ABSTRACT

Since the great christological councils of the fifth century, orthodoxy has prided itself on fidelity to the tradition of the holy fathers. New ideas were measured against patristic teaching, and if they failed to conform with it were branded as heretical. The councils of 1347, 1351 and 1368, held under the hesychast Patriarchs Isidore, Kallistos I and Philotheos, respectively, judged Palamas to be orthodox and his detractors heretics. The voices that were silenced are nevertheless interesting for the insight they offer into the self-understanding of orthodoxy in the Palaeologan period. One of the most articulate was that of Prochoros Cydones. Overshadowed as a writer by his more famous older brother, Demetrius, and condemned as a heretic by the council of 1368, Prochoros has not had the recognition he deserves. Prochoros confessed that he had doubts and reservations on these matters but declared that he was not going to insist on his own opinions.