Dmitri Trakhaniot was born circa 1440 in Greece to Manuel Trakhaniot and died circa 1505 Russia of unspecified causes.
Dmitri Manuilovich Trakhaniot (c1440-c1505) (Russian: Дмитрий Мануилович Траханиот) was a Greek courtier, diplomat, essayist and interpreter, who served at the court of Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow.
The Greek brothers Dmitri and Yuri Trakhaniot were living in Rome, with the family of Thomas Palaiologos, the last despot of Morea. The two brothers got involved in the negotiations linked to the marriage of his daughter Sophia Palaiologina to Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow. Both Dmitri and his brothers were part of the suite which accompanied Sophia during her voyage to Moscow, in 1473.
Sophia's brother, Andrea Palaiologos sent Dmitri to Moscow again in 1474 and probably went again when Andreas visited his sister, in 1480. Dmitri settled in Moscow during this voyage.
At court, the Trakhaniot brothers supported Sofia Palaeologina and her son, the future Czar [[Vasili III of Russia (1479-1533)|Vasili III]. Sofia's party was in opposition with the party of Elena of Moldavia, her stepdaughter who she accused of spreading the ideas of the herezy of the Judaizers. Therefore, the Trakhaniot brothers had close contact with Gennady, the Archbishop of Novgorod, who was a staunch fighter against this herezy.
Dmitry wrote for Gennady two essays in the form of letters: "On the repeating of Hallelujah" (Russian: О трегубной аллилуйи) and "On the year 7000" (Russian: О летах седьмой тысящи):
- The essay about the Hallelujah refers to the dispute which was taking place at that time on how many times during the worship was it required to sing "Hallelujah" -twice or thrice. The discussion on this topic began in the early 15th century and intensified in connection with statements of Euphrosinus of Pskov. In his note, Trakhaniot avoided extreme positions, allowing both options.
- The essay on the year 7000 was related to the calendar used at that time by the Orthodox church, where the count of the years started with the hypothetical day of the creation of the world. According to this calendar, the upcoming year was the year 7000, and it was widely believed that this was the time of "doomsday". Concerns about the upcoming end of the world were supported by many leaders of the orthodox church and refuted by the heretics. These issues were raised in letters sent to archbishop Gennady by Prokhor Sarsky, archbishop of Krutitsy and by Joasaph Obolensky, archbishop of Rostov. In his letter sent in 1491, answering a question on the matter by Gennady, Trakhaniot again avoided a direct answer, stating that no one knows the date of the end of the world, but it should be, in modern terms, a multiple of the number seven.
Some scholars have considered that the author of the letter "On the year 7000" was Dmitri Gerasimov or [Dmitri Ralev]. However, as the letter contains a reference to his brother Yuri, most scholars consider that Dmitri Trakhaniot is the probable author of the letter.
Dmitri Trakhaniot has also sometimes been credited as author of the story "The Tale of a white hood" (Russian: Повести о белом клобуке), however most believe that the most likely author of this story is Dmitri Gerasimov.
TThe date of Dmitri Trakhaniot's death is not known. His son Yuri D. Trahaniot served Vasily III to the 1520s.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Yuri Dmitrievich Trakhaniot (c1475-c1525) | |||
References
- Р.Г.Скрынников. У истоков самодержавия
- Я.С.Лурье. Биографическая заместка на сайте Института русской литературы РАН