Anthony III Studites, Patriarch Of Constantinople

ANTONIO III STUDITA, patriarch of COSTANTINOFFOLI. — A Studite monk, he became synkellos to Patriarch Basil. When the latter resigned because he supported the Pope of Rome against the antipope Boniface VII, who was a guest at the Byzantine court, he, already elderly, accepted the vacant position (March 974). Leo the Deacon praised his gentleness and moderation (PG 117, 892); but for having defended the ecclesiastical liberties won by Polyeuctus (969), he too had to resign (before April 979). He died shortly afterward (979). An exhortation to the monks on confession is preserved from him (in Νέα Σύση, 2 [1905], 807–15); during his tenure the Menologion known as that of the emperor Basil was compiled, of which the Vatican Library possesses a luxurious illuminated copy.