Saint Arethas of Caesarea

Arethas of Caesarea (Greek: Ἀρέθας; c. 860 - c. 939) was Archbishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia (modern Kayseri, Turkey) early in the 10th century, and is considered one of the most scholarly theologians of the Greek Orthodox Church. The codices produced by him, containing his commentaries are credited with preserving many ancient texts, including those of Plato and Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations". He was born in Patras (modern-day Greece). He was a disciple of Photius and studied at the University of Constantinople. He became Deacon of Patras around 900 and was made Archbishop of Caesarea by Nikolas of Constantinople in 903. He was deeply involved in court politics and was a principal actor in the controversy over the scandal created when Emperor Leo VI attempted to marry a fourth time after his first three wives had died and left him without an heir. Despite Arethas' fame as a scholar, 20th-century Byzantine scholar Romilly Jenkins thought little of him as a person. When recounting the details of the scandal, Jenkins described Arethas as "...narrow-minded, bad-hearted... morbidly ambitious and absolutely unscrupulous..." He was the compiler of a Greek commentary (scholia) on the Apocalypse, for which he made considerable use of the similar work of his predecessor, Andrew of Caesarea. Albert Ehrhard inclines to the opinion that he wrote other scriptural commentaries. His Arethas Codex is a significant source for the texts of almost all of the ante-Nicene Greek Christian apologists. This manuscript was copied by several Italian scribes in the 11th to 14th centuries and eventually taken to Paris, probably acquired in the time of François I. It was assigned number 2271 in the inventory of 1682 and Parisinus graecus 451 in the current numbering. It was first printed in Verona in 1532 as an appendix to the Pseudo-Oecumenian catena. The Stromata manuscript in Florence is also believed to derive from Arethas.