Mark II of Constantinople

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Mark II of Constantinople
Gennadius II of Constantinople[1]
SuccessorSymeon I of Constantinople[1]
Personal details
DiedAfter 1467
DenominationEastern Orthodoxy

Mark II of Constantinople (

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1465 to 1466.[1] In 1467 he became Archbishop of Ohrid
, a post he held until his death.

Life

Concerning the early life of Mark our main source is a document of the

Senate of Venice dated 26 June 1466, which orders the Venetian government in Crete to prevent Mark and his father in case they tried to seek refuge on the island. From this document scholars, such as Laurent,[2] deduce that in June 1466 Mark II was actually Patriarch, that he and his family had previously been in Crete and that they opposed the East-West Union of Churches established in the Council of Florence and supported by the Republic of Venice
.

Mark became

Sultan Demetrios Kyritzes.[2] On the other hand, it is known that some bishops refused to commemorate him during the Divine Liturgy, as a sign that they did not recognise him as patriarch, probably accusing him of simony
.

Mark II clashed mainly with the faction composed of the nobles of the former Empire of Trebizond who were forced to move to Constantinople after Trebizond's fall to the Ottomans in 1461. This faction supported its own candidate for the patriarchal throne, the future Patriarch Symeon I of Constantinople.[4] Symeon was successful in obtaining the throne, giving 2000 pieces of gold as a present to the Ottoman government, thus beginning a simoniac practice that marked the history of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for the following centuries.[4] According to Laurent however,[2] who places the patriarchate of Mark II after the one of Symeon I, it was Mark II that bought the patriarchal office paying 2000 pieces of gold.

Whichever the cause, Mark II was deposed in humiliation from the throne,

lapidation in autumn 1466 or early 1467. However, he was soon rehabilitated and appointed by Sultan Mehmed II as Archbishop of Ohrid.[3] The Archbishopric of Ohrid was at the time the semi-autonomous main religious center of the Ottoman Bulgaria
. The date of death of Mark II is not known.

Disputed chronology

There is no consensus among scholars concerning the chronology of Mark II's reign.

Many scholars, such as Kiminas (2009),

Dorotheos of Monemvasia and place the reign of Mark II before Symeon I of Constantinople
, even if with some slightly different suggestions about the precise dates of the reign, however generally in the range from 1465 to 1467.

Laurent (1968),

List of Patriarchs of Constantinople. Laurent alone suggests a second short patriarchate of Mark after the first reign of Dionysius I of Constantinople
at end 1471.

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c Chronology according to Kiminas (2009).
  2. ^
    doi:10.3406/rebyz.1968.1407
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 954-430-345-6
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-31310-0
    .
  5. ^ a b "Mark II". Ecumenical Patriarchate. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  6. ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6
    .
  7. ^ Grumel, Venance (1958). Traité d'études byzantines, vol. I - La chronologie (in French). Presses Universitaires de France. p. 437.
  8. ^ Σάρδεων Γερμανός (1933–1938). "Συµβολή εις τους πατριαρχικούς καταλόγους Κωνσταντινουπόλεως από της αλώσεως και εξής". Ορθοδοξία (8–13).(in Greek)
  9. ISBN 978-3-406-32302-7
    .

Bibliography
Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by
Gennadius II
(3)
 Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
1465 – 1466 		Succeeded by
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