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Hieromartyr '''Cyrillos Lukaris''', also '''Cyril I Lucaris''', '''Cyril Loukaris''' or '''Cyril Lucar''', was a Greek prelate and [[theologian]]. He was [[Patriarch of Alexandria]] as '''Cyril III''' from 1601 to 1620 and [[Patriarch of Constantinople]] as '''Cyril I''' for five different periods from 1620 until 1638. He was the first great name in the Orthodox Church after the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, and dominated its history in the seventeenth century. His Although the Calvinist confession attributed to him caused great controversy in the Orthodox Church, Hieromartyr Cyril Lucaris (†1638) was honoured as a Saint and Martyr shortly after his martyric death, and the Venerable Saint Eugenios of [[Metropolis of Aitolia and Akarnania|Aitolia]] (†1682, [[August 5]]) compiled an [[Akolouthia]] (Service) to celebrate his memory. The official [[glorification]] of Hieromartyr Cyril Loukaris took place by decision of the Holy Synod of the [[Church of Alexandria|Patriarchate of Alexandria]] on October 6, 2009, and his memory is commemorated on [[June 27]].<ref name=GRKSYNAX>{{el icon}} ''[http://www.saint.gr/4188/saint.aspx Άγιος Κύριλλος Λούκαρις Πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως].'' Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής. 27/06/2013.</ref><ref>''[http://www.patriarchateofalexandria.com/index.php?module=news&action=details&id=373 FIRST DAY OF THE DELIBERATIONS OF THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE ALEXANDRIAN PATRIARCHATE].'' '''Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa'''. 06/10/2009. </ref>
==Life==
Cyril was also particularly well disposed towards the Anglican Church, and his correspondence with the [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Archbishops of Canterbury]] is extremely interesting. Through his contacts with the Church of England, he also set up a program of sending young Greeks to England to study. Among these students was the youth from Macedonia, [[Metrophanes (Kritopoulos) of Alexandria|Metrophanes Kritopoulos]] who later would become Patriarch of Alexandria. Both Cyril and Metrophanes were lovers of books and manuscripts, and acquired manuscripts that today adorn the Patriarchal Library. Cyril also presented King James I of England with a fine manuscript of the Holy Bible, known as [[Codex Alexandrinus]]. He also sent a manuscript of the [[Pentateuch]], with Arabic translation, to Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury.
===Martyrdom===While Cyril was several times [[deposition|deposed]] temporarily and banished at the instigation of his orthodox opponents and of the [[w:Society of Jesus|Jesuit]]s, who were his bitterest enemies, his death came suddenly. When According to Professor Christos Patrinellis:<blockquote>"The Catholic Church used all its religious and political influence to destroy this "son of darkness": the [[w:Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] and [[w:Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchins]] of Constantinople, the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV was about to set out French and Austrian ambassadors, the newly constituted [[w:Congregation for the Persian WarEvangelization of Peoples|Propaganda Fidei]], Pope [[w:Pope Urban VIII|Urban VIII]] himself and even [[w:Louis XIII of France|Louis XIII]] and the powerful [[patriarchw:Cardinal Richelieu|Cardinal Richelieu]] . Almost any means of attacking Loukaris were regarded as legitimate because the motive was accused "sacred": these included threats and violence, bribing Turkish officials and pro-Catholic clerics in the circle of a design his successor Cyril Kontares, forging texts incriminating Loukaris, and claiming that the patriarch was inciting foreign powers against the Ottoman Empire. The Austrian Embassy planned Loukaris' assasination or his abduction to Italy and delivered to stir up the Cossacks[[w:Holy Inquisition|Holy Inquisition]]. Thus, to avoid trouble during his absence, Eventually the sultan had Cyril strangled by Austrian ambassador and Kontares persuaded the [[Janissariesw:Sublime Porte|Sublime Porte]] in to eliminate the patriarch and he was strangled on [[June 27]], 1638. His body was thrown into "<ref>Patrinelis, Christos (1975a). ''"Antagonismos ton ideon Metarrythmiseos kai Antimetarrythmiseos" [Conflict between the Bosporus Ideas of Reform and was later recovered after being washed ashore on Halki IslandCounterreform].'' In: '''Istoria tou Ellinikou Ethnous.''' 1, 130. Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon.<br>:* In: [[Christos Yannaras]]. His body was buried at ''Orthodoxy and the West: Hellenic Self-Identity in the Monastery of Panagia Kamariotissa on Halki by PatrModern Age.'' Transl. Peter Chamberas and Norman Russell. Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006. p. 79.</ref><ref group="note">{{el icon}} "Στις 27 Ιουνίου του 1638 Λατίνοι και εβραίοι εξαγόρασαν με 4.000 τάλληρα τον Μέγα Βεζύρη Βαϊράμ Πασά και με διαταγή του συνελήφθη και εξετελέσθη ο Κύριλλος Λούκαρις με την κατηγορία ότι προπαρασκεύαζε εθνική επανάσταση των Ελλήνων με την βοήθεια των Ορθοδόξων Κοζάκων."<br>:(<small>''[http://alithislogos.blogspot.ca/2009/07/blog-post.html Κύριλλος Λούκαρις].'' '''ΑΛΗΘΗΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ'''. Parthenius IJULY 5, 2009.)</small></ref></blockquote>
Thus, when the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV was about to set out for the Persian War, the [[patriarch]] was accused of a design to stir up the Cossacks. and the Sultan had Cyril strangled by the Janissaries on [[June 27]], 1638. His body was thrown into the Bosporus and was later recovered after being washed ashore on Halki Island. His body was buried at the Monastery of Panagia Kamariotissa on Halki by Patr. Parthenius I.
==Historical Assessment==
According to Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna:
<blockquote>"Despite Western references to Patriarch Kyrillos’ wide contacts with the Reformers, he is in fact most famous in the Orthodox world for his anti-Papist stand against the Uniate menace and for his opposition to Jesuit missions in Eastern Europe. His contacts in Eastern Europe, where he studied, served, and traveled, were extensive. His opposition to Uniate Catholicism after the Brzeesc-Litewski Treaty of 1596 was so strong and widespread, that his so-called "Confession," whatever its true source, is a mere footnote to his struggle against Papism. It was THIS anti-Latin Loukaris who supported Protestant opposition to Papism, who perhaps allowed his views to be restated and published by his Calvinist contacts in Geneva, and who earned the enduring hatred of the Papacy, which has played an essential role — if one reads the intellectual history surrounding this issue — in perpetuating the idea that the "Confessio" was the direct work of Kyrillos and that he was a Protestant in his thinking."<ref>Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna. ''[http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/ca4_loukaris.aspx The Myth of the "Calvinist Patriarch"].'' '''Orthodox Christian Information Center'''. Retrieved 19 October 2013.</ref></blockquote>
In addition, according to professor [[w:Dionysios Zakythinos|Dionysios Zakythinós]]:
<blockquote>"in the bold policy of this Patriarch...we find mixed and mingled many of the conflicting trends which distracted the Greek community of the seventeenth century with a multitude of warring influences — conservatism against reform; Orthodox mysticism against the materialistic rationalism of the West; traditional Byzantinism against the emerging spirit of the new Greece. Buffeted between the Ottoman authorities on the one side and the Western powers on the other, battling against the infiltration of Roman Catholicism, Cyril Loukaris gave his own original reply to the problem of relations between Orthodoxy and Western Christianity. In doing so he 'crystallized and translated into action the confused aspirations of a Greece which was just beginning to collect its thoughts with a view to making contact with Western civilization.' His attempted reform of the clergy, his introduction of a calendar dated from the Nativity of Christ in place of the old Byzantine chronology dated from the Creation, the establishment by Nicodemus Metaxas, at Constantinople, of the first Greek press in the East (1627), the translation of the New Testament into popular Greek (Geneva, 1638) 'are works of mark, witnessing to the breadth of view and the bold initiative of this great reformer'."<ref>[[w:Dionysios Zakythinos|D.A. Zakythinós]] (Professor). ''The Making of Modern Greece: From Byzantium to Independence.'' Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1976. pp. 145-146. ISBN 9780631153603</ref></blockquote>
==See also==
*[[Anglican Communion]]*[[Western Rite]] ==Notes==<references group="note" /> ==References== <div><references/></div>
==Sources==
