Patriarch Jeremias II of Constantinople

Jeremias II Tranos (c. 1530, Anchialos - 1595, Constantinople), was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople several times between 1572 and 1595.

Jeremias, a Greek, from the influential Tranos family, was elected in 1572 as patriarch for the first time. He was deposed in 1579, because the Ottoman rulers had set limits on the maximum duration of a patriarch's rule, but he was re-elected the next year, and again in 1585.

From 1576 to 1581 he conducted the first important theological exchanges between Orthodoxy and Protestants. Lutherans Jakob Andreae and Martin Crusius from Tübingen presented the Patriarch with a translated copy of the Augsburg Confession. Jeremias II wrote three rebuttals known as 'Answers,' which established that the Orthodox Church had no desire for reformation. The Lutherans replied to the first two letters, but the third letter ended in a deadlocked disagreement between the parties. The significance of the exchanges were that they presented, for the first time in a precise and clear way, where the Orthodox and Reformation churches stood in relation to each other.

He is also known for his role in establishing the Moscow patriarchate during his trip to Russia in 1589. Jeremias firstly suggested himself as a candidature for the first Patriarch of Moscow, but Boris Godunov suggested that his residence should be Vladimir, a largely enpoverished town at this time. Jeremias instead consecrated Boris's associate, Metropolitan Job, as Patriarch.

Patriarch Jeremias (1572-1585) obtained certain priviledges for the Greek minorities within the Ottoman Empire of which one was the establishment of schools. There was only one existing Greek school during Turkish Rule (1453-1821). The school was established in 1456 in Constantinople and named the "The Nation's Great School" (Megali tou Genous Scholi). With Patriarch Jeremias' influnece seven schools opened at the end of the 16th century: in Athens, Livadia, Chios, Smyrne, Kydonies, Patmos and Giannena. Subsequently, another 40 schools opened across Greece and Asia Minor: in Skopje, Philipoupolis, Andrianoupolis, Sozopolis, Anchialos, Constantinople, Aenos, Serres, Giannitsa, Korytsa, Vlachokleisoura, Veria, Thessaloniki, Kalipolis, Kozani, Hieromerio, Tirnavo, Trikala, Paramytha, Agrafa, Arta, Karpenisi, Varnakova, Aetoliko, Thebes, Chalikida, Argos, Nafplio, Koroni, Monemvasia, Methoni, Kythera, Kerkyra, Zakynthos, Chantakas (Hrakleio Crete), Rodes, Kos, Patmos, S. Lemonias and Myrtinisiotisses (Lesvos), Mykonos, Naxos. (See "Holy David and School Master Monks of Varnakova during Turkish Rule" by Holy Metropolis of Phocis, page 89.)

References

*"The Orthodox Church" by Timothy Ware (1963, 1987, ISBN 0-14-014656-3)

External links

* [http://www.stpaulsirvine.org/html/lutheran.htm Tibbs - Patriarch Jeremias II, the Tübingen Lutherans, and the Greek Version of the Augsburg Confession]
* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.v.iii.html Schaff - The Answers of Patriarch Jeremiah to the Lutherans, A.D. 1576]