Encomium Dionysii Areopagitae.

Syncellus

or SYNGELUS (MICHAEL). a Greek writer of the lower empire, several of whose works have been published. From his life of Theodore Studita, and from a letter of Theodore Studita to him (Theodor. Studit. Epistol. lib. ii. Ep. 213, apud Sirmond. Opera Varia, vol. v. p. 733), we learn that he was a contemporary, apparently a disciple in the monastic life of that busy ecclesiastic (who died A. D. 826), that he was Syncellus of the Greek patriarch of Jerusalem, Μιχαὴλ συγκέλλῳ Ἁγιοπολίτῃ, and that he supported the worship of images in the great controversy on that subject in the ninth century. From the title to his Greek version of a letter of Theodore Abucara (THEODORUS, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 3) we gather that he was Syncellus to Thomas who held the patriarchate of Jerusalem for about twenty years, from A. D. 801, or, according to other accounts, from 807. Michael. however, must have survived both Theodore Studita and the patriarch Thomas, for he suffered a long imprisonment for his defence of image worship in the reign of the iconoclastic emperor Theopilus, which extended from A. D. 829 to 842. (Theophanes Continuat. De Theophilo, 100.15. p. 66, edit. Paris, p. 106, ed. Bonn.; Cedrenus, Compend. p. 522, ed. Paris, vol. ii. p. 117, ed. Bonn.) Baronius places his imprisonment in A. D. 835. These few facts constitute all that is known of the life of Michael.

Works

His works are,

1. Ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Διονύσιον, Encomium Dionysii Areopagitae. A passage from this is quoted by Suidas (s. v.).

Editions

This was first printed in the Latin version of Godefridus Tilmannus, a Carthusian monk of Paris, 8vo. Paris, 1546, and was speedily followed by the Greek text, edited by Tilmannus. 4to. Paris, 1547.The Greek text, and a new Latin version by Basilius Millanns, were given by Corderius in his edition of the Opera S. Dionysii Areopagitae, vol. ii. pp. 207, &c. fol. Antwerp, 1634. In all these editions the author's title is given Σύγγελος, Syngelus, as it is also by Suidas.

2. Ἐγκώμιον εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀρχαγγέλους καὶ ἀγγέλους καὶ πάσας τὰς ἐπυνρανίους δυνάηεις. Encomium sanctorum Dei archangelorum et anyelorumn omniumque coelestium potestatum.

Editions

This is given by Combéfis, with a Latin version, in the second volume of his Auctarium Novum. Fol. Paris, 1648; and the Latin version of Combétis is given in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. xiv. Fol. Lyon, 1677.

3. A Greek version of the letter of Theodore Abucara, described elsewhere.

[THEODORUS, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 3.]

4. Μιχαὴλ συγκέλου Ἱεροσολύμων λίβελλος περὶ τον͂ ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως. Michaelis Synceli Hierosolymorum Libellus de Orthodoxa Fide, s. Professio Fidei.

Editions

This is given by Montfaucon, with a Latin version, in his Bibliotheca Coislin. p. 90, &c.

5. Μιχαὴλ πρεσβυτέρου καὶ συγκέλλου τοῦ ἀπυστολικοῦ Δρόνου τῶν Ἱεροτολύηων ηέθοδος περὶ τῆς λόγου συντάξεως, σχεδιασθεῖσα ἐν Ἐδέσση τῆς Μεσοποταμίας αἰτήσει Λαζάρου διακόνου φιλοσόφου καὶ λογοθέτου. Michaelis Presbyteri et Syncelli Apostolicae Sedis Hierosolymitanae Methodus de Constructione Orationis, extempore composita Edessae Mesopotamiae rogatu Lazari Diaconi, Philosophi, et Logothetae.

We give the title from a MS. in the Medicean library at Florence (Bandini, Catalog. Codd. MStorum Graec. Biblioth. Medic. Laurent. vol. ii. col. 206). which we believe gives the author correctly.

Editions

This tract has been repeatedly printed under the name of Georgius Lecapenus [GEORGIUS, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 30], and was printed under the name of the real author, with the grammatical treatise of Alexander Maurocordatos. 8vo. Venice, 1745.

5. Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ ὁμολογήτου τοῦ Θεοδώρου τοῦ τῶν Στουδίων ἡγουμένου συγγραφεὶς πρὸς Μιχαήλου μοναχοῦ. Vita et Mores S. Patris nostri et Confessoris Theodori Praepositi Studitarum conscripta a Michaele Monacho.

It is with some hesitation that we class this biography among the works of Michael Syncellus. It is elsewhere [MICHAEL, Byzantine writers, No. 9] given among the works of Michael, monk and Syncellus of Constantinople, who lived somewhat later than our Michael. The authorship is a question on which critics are divided; the work, however, bears marks of being written by a contemporary of Theodore, which our Michael was, but which the other Michael could hardly be.

Edition

This is given with a Latin version in the fifth volume of the Opera Ionia of the Jesuit Sirmond.

Other Works

Several other works of Michael Syncellus, including Carmina varia, are extant in MS.

Further Information

Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. vi. pp. 133, 298, 333, 345, 382, vol. x. pp. 199, 220, vol. xi. pp. 186, &100.205; Bandini, Catalog. Codd. MStorum, &c. l.c. ; Ittigius. De Biblioth. Patrum ; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 830, vol. ii. p. 19, ed. Oxford, 1740-43; Oudin, Comment. de Scriptorib. Eccles. vol. ii. col. 43. &c.

[J.C.M]