SIROPULOS, SILVESTRO. - Greek writer, born about 1400 in Costantinopoli. 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 Giuseppe to the Council of Florence.
S. was one of the “orthodox” theologians who polemicized against the Latins. Although reluctantly, he signed the Decree of Union (6 July 1439); but, having returned to Costantinopoli in February 1440, he resigned 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.
The importance of S. is due to his Memoirs on the Synod of Florence. They contain much interesting information otherwise unknown. Some authors (Diamantopulos, Frommann) consider them accurate in all their details. It is nevertheless apparent that they are an apology by S. intended to explain to the anti-Latin circles of Costantinopoli his subscription to the Decree of Union. To this end he exaggerates the features 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, because of its tendentious character.