McGrane
[FOOTNOTE 133]: Православное Обозрение, 1863, Х, p.362ff. The term for ‘boy’ could not be used for a youth older than 15. To suggest—as Simonides does—that three months later he was engaged in writing out the whole Bible in uncials on parchment in the style of the fourth century is thus utterly ridiculous.
[FOOTNOTE 134]: These are the words of the Panteleimon monastery itself, see Православное Обозрение, 1863, Х, p.362ff.
[FOOTNOTE 135]: Letter of Amphilochius, Bishop of Pelusium, Alexandria, October 5, 1863, to Edwin J. Davies H.B.M. Consular Chaplain, Alexandria. Amphilochius entered the Panteleimon monastery in 1843 and having known Simonides in Odessa enquired about him and ‘was informed that [Simonides] had indeed lived there, but had been dismissed in consequence of his disorderly and scandalous conduct, and that he had no relationship with the Reverend Benedict’. The Panteleimon monastery subsequently made it a matter of public knowledge: ‘Benedict, who died in 1841, was neither Simonides’ uncle, nor a relative, but only a compatriot. This kind old man, whose example he should have followed, really interceded here for his fellow countryman, so that he could stay here for some time for his spiritual good. But on account of his behaviour the young man did not justify the care of the elder Benedict, and therefore the future glorious adventurer was soon denied further hospitality here.’ Православное Обозрение, 1863, Х, p.362ff. When Simonides paid a visit to Mount Athos again in 1851 he was refused entrance to the library of the Panteleimon monastery and so went to other monasteries, and was found ripping out and stealing sheets from precious manuscripts (three leaves of The Shepherd of Hermas was one example, which he subsequently sold in Leipzig) and, says Amphilochius who was there and met Simonides at the time, ‘he departed from the holy mountain with disgrace.’
[FOOTNOTE 136]: Православное Обозрение, 1863, Х, p.362ff.
[FOOTNOTE 137]: Letter of Amphilochius, October 5, 1863, to Edwin J. Davies.
[FOOTNOTE 138]: A. Lykourgos, Enthüllungen über den Simonides-dindorfschen Uranios (Leipzig, 1856), pp.55-56. Lykourgos had the same experience as those at the Panteleimon monastery 1839-41 and the Greek school at Odessa in 1841-2, from which Simonides was expelled for unruly behaviour. In 1855, when Simonides came to Leipzig, Lykourgos was studying there, and Lykourgos allowed Simonides to stay with him for some months. They fell out permanently when Lykourgos discovered that the rumours about Simonides, which he had tried not to believe, were fully justified, and Simonides tried to deceive the University of Leipzig. Though Simonides had only slight competence in Greek when he left Mount Athos in 1841, and that still by 1850 his education and competence in Greek were only fair,
Simonides in the details given in the Biographical Memoir, and in the forged manuscripts that he claimed to have had published in Russia in 1853 (his Autographa etc), states that he had received a PhD in Moscow in the early 1840s. This appears to be yet another deception.