Also known as:
Greek: Σίλβεστρος Συρόπουλος;
Silvestros Syropoulos;
Italian: Silvestro Syropulo
SYROPOULOS, SYLVESTER. - Greek writer, b. ca. 1400 in Constantinople. From 1430 he held various offices in the service of the Byzantine patriarchate. He took part in the negotiations with the legates of the Council of Basel and accompanied the Byzantine patriarch Joseph to the Council of Florence.
S. was one of the "Orthodox" theologians who polemicized against the Latins. Though reluctantly, he signed the Decree of Union (6 July 1439); but, having returned to Constantinople in Feb. 1440, he renounced his offices and opposed the Union. At that time he composed his memoirs concerning the Council and copied anti-Latin writings. The date of his death is uncertain.
S.'s importance is due to the Memoirs on the Synod of Florence. They contain much interesting information, otherwise unknown. Some authors (Diamantopulos, Frommann) consider them accurate in all their particulars. It is evident, however, that they are an apology by S. intended to explain to the anti-Latin circles of Constantinople his signing of the Decree of Union. To this end he heightens the colors of the Florentine setting, in which the intransigence of the Latins would have deprived the Greeks of all freedom. Such an account must be accepted in many of its particulars but not as a whole, on account of its tendentiousness.
Bibliography3 worksthe only ed. of the Memoirs, edited by R. Creyghton, Vera historia unionis non verae, The Hague 1660; A. Diamantopulos, S. S., Jerusalem 192
BIBL.: the only ed. of the Memoirs, edited by R. Creyghton, Vera historia unionis non verae, The Hague 1660; A. Diamantopulos, S. S., Jerusalem 1923 (in Greek); J. Gill, The «Acta» and the Memoirs of S. as History, in Or. chr. per., 14 (1948), pp. 303-55.
Gill, Giuseppe. “Siropulos, silvestro.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, col. 760. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/siropulos-silvestro.
MLA
Gill, Giuseppe. “Siropulos, silvestro.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, col. 760. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/siropulos-silvestro.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec11_siropulos_silvestro,
author = {Gill, Giuseppe},
title = {Siropulos, silvestro},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XI},
pages = {760},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1953},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/siropulos-silvestro}
}
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