BLASTARES, MATTEO. - Greek canonist of the fourteenth century and Basilian monk. His principal work is the Syntagma, written around 1335, comprising 24 sections marked by the 24 letters of the alphabet. Each section contains the provisions of the sacred canons together with those of the civil laws. The sections are divided into 303 equally alphabetical titles and chapters.
Known in the West since the sixteenth century, the Syntagma was published in its entirety by Beveridge in his Synodicon. The Greek text of Rhalles and Potles is published in PG 190, with Beveridge’s corrected version. The Syntagma exerted considerable influence on the legislation of the Slavic peoples. Translated into Serbian from the time of its appearance, it entered Bulgaria in the fifteenth century and Russia in the first half of the sixteenth century.