Callistus I of Constantinople

Callistus I of Constantinople
Callistus I of Constantinople
Church of Constantinople
In office	June 1350 – 1353; January 1355 – August 1363
Predecessor	Isidore I of Constantinople, Philotheus I of Constantinople
Successor	Philotheus I of Constantinople
Personal details
Born	[?]
Died	August 1363
Sainthood
Feast day	20 June in Eastern Orthodox Church;
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Kallistos I (

Medieval Greek: Κάλλιστος; died August 1363) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for two periods from June 1350 to 1353 and from 1354 to 1363. Kallistos I was an Athonite monk and supporter of Gregory Palamas. He died in Constantinople

in 1363.

Life

Nothing is known of Callistus' early life. He was a disciple of Gregory Palamas and Gregory of Sinai. He lived at Mount Athos for 28 years and was a monk at the Skete of Magoula near Philotheou Monastery at Mount Athos.^[2]

In his "Hagiography of Gregory of Sinai", he mentions two devotees, Jakov of Serres and Romylos of Vidin, then living and writing in Serbia. He also founded the Monastery of St. Mamas at Tenedos, a small island near the Dardanelles.

Patriarchate

Kallistos was elected to the throne of the

Isidore I. In 1351, he convened a synod in Constantinople that finally established the Orthodoxy of Hesychasm

.

Kallistos I and the ecumenical patriarchs who succeeded him mounted a vigorous campaign to have the Palamite doctrine accepted by the other Eastern patriarchates as well as all the metropolitan sees under their jurisdiction. However, it took some time to overcome initial resistance to the doctrine.

One example of resistance was the response of the

Metropolitan of Kiev

who, upon receiving tomes from Kallistos that expounded the Palamist doctrine, rejected the new doctrine vehemently and composed a reply refuting it.

According to Martin Jugie, contemporary historians depict Kallistos as a "doctrinaire and brutal man whose persecuting zeal it was necessary to restrain."^[3]

In 1353, Kallistos refused to crown

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia, for establishing the Serbian archbishop

as an independent patriarch.

In 1355, Kallistos wrote to the clergy of Trnovo that those Latins who had baptized by single immersion should be re-baptized. He called the baptism by one immersion most improper and full of impiety. His view was based on the Apostolic canons which clearly state that those baptized by one immersion are not baptized and should be re-baptized.

Death

Kallistos died in 1363 while he was en route to

Helena of Bulgaria, Empress of Serbia against the Ottoman Empire

.

While Kallistos was Patriarch, he once passed through

Maximos the Hut-Burner, who greeted the Patriarch in a humorous manner, "This old man will never see his old lady again." This turned out to be a prophecy of how Kallistos would never see Constantinople ("his old lady") again, since he would die before being able to return there. Maximos then bid farewell to Kallistos by chanting, "Blessed are the blameless in the way" (from Psalm 118, a funeral psalm).^[2] Kallistos subsequently journeyed on to Serbia, where he then died.^[4] (Note that the "Callistus" in this account is often confused with Callistus II of Constantinople, who reigned as Patriarch in 1397, after the death of Maximos of Kafsokalyvia

.)

Works

With another monk, Ignatius Xanthopoulos, with whom he had developed a life-long friendship at Mount Athos,[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] Kallistos composed the important Century, a tract of 100 sections on the ascetical practices of the Hesychastic monks; it was incorporated in the Philokalia of Nicodemus the Hagiorite and had a great influence on Orthodox spirituality. In the Philokalia, the full title of the work is An exact rule and method with God's help for those who choose to live as hesychasts and monastics by the monks Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopoulos, including testimonies from the saints.^[2]

Kallistos wrote the life of his teacher

Nikephoros Gregoras at the final Palamite council.^[9]

References

^ "Online Chapel - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America".
^
OCLC 1291631709
.

^ Jugie, Martin (13 June 2009). "The Palamite Controversy". Retrieved 2010-12-28.
^ "Venerable Callistus Xanthopoulos of Mount Athos". Orthodox Church in America. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
^ "Σύντομη βιογραφία και εισαγωγικά σχόλια". religious.gr. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
^ "Κάλλιστος και Ιγνάτιος οι Ξανθόπουλοι: Μέθοδος και κανόνας ακριβής – Κεφάλαιο 16". Retrieved 2022-08-23.
^ "Άγιος Κάλλιστος και Άγιος Ιγνάτιος (οι Ξανθόπουλοι), Добротолюбие (Филокалия) на греческом языке. Том 5". azbyka.ru. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
^ "Άγιοι Κάλλιστος και Ιγνάτιος: Ποια είναι η χάρη και πώς θα την επιτύχομε". Πεμπτουσία. August 12, 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
^ Beyer 2006, p. 2–3.

Bibliography

Gonis, Dimitrios V. (1980), Το συγγραφικόν έργον του Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχου Καλλίστου Α', Athens{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (contains an edition of the writings of Kallistos)

Beyer, Hans-Veit, ed. (2006), Каллист I, патриарх Константинополя. Житие и деятельность иже во святых отца нашего Григория Синаита (PDF), Ekaterinburg:
ISBN 5-7525-1484-3
(= Life and Works of Our Late Father Gregory of Sinai; critical edition of the Greek text and Russian translation)

Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by Isidore I	Patriarch of Constantinople 1350–1354 Deposed.	Succeeded by Philotheos
Preceded by Philotheos	Restored. Patriarch of Constantinople 1355–1363	Succeeded by Philotheos

[1] "Online Chapel - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America".

[Philokalia-5-2] 
OCLC 1291631709
.

[Jugie4-3] Jugie, Martin (13 June 2009). "The Palamite Controversy". Retrieved 2010-12-28.

[OCA-4] "Venerable Callistus Xanthopoulos of Mount Athos". Orthodox Church in America. 2021-11-22. Retrieved 2022-08-21.

[5] "Σύντομη βιογραφία και εισαγωγικά σχόλια". religious.gr. Retrieved 2022-08-23.

[6] "Κάλλιστος και Ιγνάτιος οι Ξανθόπουλοι: Μέθοδος και κανόνας ακριβής – Κεφάλαιο 16". Retrieved 2022-08-23.

[7] "Άγιος Κάλλιστος και Άγιος Ιγνάτιος (οι Ξανθόπουλοι), Добротолюбие (Филокалия) на греческом языке. Том 5". azbyka.ru. Retrieved 2022-08-23.

[8] "Άγιοι Κάλλιστος και Ιγνάτιος: Ποια είναι η χάρη και πώς θα την επιτύχομε". Πεμπτουσία. August 12, 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-23.

[FOOTNOTEBeyer20062–3-9] Beyer 2006, p. 2–3.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

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Patriarchs of Constantinople (Turkish period, since 1923 AD)	Gregory VII Constantine VI Basil III Photius II Benjamin Maximus V Athenagoras Demetrius Bartholomew
^† in exile at Nicaea Christianity portal

v t e Philokalia
Authors	Isaiah the Solitary Evagrius Ponticus John Cassian Mark the Ascetic Hesychius of Sinai Nilus of Sinai Diadochos of Photiki John of Karpathos Anthony the Great Theodore of Edessa [fr] Maximus the Confessor Thalassios the Libyan [fr] John of Damascus Theognostos Philotheus of Sinai Ilias the Presbyter Theophanes the Monk Peter of Damascus Symeon the Metaphrast Symeon the New Theologian Nikitas Stithatos Theoleptos of Philadelphia Nikephoros the Monk Gregory of Sinai Gregory Palamas Callistus Ignatios Xanthopoulos Kallistos Angelikoudis [ru] Symeon of Thessalonica Mark the Gentle
Compilers	Nicodemus the Hagiorite Macarius of Corinth
Translators	Paisius Velichkovsky Ignatius Brianchaninov Theophan the Recluse Dumitru Stăniloae Gerald Palmer Philip Sherrard Kallistos (Ware)

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