Theognostos
THEOGNOSTOS
Ninth-century Byzantine archimandrite and exarch. As a supporter of the deposed patriarch ignatius, Theognostos was sent to Rome to represent the patriarchs' interest; he remained there until 868, when he returned with a papal message for the emperor. Ignatius made him archimandrite of the Pege Monastery and skeuophylact of the Great Church. He made a second journey to Rome, after which nothing is known about him. He is generally credited with a Report to Pope nicholas i on the ecclesiastical situation in Constantinople between 858 and 861; but this is actually the Letter of Appeal sent by Ignatius to the Pope, which Theognostos probably helped to compose. A panegyric on the saints and a short sermon of the Koimsis of the Mother of God have also been attributed to him.
Bibliography: Patrologia Graeca, ed. j. p. migne, 161 vol. (Paris 1857–66) 105:849–856, Panegyric; 856–862, Report. m. jugie, ed. and tr., Patrologia orientalis, ed. r. graffin and f. nau, (Paris 1903–) 16:456–462, "Koimēsis"; Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., 15 v. (Paris 1903–50) 15.1:337–338; Bessarione 22 (1918), 162–174, life. h. g. beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich (Munich 1959) 544.
[f. x. murphy]