ANTHONY OF NOVGOROD

flourished 13th century original name Dobrynia Jadrejkovic monk and archbishop of Novgorod, Russia (1211c. 1231), noted for his political and commercial diplomacy with the West and for the earliest cultural and architectural chronicle of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and a rsum of the Greek Orthodox liturgy at the basilica of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom). Anthony's importance derives mainly from his Pilgrim's Book, written during a visit to Constantinople about 1200. The book is unique for information on late 12th-century Constantinople and as the most comprehensive source on its archaeology and religious culture before the French and Venetian pillage (1204) during the Fourth Crusade.