Arsenius

(Ἀρσένιος).

1. Of Constantinople, surnamed Autorianus, lived about the middle of the thirteenth century.

He was educated in some monastery in Nicaea, of which he afterwards became the head. After he had held this office for some time, he led a private and ascetic life; and he appears to have passed some time also in one of the monasteries on mount Athos. At length, about A. D. 1255, the emperor Theodorus Lascaris the Younger raised him to the dignity of patriarch. In A. D. 1259, when the emperor died, he appointed Arsenius and Georgius Muzalo guardians to his son Joannes; but when Muzalo began to harbour treacherous designs against the young prince, Arsenius, indignant at such faithless intrigues, resigned the office of patriarch, and withdrew to a monastery. In A. D. 1260, when the Greeks had recovered possession of Constantinople under Michael Palaeologus, Arsenius was invited to the imperial city, and requested to resume the dignity of patriarch. In the year following, the emperor Michael Palaeologus ordered prince Joannes, the son of Theodorus Lascaris, to be blinded; and Arsenius not only censured this act of the emperor publicly, but punished him for it with excommunication. Michael in vain implored forgiveness, till at length, enraged at such presumption, he assembled a council of bishops, brought several fictitious accusations against his patriarch, and caused him to be deposed and exiled to Proconnesus. Here Arsenius survived his honourable disgrace for several years; but the time of his death is unknown. Fabricius places it in A. D. 1264. He was a man of great virtue and piety, but totally unfit for practical life. Works Synopsis Canonum

At the time when he was yet a monk, he wrote a synopsis of divine laws (Synopsis Canonum), collected from the writings of the fathers and the decrees of councils. Editions

The Greek original, accompanied by a Latin translation, was published by H. Justellus in the Biblioth. Jur. Canon. vol. ii. p. 749, &c. Arsenius' Will Editions

Arsenius' will likewise, with a Latin translation, was published by Cotelerius, Monument. ii. p. 168, &c. Further Information

Pachymer. 2.15, 3.1, 2, 10, 14, 19, 4.1-16; Nicephorus Gregoras, 3.1, 4.1, &c.; Cave, Hist. Lit. i. p. 725, &c., ed. London; Fabr. Bibl. Graec. xi. p. 581.

2. A Greek monk (Cave calls him Patricius Romanus), who lived towards the end of the fourth century of our era, was distinguished for his knowledge of Greek and Roman literature. The emperor Theodosius the Great invited him to his court, and entrusted to him the education of his sons Arcadius and Honorius, whose father Arsenius was called. At the age of forty, he left the court and went to Egypt, where he commenced his monastic life at Scetis in the desert of the Thebais. There he spent forty years, and then migrated to Troe, a place near Memphis, where he passed the remainder of his life, with the exception of three years, which he spent at Canopus. He died at Troe at the age of ninety-five. Works Instructions and Admonitions for Monks

There exists by him a short work containing instructions and admonitions for monks, which is written in a truly monastic spirit. Editions

It was published with a Latin translation by Combefisius in his Auctarium Novissinum Biblioth. Patr., Paris, 1672, p. 301, &c. Sayings

We also possess forty-four of his remarkable sayings (apophthegmata), which had been collected by his ascetic friends. Editions

These are printed in Cotelerius' Monumenta, i. p. 353. Further Information

Cave, Hist. Lit. ii. p. 80, ed. London; Fabr. Bibl. Graec. xi. p. 580, &c. [L.S]