Tarasios of Constantinople

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Gospel book with his right hand raised in blessing
Nikephoros I
Personal details
DenominationChalcedonian Christianity

Tarasios of Constantinople (also Saint Tarasios and Saint Tarasius; Greek: Ταράσιος; c. 730 – 25 February 806) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 25 December 784 until his death on 25 February 806.

Background

Tarasios was born and raised in the city of

Photios the Great. He had an elder brother, Sisinnios, who was captured during the invasion of Calabria in 788/9.[2]

Tarasios had embarked on a career in the secular administration and had attained the rank of

monastic habit
).

Since he exhibited both

Iconodule sympathies and the willingness to follow imperial commands when they were not contrary to the faith, he was selected as Patriarch of Constantinople by the Empress Irene in 784, even though he was a layman at the time. Nevertheless, like all educated Byzantines, he was well versed in theology, and the election of qualified laymen as bishops was not unheard of in the history of the Church.[3]

He reluctantly accepted, on condition that church unity would be restored with Rome and the

consecration as bishop.[5]

Seventh Ecumenical Council

Seventh Ecumenical Council (17th century, Novodevichy Convent, Moscow
)

Before accepting the dignity of

icons. The patriarch assumed a moderate policy towards former Iconoclasts, which incurred the opposition of Theodore the Studite
and his partisans.

Divorce of Constantine VI

Depiction of Tarasios by an unknown fresco painter

About a decade later, Tarasios became involved in a new controversy. In January 795, Emperor

excommunicated
the priest who had conducted Constantine's second marriage.

End of Patriarchate

Tarasios continued to loyally serve the subsequent imperial regimes of Irene and

Nikephoros
and Photios as patriarchs may have been in part inspired by the example set by Tarasios.

Sainthood

Though some later scholars have been critical of what they perceive as Tarasios' weakness before imperial power, he continues to be revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches for his defence of the use of icons, and his struggle for the peace and unity of the Church. His

Gregorian Calendar). and on February 18 by Latin Church
Catholics.

References

  1. ISBN 88-209-7210-7
    )
  2. ^ Stephanos Efthymiadis (ed.), The Life of the Patriarch Tarasios by Ignatios Deacon (BHG1698): Introduction, Edition, Translation and Commentary (Routledge, 2016 [1998]), p. 10.
  3. St. Ambrose of Milan, and several of the Popes
  4. ^ "St. Tarasius". Catholic Encyclopedia.
  5. ^ By canon law both of East and West, each of these orders must be conferred at intervals of days, during which one order is exercised before a higher one is received.

Bibliography

  • The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, third edition
  • Byzantium: the Early Centuries by John Julius Norwich, 1988.

External links

Titles of Chalcedonian Christianity
Preceded by
Paul IV
Patriarch of Constantinople

784–806 		Succeeded by
Nikephoros I
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tarasios_of_Constantinople&oldid=1214212414"