The brilliant image of his teaching at the Athoniada School is undermined by the criticism levelled at him by his student Joseph Moisiodax in his book Apologia, with his criticism aimed at the pedantry, not of the content but of the style of Voulgaris’ teaching, which imposed unnecessary burdens on students without imparting any real knowledge. Added to these are the instigators motivated by jealousy and petty ambitions, who distance him from the patriarch. Moisiodax calls the actions that distance Eugene from the school “manganies,” which will ultimately lead to the talented director’s departure, but he will always hold a special place in his heart for the Athoniada school. Dying in Russia, he left 1,000 rubles in his will to be given to the schools of Patmos and Athoniada. Voulgaris’ departure from Athoniada marked the definitive decline of the school.
In any case, one lasting benefit for Voulgaris, somewhat offsetting the sadness of defeat, was that in Athoniada he began to compile his own work, primarily his famous “Logic.” After Athoniada, he settled in Thessaloniki, living a private life, before Patriarch Seraphim II invited him to teach at the Great School of the Nation, which he would come to direct in 1760. He was even honored with the title of “referendarius” and “Palatine” of the Ecumenical Throne, before being forced to leave Constantinople because of a speech he gave on the Russian national holiday of St. Andrew during the Russo-Turkish War. He headed for neighboring principalities and ended up in Leipzig, where he published his aforementioned work, Logic, in 1766, at the age of fifty. The delayed publication was due to the need for extensive editing, other commitments that distracted him from writing, and a lack of funding. The work was, of course, in manuscript form, but errors made by copyists made it necessary to publish it in print.
The publication of Logic marks a turning point in both modern Greek philosophy and modern Greek education. Eugene Voulgaris’ Logic differs from previous philosophical works, which were commentary-based, as mentioned above, in that it is not a series of commentaries, but a complete work of systematic philosophy. “Logic” is promoted here to the main part of philosophy, in contrast to the introductory role it had in traditional, scholastic philosophy. In this main part, there are four chapters before the introduction, as they constitute an exposition of history, philosophy, and a general introduction to philosophy. Here, the author’s innovative views are very clearly discernible, constituting a fundamental critique of various prejudices. The work not only influenced modern Greek thought, but also found admirers. The language of the work is Attic Greek, which the author considered the most suitable for philosophy.
The Leipzig period was a time of intense publishing activity for Voulgaris. Among the works he published at that time was a translation of Voltaire’s historical and critical “Essay” on the divisions within the Polish church, accompanied by his own sketch on religious tolerance. He would also translate other short works by Voltaire aimed at creating aversion to the Turks.
After Leipzig, he went to Berlin, to the court of Frederick II, an enlightened despot and mentor, for a time, to Voltaire, and then to Russia, to the court of Catherine II, the great, other well-known “enlightened” figure who also protected the French enlightener. Voulgaris won her favor and was gradually assigned various positions. He first became a librarian in St. Petersburg in 1772, and in 1775 he was ordained a priest and within a year was elected Archbishop of Slaviniou and Cherson. He held the archbishopric until 1779, when he resigned due to advanced age. He returned to St. Petersburg near the tsarina, became a member of the Imperial Academy and was decorated with a medal before retiring to the monastery of St. Alexander Nevsky, where he died on June 19, 1806.
Voulgaris belonged to two worlds. His innovative efforts were never completed, because the intellectual world changed faster than he could change it with his writings. From this point of view, his time never fully arrived, and his work still awaits full appreciation, both in its entirety and in its semantic and expressive depth.
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