Patriarch Maximus III of Constantinople

Maximus III
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
Appointed	spring 1476
Reign ended	3 April 1482
Predecessor	Raphael I
Successor	Symeon I
Personal details
Died	3 April 1482
Sainthood
Feast day	November 17
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Maximus III (Greek: Μάξιμος Γ΄), born Manuel Christonymos (Greek: Μανουήλ Χριστώνυμος), was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1476 to his death in 1482, and a scholar. He is honoured as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day is November 17.^[1]

Life

Manuel Christonymos was probably a native of the Peloponnese, and he became Grand Ecclesiarch (i.e. Head Sacristan) of the Patriarchate. This ministry soon after the Fall of Constantinople took the functions also of the skeuophylax,^[2]:176 taking care of the holy treasures and relics of the Patriarchate, and in this position Manuel clashed with Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius on economical issues.^[2] Under the patronage of the secretary of the Sultan, Demetrios Kyritzes, Manuel, together with the Great Chartophylax George Galesiotes, influenced the life of the Church of Constantinople for more than twenty years.^[3]:255

In 1463 he sided with Patriarch Joasaph I against the request of the politician George Amiroutzes, a Greek nobleman from the former Empire of Trebizond, to marry a second wife because it was a case of bigamy under Christian canon law. As punishment for his support to Joasaph, Manuel had his nose cut by order of Sultan Mehmed II.^[4] In autumn 1465 (or early 1466) Manuel sponsored the election to the Patriarchate of Mark II, and later he opposed the patriarchs supported by other factions, such as Symeon of Trebizond and Dionysius I, who on 15 January 1467 stripped him and George Galesiotes of any ecclesiastic dignity.^[5] However they soon regained their influence.

Manuel was successful in recovering the esteem of Mehmed II,^[2] and in spring 1476 he himself was finally elected as Patriarch of Constantinople. He was still a lay, thus he was first ordained a monk taking the religious name of Maximus, and the next day he received the consecration to bishop and was enthroned as Patriarch by the Metropolitan of Heraclea.^[6] His reign ended a period of troubles for the Church and was marked by peace and consensus.^[3]:260

Maximus died on 3 April 1482.^[7] His main literary work is the "Monody on the Capture of Constantinople".

Notes

1. ^ "Maximos III". Ecumenical Patriarchate. http://www.ec-patr.org/list/index.php?lang=en&id=170. Retrieved 11 August 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Runciman, Steven (1985). The Great Church in captivity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 194–5. ISBN 9780521313100. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Vitalien, Laurent (1968). "Les premiers patriarches de Constantinople sous la domination turque (1454-1476)". Revue des études byzantines (26): 229–263. doi:10.3406/rebyz.1968.1407. (French)
4. ^ Touloumakos Pantelis. "Amiroutzis, Georgios". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7205. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 
5. ^ Petit, L. (1903). "Déposition du Patriarche Mark Xylocarvi". Revue de l'Orient Chrétien (8): 144–9. http://books.google.it/books?id=0fsLAAAAIAAJ. (French)
6. ^ B.G.Niebuhr, I.Bekker, ed (1849) [1584]. "Historia Politica et Patriarchica Constantinopoleos". Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, Volume 49. Bonn. pp. 116. (Latin)
7. ^ Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press LLC. p. 37,46. ISBN 9781434458766. 

External links

• Historia politica et patriarchica Constantinopoleos, Cap IX: P. Maximus, (trans. Martin Crusius, 1584) Primary source. (Greek) and (Latin)

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Name	Maximus 03 Of Constantinople, Patriarch
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Date of death	3 April 1482
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