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(Top) 1 Biography 2 Hierotheos and the Dormition of the Theotokos 3 See also 4 References

Hierotheos the Thesmothete

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Saint Hierotheos the Thesmothete
Hierotheos the Thesmothete, by Theophanes the Greek, in Saint Nicholas Anapafsas Monastery, Meteora, Greece
Bishop of Athens
Born	1st century AD
Died	1st century AD
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Eastern Catholic Churches Armenian Apostolic Church
Feast	October 4

Hierotheos the Thesmothete (Greek: Ἱερόθεος ὁ Θεσμοθέτης) is the reputed first head and bishop of the Christian Athenians. The title thesmothete means ruler, or junior archon, of Athens (literally "rule-setter").

Biography[edit]

Little is known of Hierotheos (Ἰερόθεος "sanctified by God"); church tradition holds that he was one of the learned men in the city of Athens. He was instructed in Christianity by the Apostle Paul, who baptized and ordained him around the year 52 AD. Hierotheos frequently visited and instructed St Dionysius the Areopagite. There is disagreement as to whether Hierotheos was actually a priest or bishop; some traditions describe Dionysius as the first bishop of Athens.^[1]

According to Dionysius (On the Divine Names, 3:2), Hierotheos was an accomplished hymnographer:

"He was wholly transported, wholly outside himself and was so deeply absorbed in communion with the sacred things he celebrated in hymnology, that to all who heard him and saw him and knew him, and yet knew him not, he seemed to be inspired of God, a divine hymnographer."^[2]

In more recent years, some have pointed that the name 'Hierotheos' is unique in Greek literature, nor is included in the extremely wide list of proper name known from papyri. The only record of this name is found in a Greek inscription from Athens.^[3]

Hierotheos and the Dormition of the Theotokos[edit]

Hierotheos stood in the midst of the apostles and comforted them with spiritual songs and hymns which he sang accompanied with musical instruments.^[4]

References[edit]

^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Christian Athens". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

^ Daily Reading, October 4, 2005, The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

^ On the problem of Hierotheos' name and the more wide question of the author of the Corpus Dionysiacum, see Mazzucchi, Carlo Maria (2006). "Damascio, autore del Corpus Areopagiticum, e il dialogo ΠEPI ΠOΛITIKHΣ EΠIΣTHMHΣ" [Damascius, author of the Corpus Dionysiacum, and the dialogue ΠΕΡΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗ]. Aevum (in Italian). 80 (2): 299–334: esp. 324. eISSN 1827-787X. ISSN 0001-9593. JSTOR 20861842 – via JSTOR. Mazzucchi suggests the name of Damascius as the author of the corpus and that Hierotheos was a fictional character, whose name was dragged by an unknown soldier died in 409 BC who was included in a funerary inscription (IG, I, p. 206 n° 454 = IG minor, I, p. 252 n° 957 = IG³, II, p. 782 n° 1191) found in Athens near the Academy. Mazzucchi's theory was welcomed in Reale, Giovanni (2009). "Introduzione. Il Corpus Dionysiacum e i grandi problemi che suscita per la sua interpretazione". In Scazzoso, Piero; Bellini, Enzo (eds.). Dionigi Areopagita. Tutte le opere (in Italian). Milano: Bompiani. pp. 11–29. ISBN 978-88-452-6288-3. This work also includes (pp. 707–762) a reprint of Mazzucchi's article.

Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Hierotheus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Catholic Church titles
New creation	Bishop of Athens	Succeeded by Dionysius the Areopagite

v t e Bishops and Archbishops of Athens
Bishops of Athens	Hierotheos the Thesmothete Dionysius the Areopagite Narcissus Publius Quadratus Leonidas Olympius Pistus Clematius Modestus Athanasius I Anatolius John I John II Contias Theocharistus Marinus John III
Metropolitans of Athens	Gregorius I Adamantius John IV Theodosius Hypatius Demetrius I Germanus I Demetrius II Gabriel I Gregorius II Cosmas Nicetas I Sabbas I Anastasius Sabbas II George I Nicetas II Constantine Philip Theodegius Michael I Leo I Leo II John V Nicetas III Nicephorus Gerasimus George II Bourtzes Nicholas Hagiotheodorites Michael II Theophylactus George III George IV Michael Choniates Meletius I^§ Elias^§ Neophytus I^§ Anthimus I^§ Nicodemus^§ Dorotheus I of Athens Macarius I Gerbasius Phantinus Theodorus Isidore Dorotheus II Anthimus II Neophytus II Laurentius Callistus Sophronius I Nicanor Theophanes I Neophytus III Samuel Nathanael Anthimus III Cyril I Metrophanes Theophanes II Sophronius II Daniel Anthimus IV Jacob I Athanasius II Macarius II Anthimus V Cyril II Meletius II Jacob II Zacharias Anthimus VI Bartholomew Neophytus IV Bartholomew Gabriel II Benedict Athanasius III Benedict Athanasius III Gregorius III Dionysius II Gregory IV Anthimus VII Neophytus V Michael IV Theophilus Anthonius of Athens Procopius I Germanus II Procopius II Theocletus I of Athens Meletius III Theocletus I
Archbishops of Athens and All Greece	Chrysostomos I Damaskinos Chrysanthus Damaskinos Spyridon Dorotheus III Theocletus II Jacob III Chrysostomos II Ieronymos I Seraphim Christodoulos Ieronymos II
^§: Titular due to the Latin rule over Athens

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