Ο Ιάκωβος Αργείος (ca 1660-1736) στην Πατριαρχική Σχολή
Authors: Tsiotras Vasileios 
Published: January 2024

Iakovos Argeios (ca 1660-1736) at the Patriarchal Academy of Constantinople. New evidence and answers for an old riddle

Research into the history of the Patriarchal Academy at the beginning of the 18th century has been primarily based on the works of Manuel Gedeon and Tasos Gritsopoulos. These two historians have recorded and reconstructed all the testimonies and information they had gathered about the operation of the Academy. However, the sources at their disposal were extremely scarce for this period in terms of teachers, such as Iakovos Argeios (1660-1736), on whom the present study focuses, and their teaching activities at the School. The aim of this article is to present the new data which emerged from the identification and study of unknown manuscripts as well as from the study of the scholar’s personal correspondence. These facts militate against Tasos Gritsopoulos’ dominant view that Iakovos was exclusively a home teacher of the Mavrokordatos’family and that his teaching career at the Patriarchal Academy was limited in time (i.e. confined in the years 1707-1715).In this study I examine and reconstruct all the existing testimonies and evidence that I found on the life and work of Iakovos Argeios, “the supreme of the Great Church philosophers”. Through these new data it becomes possible to study and trace the career of Iakovos Argeios at the Patriarchal Academy from the mid-1680s until his death (1736). Iakovos was initially a student in the philosophy course of the Academy (1684), when Antonios Spantones was a professor of philosophy. He completed his studies around 1686/87 and he attracted the interest of his teachers and of the Grand Dragoman Alexandros Mavrokordatos. He subsequently served as tutor to the Mavrokordatos’ family (since the beginning of the 1690s) for at least 20-25 years, while almost at the same time he was appointed professor of rhetoric at the Academy. As a prominent professor he delivered two encomiastic addresses to the Ecumenical Patriarchs Kallinikos II (1698) and Gabriel II (1703).Then, probably in 1702, he was appointed Academy’s headmaster and professor of philosophy. He taught rhetoric theory and practise and Aristotelian philosophy from the textbooks of Theophilos Korydalleus, as evidenced by the manuscripts of his students presented in this article, mainly Antonios Byzantios, Nikolaos Kritias and Azarias Tzigalas: Physics, Logic, On the Soul, On generation and corruption. He also received from the Patriarchate the highly-esteemed office of the “supreme of thephilosophers” (around 1707-1709), through Mavrokordatos’ intervention, as a recognition of his philosophical expertise. He retained this title and remained head of the Academy until the end of his life. From his letters we know that Iakovos was present in Methodios Anthrakites’ conviction (1723). He supported in deeds and words the efforts of Silvestros, the Patriarch of Antioch, to establish a Greek and Christian seminary in Aleppo (1724-1726). Unfortunately, the last years of his life were painful due to health problems and the ingratitude of his old friends. Iakovos found solace only in teaching at the Academy and in correspondence with his dear friends and old students, such as Makarios Kalogeras, who had founded a school on the island of Patmos. For the teachers and students of the School of Patmos, Iakovos was their mentor and spiritual guide. In conclusion, Iakovos Argeios had an important influence on the course of the Patriarchal Academy with his long lasting and constant teaching activity. In his time the Patriarchal Academy became a true “Faculty of Philosophy”.