MAKRAKIS, APOSTOLOS

MAKRAKIS, APOSTOLOS, Greek layman, religious polemicist (1831–1905). Makrakis enjoyed a stormy career as the advocate of “true Christian philosophy,” of sacramental rigorism including complete immersion at Baptism (q.v.), and of a ferocious antipapalism. His voluminous, if somewhat eccentric, commentaries on the collection of Canon Law (q.v.) known as the Rudder (Pedalion), originally compiled by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (q.v.), can be read today in an English translation published by his American admirers. His fierce attacks on the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Greece led to his excommunication in 1878. Although never again reinstated in the Church, Makrakis continued to influence like-minded rigorists throughout his life and afterward.