Constantine Harmenopoulos (1320- c.1410)

Constantine Harmenopoulos (1320- c.1410)

Constantine Harmenopoulos was born in Constantinople in 1320. He was professor of law and a scholar. He was born into a noble and important family, which was related to the Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. By 1345 he was already “Nomophylax (Chief Magistrate) and a judge of Thessaloniki”, and in 1348 he was appointed as an advisor to the emperor. His tracks were lost from the Royal City until 1380, at which time he went to Vatopaidi and embrace the monastic life, being given the name Matthaios. Here he was also discovered by Saint Makarios Makris, who had just turned from the world and now became his disciple for the next ten years, up to the time of his repose. The biographer of Saint Makarios mentions that even though Harmenopoulos became a monk at an advance age, he surpassed many in virtue (“καίπερ ὢν ὀψιμαθής, πολλῶν αὐτόθι κεκράτηκεν εἰς ἀρετῆς λόγον”). From his works, two discourses pertaining to various heresies are particularly noteworthy. He was better known, however, for his Hexabiblos, the last great work of Byzantine law in six volumes.

The first page of the manuscript Kriton prokatastasis (Preparation for Judges) of Constantine Harmenopoulos, with the owner’s notation of Metropolitan of Laodicea, Kosmas of Vatopaidi (1705, April 20).