MAXIMUS CHRYSOBERGES. - Greek, born in Constantinople (14th century), man of letters in the service of Emperor Manuel II, disciple of Demetrius Cydones, whose Greek translation of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas he read. He became a Catholic and a Dominican at Pera (1390-91?). He studied (and perhaps taught) philosophy in Venice (1393-94?), and theology in Pavia (1396-97).
**Boniface IX authorized him (25 Feb. 1398) to celebrate Mass and the Divine Office in Greek according to the Dominican rite, and to found a new convent of his Order in Greek territory.** He had the prayers of the Dominican Missal translated by his friend Manuel Chrysoloras, while Demetrius Cydones translated (if he had not done so earlier) the Ordinary of the Mass. M. C. then returned to the East (Crete and Chios) and died, probably at Mytilene, before 1429. He was a friend of Manuel Calecas. He had two brothers, Theodore and Andrew, who, like him, were converted and became Dominicans. He is the author of a Discourse to the Cretans on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, of various unpublished sermons, and of theological letters to Joseph Bryennius and Nilus Damilas, of which only the replies of the latter survive.
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Raymond G. Loenertz