In the Memory of Constantinos Pitsakis
When, in mid-July, we were dinning in Athens in the company of Professor Constantinos Pitsakis, he shared with us his plan to speak at the SIHDA in Oxford about reception of law at the creation of the modern Greek state in the 19th century, a “reception” that in fact did never really occur, Roman law never ceased to be applied among Greeks for the last two millennia. I could not have imagined that, three weeks later, he would have left us. His sudden and unexpected loss, from a disease unknown even to himself, was a shock to his family and all his friends and colleagues. He was 68 years old, and just one year had elapsed since he had retired from teaching as Professor of Legal History at the Faculty of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace in Komotini.
Professor Pitsakis, you all remember him as the organizerof the 6Oth session of the SIHDA in 2006 in Komotini. One of the most brilliant scholars in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Law in Greece, his opus magnum, acommented edition of the Exabiblos of Armenopoulos, remains an oeuvre de référence. He has published extensively, articles covering wide areas of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine law, politics, society and Canon Law and contributed many articles in major lexica and encyclopedias. He had collaborated with Professor Dieter Simon at the Max-Plank Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte, on the critical edition of several other Byzantine manuscripts.
He was an active member of SIHDA, never missing any of its meetings, and of many other scientific societies in Greece and abroad. Only to name a few, the Greek Society of Byzantine Studies, the Greek Historical Society, the International Society for the Law of Eastern Churches (President), who dedicated last week its congress in Vienna to his memory. He was a founding member and, at his death, President of the Society of Greek Legal Historians. He had taught in many seminars and courses in Universities and Academies in Greece and abroad, among which the University La Sapienza in Rome and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
He had served as President of the Editions’ Committee of the National Bank of Greece, as member of the committees of the Greek Institute in Venice, the National Library of Greece, the Greek State Archives, and of the Cultural Foundation of the Greek Parliament. Among his most important current works was his contribution to the drafting of the Charter of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. Most honorable among his titles, he had been named MέγαςΆρχωνΝομοφύλαξ of the Oecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.
Overflowing with energy, good humor, sharp wit and a conversation both entertaining and educational, with a never ending flow of interesting topics, his company was always a pleasure for all those who had the privilege to know him.He had a deep erudition, not only mastering historical topics of a much broader scope than Byzantine Law, but being knowledgeable in all matters of culture.
With an incessant intellectual curiosity, he was an avid collector of books, always finding his way in a labyrinth of bibliography. He was, first and primarily, adevoted researcher, always looking for new and original topics. In his remarks on different historical subjects, he showed historical common sense, always asking the right questions. In his papers he had the ability to uncover a wholly different perspective in well-known subjects.
He had this wisdom and sense of perspective that gives you a deep knowledge of history. Lately he used to tell me that, his fellow historians abroad, seeing things “sub specie aeternitatis”, understood that the current financial crisis is not the worse crisis Greece been through during its history and that we would eventually overcome this too.
Having also pursued an active career in the banking sector, as Director of the Shipping Department of the National Bank of Greece, he combined successfully an experience of the world of today, in the fields of law and business, with the study of their history in the past. This gave him a rare realistic insight in the grasp of ancient legal realities. He used to say, when a discussion on a point of detail went too far, “Imagine if in 2.000 years from now, historians try to make literal sense of our newspapers` headlines.”
As a Professor of Legal History in the Faculty of Law of Komotini, he was a legendary teacher, both for his `performance` on the classroom `stage`, as for demanding the best out of his students.
He was a traveler like no other, never refusing an invitation to participate in a congress or to give a lecture, no matter how far and no matter how heavy his schedule was.
He had a most valuable quality: humility. He was devoid of any spite, rivalry and jealousy, was happy to see fellow professors progress, always supportive, offering generously his time and assistance whenever asked. As a younger colleague, I had the privilege to experience how he managed, in spite of his professorship and seniority, never to show superiority and make me feel like the equal I was not. He had a rare kindness of heart, an open mind and strongly believed in what he called our `legal civilization`. He was himself a highly civilized man and scholar, much in the Byzantine tradition, which he served so well.
He was a good friend and the best of colleagues. We shall all miss him very much.
It was read in the 66th Session of SIHDA, Oxford, 18-22 September 2012