Notaras, Chrysanthe

Notaras, Chrysanthe, an Eastern prelate of note, was born in the Morea about the middle of the 17th century. Descending from a noble Byzantine family, and nephew of Dositheus, patriarch of Jerusalem, he was destined for the high duties of the Greek Church. He received a liberal education, which he perfected by traveling in Italy and France. In Paris he received lessons from the astronomer Cassini, and formed connections, too, with several learned theologians. On his return to Constantinople he was appointed archbishop of Cesarea, and Feb. 8, 1707, patriarch of Jerusalem. Although rarely residing inl his diocese, Notaras was a zealous bishop, and the reconstruction of the temple of the Holy Sepulchre in 1719 is due to him. He died at Constantinople in 1732, leaving the reputation of one of the most pious, beneficent, and learned prelates of the Greek Church. His principal work is a collection of treatises in modern Greek Upon the Rites and Dogmas of the Oriental Church (Tergovisk, in Wallachia, 1715); among them are excellent treatises "Upon the Dignity of the Oriental Church," "Upon the Origin and Propagation of Christianity in Russia," "Upon the four Greek Patriarchs of the Ottoman Empire," and "Upon the Patriarchs of Russia." He also compiled a Geography in modern Greek (Paris, 1716, fol.). Notaras published in 1715 the History of the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, by his uncle Dositheus. See Journal des Savans, ann. 1726; Jocher, Gelehrten-Lexikon, s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gene ale, 38:296.