Eugenicus

Eugenicus a Greek theologian, lived in the first half of the 15th century. He began public life as an instructor in rhetoric, but his learning and eloquence soon procured him the first positions in the Church, and towards 1436 he was made archbishop of Ephesus. Two years later he accompanied the emperor (John Palaeologus) to the Council of Florence. Here he not only represented his own diocese, but acted also for the patriarchs of Antioch and of Jerusalem. A zealous defender of the Greek Church and adversary of the Roman, Eugenicus was the only one who, at the close of the council, refused to recognize the pretensions of the pope and to sign the acts of the council. On his return to Constantinople the people received him with great enthusiasm. Even upon his death-bed in 1447, he solemnly adjured George the Scholastic to continue the strife against the Latins. The numerous writings of Eugenicus are of a polemical nature, directed against the Latin Church and those prelates of the Greek Church who were favorable to the former. Many have never been published; but they are recorded by Fabricius. We make mention here only of his printed works: Letter to the Emperor Palaeologus, in which he advises the Greeks against the Council of Florence, and exposes the intrigues of the Latinists. This letter has been translated into Latin, with a reply by Joseph of Methone, in Labbe, Concilia, 13:677. An encyclical letter upon the same subject in Labbe, Concilia, 13:714; A Treatise on Liturgicaul Topics; A Profession of Faith, a fragment of which is given by Allatius, De Consensu, 3:3. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genesis 16:706; Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, 11:670; Oudin, Script. Ecclesiastes 3:2343.