Maximus II of Constantinople

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Maximus II of Constantinople was patriarch of the Church of Constantinople, in exile in Nicea, from June to December 1216.

Life

Little is known of the life of Maximus II. Prior to being named patriarch he had been abbot of the monastery of the Akoimetoi and was the confessor of the emperor Theodore I Laskaris who in exile after the Latin conquest of Constantinople led the Empire of Nicea.

Maximus became patriarch in June 1216. He was patriarch-in-exile, living in Nicea, as his titular seat was occupied by Latin patriarchs in Constantinople.

His appointment as patriarch was criticized by the writers George Akropolites (c.1217-1282) and Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (1256-1335), noting him as "uneducated".[1] and having become patriarch through his intrigue into the palace's women's quarters. Akropolites writes that he "paid court to the women's quarters and was in turn courted by it; for it was nothing else which raised him to such eminence."[2]

Maximus II died in office in December 1216 after only six months on the patriarchal throne.

References

  1. Xanthopoulos (PG 147.465b)
  2. George Akropolites (Ruth Macrides, ed). The History. Oxford: University Press, 2007. Pp. 159-161.
Succession box:
Maximus II of Constantinople
Preceded by:
Theodore II Eirenicus
Patriarch of Constantinople
1216-1216
Succeeded by:
Manuel I Charitopoulos
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