Callinicus III (IV) Suffered a Stroke in his Desert Exile Which Altered His Handwriting

There is so much going on with respect to the hunt for the Mar Saba document. There are only a handful of people how hard I am working on solving everything at the same time. Seriously. There is light at the end of the tunnel that the manuscript will be rediscovered again (or at least we will figure out what happened to it). I also think I am closing on explaining how and why the manuscript was written into that 1646 edition of Isaac Voss. It's not that I am smarter than the people before me. The truth is that they are all certainly smarter, more accomplished and better husband material than I will ever be. I just happen to have greater tenacity and imagination. God gives different gifts to different people, I guess.

In any event, what stumped those before me and why they gave up this line of inquiry is why only some of the ligatures of Callinicus match Mar Saba 65 but most do not. The circumstantial case that Callinicus was the author of Mar Saba 65 have just sky rocketed because I can connect him to Isaac Voss. But what's up with the handwriting? Why does it 'change'? The answer is that he suffered a serious illness during his desert exile at St. Catherine's monastery in Sinai. He writes about out over and over again in his surviving material which I gleaned from that 1996 dissertation I cited earlier:

Το διάστημα τής παραμονής τού Καλλινίκου στο Σινά ήταν γεμάτο άπο κακουχίες, ασθένειες, κινδύνους, φόβους, συκοφαντίες, θλίψεις, εγκατάλειψης άπο πολλούς φίλους του, άπο προβλήματα τόσο μέ τους μοναχούς τής Μονής και τών έχθρων του στην Κων/πολη, Οσο καΐ άπό τήν έρημία τοϋ τόπου, καθώς καΐ τού δύσκολου κλίματος".

Γράφει ό εξόριστος Πατριάρχης, σάν άλλος Παύλος, γιά βοά τού συνέβηκαν τόσο στο ταξίδι τής εξορίας, boo καΐ κατά τήν παραμονή του στή Μονή: " Πλην οΰκ εξορίας ύπέστην μόνον, άλλα συν ταύτη καΐ περιφρονήσεις και φρουράν και κινδύνους θαλάσσης, ποταμού καΐ γής καΐ προς τούτοις αμετρον κακουχίαν"

Και ομως, μέσα άπ< αυτές τΙς δύσκολες συνθήκες ò εξόριστος Πατριάρχης Καλλίνικος και οσο του το επέτρεπε ή κακή κατάσταση τής υγείας του, δεν έπαψε να ενδιαφέρεται για Ολα. [p. 75 - 76]

Illness in exile is again referenced again on p. 77 and then again on p. 83 we read the most explicit statement of all:

"Οταν ό Καλλίνικος ανέβηκε στον Οικουμενικό θρόνο, τότε είχε καλή υγεία2. Σπάνια βλέπουμε νά είναι άρρωστος. 'Από τή στιγμή ομως τής εξορίας του αρχίζει νά κλονίζεται ή υγεία του καΐ νά επιδεινώνεται στο Σινά. Το κλίμα, ή κακή διατροφή, ή θλίψη τής εξορίας, ή εγκατάλειψη πολλών φίλων του, οί συκοφαντίες τών έχθρων του καΐ γενικά Ολες οί παράνομες ενέργειες των, ή εχθρική στάση κυρίως τοΰ Πατριάρχου Κων/πόλεως Σεραφείμ απέναντι του, το δηλητήριο στή Λήμνο και τόσα άλλα δεινά, επιδρούν σημαντικά, ώστε νά νοσεί "τά έσχατα'^

Linaritakes writes (according to Google translator)
.

When Callinicos ascended the Ecumenical Throne, he was in good health. Rarely seen to be sick." But since his exile begins to falter or his health to deteriorate in the Sinai. The climate, or poor nutrition, or sadness exile, or abandonment of many friends, the slander of his enemies and in general all illegal actions or hostile especially the Patriarch of Constantinople. TheSeraphim opposite, the poison in Lemnos and many other evils, have a significant impact to diseased " The last things' ^ [p. 83]

Okay so the translation sucks. We get the idea that in the heat he suffered something like a stroke (I am still working on proving that). The stroke in the desert would account for the crazy looking handwriting we see throughout most of the later letters as this blogger notes from his recent experience with the disease (the two writing samples appear below):

This is an excerpt from my old journal. On the following day, March 2, 1994, I suffered a massive stroke that left me quadriplegic. The next time I picked up a pencil was a month later, and my handwriting was worse, of course. It took me half an hour to write two words, “Dear Rob.” Those two words were so enormous and misshapen, I did not finish the letter. I put my pencil down, with frustration and an aching hand. My doctor told me that brain damage would keep me from ever writing legibly again. It’s a shame that so many people think a doctor’s prognosis—which is nothing more than an educated guess—is ironclad.