Konstantinos Oikonomos (August 28, 1780 – March 8, 1857)

Konstantinos Oikonomos (August 28, 1780 – March 8, 1857)

From Tsaritsani in Thessaly, he was a scholar, priest, theologian, an important figure of Modern Greek Enlightenment and contributor to the strengthening of Greek culture and education, pre and post the 1821 Revolution.

Educated in his homeland of Thessaly, by 1801 he was ordained as a deacon, becoming a preacher in Elassona.

In 1806 he was arrested by the Turks, suspected of collaborating with Papathymios Vlachavas to initiate a Greek revolt. Oikonomos was only released after a ransom was paid.

From there he went to Serres and then Thessaloniki, where he preached at Greek schools and other gatherings. By 1810, he was in Smyrni, invited to teach at the newly established Philological High School of the city, where he became Headmaster by 1814.

By 1819, he was preaching in Constantinople until 1821. Following the outbreak of the Greek Revolution and the hanging of Ecumenical Patriarch Grigorios, Oikonomos fled to Odessa, where a few days later Greek merchants brought the Patriarch’s discarded body. Oikonomos performed a stirring eulogy at the funeral in Odessa.

For the next decade, Oikonomos preached in Moscow, St Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna and Rome, the Greek culture, heritage, language and classical education.

He didn’t set foot in Greece again until 1834, where he became a vocal opponent of the foreign imposed monarch, the Bavarian Otto. Oikonomos was against his Governments interference in the affairs of the Greek Orthodox Church. Oikonomos was a staunch defender of and adherent to the canonical rules of the Church.

Oikonomos delivered the eulogies of national benefactor Nikolaos Zosimas in 1842 and to the leader of the Greek Revolution Theodoros Kolokotronis in 1843.

At his death, whatever he left in his will, he gave to the Theological school of Halki as well as other schools, libraries and orphanages throughout Greece.