| The correspondence of the Cretan Patriarch of Alexandria Meletius Pegas (1549-1601) with Greek Orthodox clerics, Western scholars and other important figures of his time is a valuable historical source. The manuscripts in which it is contained have not yet been recorded and studied in full. Four of the Patriarch's letters concerning the Monastery of the Theotokos of Gdernetto at Akrotiri, Chania, from the 17th-century Patmian codex 396, are selected and published here. The texts focus on the organisation of monastic life, the monks' personal affairs, and problems such as absolution for the marriage of an Orthodox woman to a Catholic man. Pegas' views reveal the political astuteness with which he handled the relations between the Orthodox Church and the Venetian authorities. |