In the last days of the Byzantine Empire, there were persons who played a role indulgently miserable and even treacherous. One of these persons who had an absolutely disastrous role was Georgios Amiroutzis.
The closest, chronologically, testimony about him was that of the also pro-Turkish Critobulos of Imbrio and that of the chronicler Dorotheos who wrote with few flattering words about him. Amiroutzis was born in Trebizond. He received a high education there and in Constantinople. In 1438/39 he took part in the Synod of Ferrara - Florence signing in favor of the union of the churches in exchange for money.
However, returning with the money, he condemned the union and in 1450 at the Council of Constantinople he was one of the main opponents of the union patriarch Gregory III, who was dethroned. Amiroutzis returned to Trebizond during the Fall of the City and entered the service of Emperor David Megalokomnenos, assuming the office of protovestiary.
In 1461, Mohammed II moved against Trebizond together with the grand vizier Mahmut Pasha Angelovic, who was of Greek descent from the Angelo dynasty and also a cousin of Amiroutzis. David the Great could not fight with the forces at his disposal and entrusted Amiroutzis with the negotiations with the Turks precisely because of his kinship with the vizier.
All sources agree that it was then that Amiroutzis first great betrayal took place. Both Chalkokondylis and Dorotheos agree that he was the cause of the destruction of the royal house of the Great Komnenos, persuading David to accept humiliating terms and surrender himself and his family to Muhammad.
After all, this is why, even after the capture of Trebizond, Amiroutzis received his own "30 pieces of silver" from Mohammed. Amiroutzis reportedly converted to Islam together with his sons. However, this is not certain for him and his youngest son who preferred to suffer and become a slave rather than change faith. In any case he was responsible for the murder of the captive David and almost all of their family whom he slandered to Muhammad.
Amiroutzis was the protagonist of yet another miserable episode. Wanting to marry the widow of the Duke of Athens, he appealed to the patriarch to obtain a dissolution of his marriage. The patriarch Joasaph I refused and Amiroutzis managed to convince Muhammad to dethrone him and shave his beard, dishonorably. At the same time, other officials of the patriarchates were also punished.
Amiroutzis also wrote a treatise in which he emphasized the "similarities" of Christianity and Islam, proposing their convergence. He went so far as to glorify Islam to such an extent that he could well be called an extrovert. In general, he was an advocate of "Greek-Turkish cooperation" to a slimy degree, as is typically reported. He died in 1475 playing dice…