Syntagma (Balsamon)

Theodore Balsamon (Greek: Θεόδωρος Βαλσαμῶν) was a canonist of the Eastern Orthodox Church and 12th-century Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.

Born in the second half of the 12th century at Constantinople; died there, after 1195 (Petit). He was ordained a deacon, appointed nomophylax, and from 1178 to 1183, under Patriarch Theodosius I, he had charge of all ecclesiastical trials or cases submitted to the Patriarchate. In 1193 he became the Patriarch of Antioch, though he remained resident in Constantinople.

Balsamon's best work is his "Scholia" (Greek: Σχόλια) (c. 1170), a commentary on the Nomocanon of Photiоs, the standard work on Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastical and imperial laws and decrees, commissioned by the Emperor Manuel I and the Patriarch Michael III. In his "Scholia", Balsamon insists on existing laws, and dwells on the relation between canons and laws — ecclesiastical and civil constitutions — giving precedence to the former. Balsamon also compiled a collection of ecclesiastical constitutions (Syntagma) and wrote other works, many of which concern the ongoing debate between the Eastern and Western Churches following the schism of 1054. Two of his letters were published: one treating of fasting, the other on the admission of novices into monasteries.

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