Methodios Anthrakites

Methodios Anthrakites (Greek: Μεθόδιος Ανθρακίτης; 1660–1736) was a Greek scholar, priest and director of the Gioumeios and Epiphaneios Schools in Ioannina. He made a significant contribution in the growth of Greek Enlightenment (Diafotismos) during the Ottoman occupation of Greece.

Anthrakites was born in the village of Kaminia (Καμινιά) or Kamnia (Καμνιά), in the Zagori region (Epirus). He studied in the Gioumeios (later Balaneios) School in Ioannina under Georgios Sougdouris. After becoming a priest, he left for Venice in 1697, where he studied Philosophy and Mathematics (geometry, trigonometry, astronomy and physics). His stay in Venice lasted until 1708, during which period he was priest at the San Giorgio dei Greci. He returned to Greece in 1708 to become the first director of the Ierospoudasterion, a new school founded in Kastoria in Macedonia with a benefaction from Georgios Kastriotis, a wealthy Greek from Kastoria, living in Wallachia. There he focused on teaching contemporary European philosophy and mathematics.

In his book “The Way of Mathematics”, later edited and re-printed by his student Balanos Vasilopoulos, Anthrakites referred to the Copernican heliocentric system, although he supported the geocentric system. His teachings were regarded as unusual enough at the time to give rise to suspicion in Church circles. Anthrakites resigned from the Ierospoudasterion in 1718 and moved to Siatista, also in Macedonia, where he taught for another two years. He returned to Kastoria and in 1723 appeared before the Bishop of Achris Ioasaph to defend his Christian faith. After that journey he moved back to Ioannina where he became director of the Gioumeios.

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