The Synodal Tome of 1341
The official record of the council held in Hagia Sophia in 1341, which examined Barlaam’s charges against the hesychast monks, found against him and forbade further dispute. It is the victors’ account of the hearing.
Read the text at archive.org ↗English translation of the tomes of 1341 and 1351 (third-party copy) ↗
The tome is written in the name of the patriarch (“Our Modesty”) and dated August of the ninth indiction, the Byzantine tax year that ended on 31 August 1341. It tells how Barlaam of Calabria accused the monks, how the council met in the presence of the emperor, what passages of the Fathers were read, and what was decided.
It is a document of one side. Barlaam’s arguments appear only as his opponents summarised and quoted them, and the tome itself was later treated as a standard by which others were condemned. It is cited here for the course of the hearing and its verdict in Gregory Palamas and the Hesychast Councils.
Cited in
- 1341 to 1351, firm date