Livadin, Andrey

Andrei Livadin (between 1308 and 1316 [sometimes 1314], Constantinople after 1361, Trabzon (now Trabzon, Turkey)) is a Byzantine spiritual writer, poet and orator.

He received a theological education in his hometown - he studied, probably, in a church or patriarchal school. In 1321–1328 (according to Lukhovitsky) or in 1325–1326 (according to Guzik) he was in the post of prototavularia (junior scribe) as part of the embassy sent by the emperor to the Mamluk sultan Kasir ad-Din Muhammad, and then traveled through Egypt and Palestine having visited, among other things, Alexandria, Cairo, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. For some time served as a tax collector on the island of Tenedos. In 1335, he met Emperor Basil I the Great Comnenus and, at his invitation, went to Trebizond , where he eventually lived until the end of his life. There, Livadin received the position of first Tavularia (chief scribe of the Great Comnenus), then hartophilac (Assistant Metropolitan Trapezund Gregory Khioniada), and had the opportunity to study astronomy, medicine and astrology, corresponded with Manuel and Konstantin Lukin, taught at the metropolitan school. In 1341, when a civil war broke out in Trapezund, was subjected to disgrace, his property was confiscated, and his attempt to leave for Constantinople ended in failure. In 1355, he took part in the rebellion of the great duo Scholaria against Emperor Alexei III, but he was forgiven and became an orator at his court, soon regaining his wealth.

The main work of Livadin is the “Descriptive history of the ascent of Andrew”, created after October 1335 and bearing an autobiographical character; This work is written in the genre of the so-called “guiding notes” (Greek περ'ήνησις). In this work, Livadin, resorting to various refined rhetorical expressions, thanks Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary for allegedly miraculous deliverance from the troubles and diseases that tormented him, while describing the places he visited during his travels in the Middle East in his youth and experience in the civil service in the Trapezund Empire. His other works: the horoscope for 1366 (based on the Persian astrological manuscripts he studied), the spiritual work Confession of Faith (read to the feast of the Transfiguration on August 6, 1361; there are no references to Livadin after this date) the troparyas of the Mother of God and iambus written for the holidays of Christmas, Annunciation and Assumption of the Virgin, as well as the encomy of the martyr Thomas Sinop.