Gregory V of Constantinople

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Prince Islands
then Mount Athos in 1810, reelected 1818
Church of Constantinople
In office
  • 1797–1798
  • 1806–1808
  • 1818–1821
Predecessor
Successor

Gregory V (

Patriarchal Cathedral of St George
, which had been badly damaged by fire in 1738.

Biography

Born in

consecrated as Metropolitan of Smyrna when Procopius was elected as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1797, Gregory was first elected Ecumenical Patriarch upon the resignation of Gerasimus III.[1]

At the onset of the

Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II for his inability to suppress the Greek uprising. This was in spite of the fact that Gregory had condemned the Greek revolutionary activities in order to protect the Greeks of Constantinople from such reprisals by the Ottoman Turks. After the Greek rebels scored several successes against the Ottoman forces in the Peloponnese
, these reprisals came.

Directly after celebrating the solemn

Patriarchal Cathedral. He was then lynched, his corpse being left for two days on the main gate of the Patriarchate compound, all by order of the Sultan.[2]
The Patriarch's body was eventually interred in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. He is commemorated by the Greek Orthodox Church as an Ethnomartyr (Greek: Εθνομάρτυρας). In his memory, the Saint Peter Gate, once the main gate of the Patriarchate compound, was welded shut in 1821 and has remained shut ever since.

Influence

The brutal murder of Gregory V, especially on the day of Pascha, shocked and infuriated the Greeks, and Orthodox Russia. It also caused protests in the rest of Europe and reinforced the movement of Philhellenism. There are references that during the Greek War of Independence, many revolutionaries engraved on their swords the name of Gregory, seeking revenge.

Dionysios Solomos, in his "Hymn to Liberty", which later became the Greek national anthem, also mentions the hanging of the patriarch in some stanzas.

Jewish–Greek animosity

According to several accounts, after Gregory's death, his body, along with those of other executed prelates, was turned over to the city's Jews, who dragged it through the streets and threw it into the sea.

Odessa.[3] After the funeral, some Greek sailors attacked Jewish shops which had remained open during the ceremony.[5]

In Odessa, then part of the Russian Empire, local Greeks committed what some sources consider the first Russian pogrom killing 14 Jews on the basis that Jews had taken part in Gregory's lynching.[6]

Gallery

  • Saint Peter's Gate at the Patriarchate. Gregory V was lynched here. Since then the Gate has never been opened again.
    Saint Peter's Gate at the Patriarchate. Gregory V was lynched here. Since then the Gate has never been opened again.
  • Painting by Peter von Hess depicting the casting of the corpse of Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople into the Bosphorus.
    Painting by
    Bosphorus
    .
  • Statue of Grigorios (University of Athens) by Georgios Fytalis
    Statue of Grigorios (University of Athens) by Georgios Fytalis
  • The shrine of Patriarch Grigorios (Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens)
    The shrine of Patriarch Grigorios (Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens)

References

  1. ^ Metallinos, George (2019-09-03). "Γρηγόριος Ε´ (α) [10 Ἀπρ.]" [Gregory V (1) [10 Apr.]]. Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (in Greek). Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  2. .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ .
  5. .
  6. ^ Parkansky, Ariel. "Anti-Semitism and Pogroms". JewishGen. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06.
Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

1797–1798
1806–1808
1818–1821
Succeeded by