Two Books: On the Causes of the Ecclesiastical Division; On the Primacy of the Pope

Βιβλία δύο: περὶ τῶν αἰτιῶν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς διαστάσεως; περὶ τοῦ πρωτείου τοῦ πάπα · Neilos Cabasilas, Archbishop of Thessalonica · c. 1350-1363 (14th century) · treatise

Greek · domain: canon-law · researched 2026-11-13

Why this is in the register

HOLLIS Primo 'Kabasilas schism' returns 3 records, all of the Greek text printed in London c. 1625 by Nikodemos Metaxas ('Neilou Archiepiskopou Thessalonikes Vivlia dyo : to proton Peri ton aition tes Ekklesias dystaseos, to deutero ...') (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Kabasilas%20schism&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 'Nilus Cabasilas' returns 10 records: E. Candal's 1945 Latin edition of the anti-Latin dossier (Nilus Cabasilas et theologia S. Thomae de processione Spiritus Sancti), the 1645 Latin printing 'Libri duo: i. De causis dissensionum in ecclesia. ii. De papae primatu', and T. Kislas's 2001 French translation of a different work, Sur le Saint-Esprit (Sources chretiennes) (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Nilus%20Cabasilas&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 No English translation of either book was located.

Neilos Cabasilas (c. 1298-1363), a Palamite and a leading critic of the Latin theological claims in the negotiations of the 1350s-60s, wrote the two books as a systematic statement of Byzantine ecclesiology: the first traces the causes of the schism, the second argues against papal primacy of jurisdiction. The Greek title is transcribed from the 1625 London edition as recorded in HOLLIS; the edition itself was not accessible as an e-text. The 1645 Latin version is the only complete translation in any language found.

Existing translations recorded

None recorded in English. Non-English versions, where they exist, are named in the evidence above.

Electronic text

No open electronic text was verified for this work. The Greek/Coptic/Geʿez may exist only in a print or subscription edition (Migne, CSCO, TLG, CMCL).

Scanned witnesses

Scan search: open scan — 1 candidate(s). PG 149 prints both books (Greek text with the editor's Latin version). The 1625 London Greek edition (Nikodemos Metaxas) and the 1645 Latin Libri duo were not found: IA searches (kabasilas OR cabasilas) AND (nilus OR neilos OR nilou), (kabasilas AND 1625), title:(Vivlia dyo) returned no edition; BnF SRU has Candal's 1945 study only. IA 'Candal1945' (429 pp, open) is a study, not an edition of the Libri duo (no 'dissensionum' in its text). A second scan of the same volume, 'patrologiaecursu0149mign' (796 pp, 2299x3615 images, full-res page images verified), carries the identical heading; the bim copy above is preferred for its ~5000x7800 images. Greek needs tesseract -l grc re-OCR; the Latin column is clean.

Harvard Hollis

Hollis query: "Two Books" — 3022 record(s); match basis title_only.

Sources checked

• HOLLIS search — Kabasilas schism
• HOLLIS search — Nilus Cabasilas

Cite: Tergwame, “Two Books: On the Causes of the Ecclesiastical Division; On the Primacy of the Pope” (greek gap dossier), 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/greek-neilos-cabasilas-libri-duo