CARIOFILLE, GIOVANNI MATTEO. — A Greek-Catholic theologian born in La Canea (Candia) around 1565–1566 and died in Rome in 1635. He rests in the church of the Greek College, where he had completed his studies. Sent as vicar and administrator to the diocese of Kissamos (Crete), he displayed a zeal that was sometimes excessive, with the result that the dissidents obtained his removal from the island through the Venetian Senate. Having retired to Rome, he found employment in the Vatican Library.
Cariofille was a prolific writer and a fiery apologist for the Roman Church against dissident theologians. M. Legrand (Bibl. helenique du XVIIe siècle, Paris 1894–1903; II, p. 389; III, pp. 198–203, 226–27, 521–22 and V, pp. 226–27) provides a list of his unpublished works, many of which are noted by Allacci and Papadopuli-Comneno. Among those published, mention should be made of the *De primatu Papae romani* (Hanover 1608), a refutation of the famous “Orthodox” confession of Cyril Lucaris, which later provoked great controversy in Greece and Rome (1631).