bequeathed it to his grandson. In 2016, however, the book was auctioned (see under web links).

When Argenti began composing his theological works is uncertain, but they appear to fall into his later years (around the age of 60). His first book was The Pope's False Infallibility in 1740 , which was translated into Arabic and printed by the Jassy Orthodox Press in 1846. The Greek original remained unpublished.

At this time Argenti had already made a name for himself as a polemicist against various papist beliefs. In 1741 he received a letter from the Patriarch of Alexandria , Kosmas III. (in office 1737‒1746), who asked him to stand up for the “true Christian faith”. Shortly after the inauguration of the next Patriarch of Alexandria, Matthew (in office 1746 Argent1766), a friend of Argenti's, Argenti found himself in Alexandria with his son Joannis. The purpose of his stay was to resolve several serious ecclesiastical issues facing the Patriarch of Alexandria, such as the propaganda of the Pope's envoy to introduce unleavened bread into the liturgy of the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Matthew asked Argenti to write a polemic on the issue of unleavened bread. Argenti's writing The Treatise Against Unleavened Bread came into the hands of New Year's Eve of Antioch, who translated it into Arabic. The Greek original was later published by Argenti's friends and appeared in 1760, when the author was dead.

At this time Argenti wrote another work against the Latins, on the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory : A short treatise against purgatory of the papists , which remained unpublished until 1939.

In 1751 Argenti left Egypt and returned to Chios. He had the death of his older brother John (monastery name Jacob, † 1746) experienced, who had retired to the monastery Moundon (Ιερά Μονί του Αγίου Ιωάννου του Προδρόμου η Μονί Μουνδών ) after the death of his wife as a monk and there in the Metochi of the Holy Georg von Zartoulida lived. Eustratios Argenti succeeded his late brother in 1752. Already after a year 1753 he left the monastery again and probably lived in Chios town until his death around 1757. Mathematically, Argenti should have died at the age of 70; his exact date of death is unknown. He left his extensive library to the hospital in Chios, but its holdings were lost in the 1822 massacre in Chios .

Themes of his writings

In addition to his two professions as a doctor and theologian, Eustratios Argenti spoke several languages ​​and had an excellent encyclopedic education. He was considered by Greek contemporaries to be one of the most outstanding scholars of his era. Ware describes him as "the most eminent [Greek] theologian of the eighteenth century". However, his writings are limited to a certain area: polemics against the Roman Catholic Church.

The baptism controversy

In the handbook on baptism , Argenti takes the position that only whole-body baptism (immersion) corresponds to the original Christian teaching and practice. In contrast, the two other variants of affusion or infusion , whereby only the forehead is wetted, and the third variant of aspersion , where water is only sprayed onto the forehead, are not supported by Christian tradition, but innovations. The practice of immersion by the Orthodox Church is the only form of baptism. Consequently, (Western) converts would have to be baptized according to the Orthodox rite.

The question of the Lord's Supper

The request of the Western Church to the Eastern Church to introduce unleavened bread in its liturgy is also rejected by Argenti in his The Treatise Against Unleavened Bread , since this practice does not correspond to the early Christian practice. The practice of the Western Church is an innovation that deviates from the writings of the Church Fathers and the original practice.

The purgatory

The existence of purgatory as claimed by the Roman Catholic Church is questioned by Argenti. In his short treatise against the purgatory of the papists , Argenti explains that the Holy Scriptures only differentiate between hell and paradise, but not an "intermediate stage" where the souls are purified.

family

Soon after his return to Chios around 1720, Argenti married, but little is known of his wife Leonou (Λεωνου). He had two sons, Joannis (1720‒1786) and Neophytos (1723‒1788). The son Joannis married Loula (Λούλα) in 1743, with whom he had five sons, of whom the second-born Eustratios Argenti the Younger (1767‒1798) was the campaigner of Rigas Velestinlis .

Works

Printed

I. Handbook of Baptism :

• (a) First edition: Εγχειρίδιον περί βαπτίσματος (...) . Constantinople, without a year.
• (b) Second edition: Άνθος της ευσεβείας (...) . Leipzig: with Johannes Gottlob Emmanuel Breitkopf, 1757.

II. Treatise against unleavened bread :

• (a) First edition: Σύνταγμα κατα Αζύμον εις τρία διαιρεθεν τμήματα. (...) . Leipzig: with Johannes Gottlob Emmanuel Breitkopf, no year.
• (b) Second edition: Nauplia, 1845.

III. The letter from Egypt, April 1751 :

• Κατάστασις τις τςν 'Αλεχανδρέων εκκληίσιας εν τω ιή αιωνι , in KA Uspenski, The Patriarchate of Alexandria , Vol. 1, Saint Petersburg, 1898, pp. 340‒347. Reprinted in PP Argenti, 'Ιστορία του Χιακου οίκου Αργέντη . Athens, 1922, pp. 307-314.

IV. Short treatise against the purgatory of the papists :

• Συνταγμάτιον κατα του Παπιστικου καθαρτηρίου πυρός , edited with an introduction by M. Constantinides, Athens, 1939.

Manuscripts

• Argenti left at least two manuscripts that can be assigned to him; with others the authorship is uncertain.

literature

• Iōannis M. Andreadis (Ιωάννης M. Ανδρεάδης) (1940): Ιστορία της εν Χίω Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας, τόμος Α΄ (History of the Orthodox Church in Chios, vol. 1). Αθήναι: Αδελφοί Γ. Βλάσση (new edition: Athēna: Adelphoi G. Blassē, 1997).
• Philip Pandely Argenti (1922): 'Ιστορία του Χιακου οίκου Αργέντη (Historia tou Chiakou oikou Argente) (History of the Chiot House of Argenti). En Athenais: PD Sakellarios. (371 p.)
• Philip Pandely Argenti (1955): Libro d'Oro de la Noblesse de Chio . 2 Vols. Vol. 1: Notices Historiques . Vol. 2: Arbres Généalogiques . Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Vol. 1: X, 163 p .; Vol. 2: 323 p.) (Vol. 1: Argenti - Argentes, pp. 51-56. Vol. 2: Stammtafel, pp. 9-15).
• Athanasios Gkialas (Αθανάσιος Ι Γκιάλας.) (1979): Η ελληνική ιατρική και οι Έλληνες ιατροί από της αλώσεως μέχρι της εθνεγερσίας: (Τουρκοκρατία - Λατινοκρατία). Βραβείον Ακαδημίας Αθηνών. Athēnai: [Grēgorius K. Parisianos]. (239 p.)
• Georgios Ioannou Zolotas (Γεώργιος I. Ζολώτας) (1923): Ιστορία τής νησιού Χίου (Historia tēs Chiou) (The story of Chios). Vol. 1, part 2. Athēnai: PD Sakellarios.
• Aimilia Kōnstantinou Sarou (1938): Βίος Ευστρατίου Αργεντη του Χίου θεολόγου (Bios Eustratiou Argentē tou Chiou theologou) (Life of Eustratios Argenti, the theologian of Chios). Athēnai: Typos Pyrsou, 1938. (154 pp.)
• Popē Chalkia-Stephanu (Πόπη Χαλκιά-Στεφάνου) (2003): Tα μοναστήρια τής Χίου (Ta monastēria tēs Chiu) (The Monasteries of Chios). Athēna: Eptalophos. (XIII, 515 pp.) ISBN 960-8360-10-2
• Timothy Ware (1964): Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church under Turkish Rule . Oxford: Clarendon Press. (XII, 196 pp.)

Illustrations

Portraits of Eustratios Argenti have not survived.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The still authoritative biography of Eustratios Argenti is Ware 1964. The first detailed study is Sarou 1938; see also Andreadis 1940 p. 176.
2. ↑ Zolotas 1923, Vol. 1, Part 2, p. 274. Argenti 1922, pp. 123, 218-219.
3. ↑ Gkialas 1979 p. 76.
4. ↑ Ware 1964 p. 60f .; Chalkia-Stephanu 2003 p. 166.
5. ↑ Ware 1964 p. XI.
6. ^ “His writings (…) are devoted almost entirely to polemics” (Ware 1964, p. XI).
7. ↑ Argenti 1922 p. 142ff., 238, plate III p. 253 and Plate VI p. 256; see also Argenti 1955.
8. ↑ See Ware 1964, p. 178f.

Web links

• Argenti family seat in Chios town
• Auction of the medical book, possibly written by Eustratios Argenti