Parthenius II of Constantinople

Parthenius II of Constantinople
Parthenius II of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	8 September 1644 – 8 November 1646; 29 October 1648 – 16 May 1651
Predecessor	Parthenius I of Constantinople, Joannicius II of Constantinople
Successor	Joannicius II of Constantinople
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	16 May 1651

Parthenius II (Greek: Παρθένιος; died 16 May 1651) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for two periods (1644–1646, 1648–1651).

Kallistos Ware relates that Parthenius, before becoming Patriarch, wrote to Pope Urban VIII in 1640: "To your Beatitude I render all due obedience and submission, acknowledging you to be the true successor of the leader of the Apostles, and the chief shepherd of the Catholic Church throughout the whole world. With all piety and obedience I bow before your holy feet and kiss them, asking your blessing, for with full power you guide and tend the whole of Christ's chosen flock. So I confess and so I believe; and I am zealous that my subjects also should be such as I am myself. Finding them eager, I guide them in the ways of piety; for there are not a few who think just as I do".^[1]

He was a partisan of Cyril Lucaris.^[2]^[3]

^ Kallistos Ware, Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church under Turkish Rule (Wipf and Stock Publishers), p. 26-27
^ Vasileios Tsakiris, The ‘Ecclesiarum Belgicarum Confessio’ and the Attempted ‘Calvinisation’ of the Orthodox Church under Patriarch Cyril Loukaris (The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Volume 63, Issue 3, July 2012, pp. 475-487). "In fact, a large number of copies of both [a translation of the Ecclesiarum Belgicarum Confessio and a translation of the New Testament] was successfully distributed during the two short periods in which Parthenios II, a partisan of Loukaris, was patriarch of Constantinople (1644–6/1648–51). It seems, therefore, that efforts to disseminate Calvinism in the East did not entirely stop when Loukaris died, even though, with his death, the enterprise no longer had any real chance of sucess [sic]."
^ Eleni Gara and Ovidiu Olar, "5. CONFESSION-BUILDING AND AUTHORITY: THE GREAT CHURCH AND THE OTTOMAN STATE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY", in Entangled Confessionalizations? (edited by Tijana Krstić and Derin Terzioğlu; Gorgias Press, 2022). "The conciliatory policy of Parthenios I, who in March 1643 corroborated the revised version of Peter Mohila’s Orthodox Confession that had been prepared by the anti-Protestant theologian Meletios Syrigos under the auspices of Prince Vasile Lupu of Moldavia, was a disappointement [sic] to Loukaris’ followers. But they had enough power to replace him in early September 1644 with Parthenios II, the preferred successor of Loukaris himself and a proponent of the plan to distribute copies of the Bible’s translation in the vernacular." (p. 185) It is also noted that "Parthenios I, Parthenios II, and Ioannikios II had ties with the Catholic world, while Parthenios II was also in contact with Calvinist circles in Leiden". (p. 185, footnote 149)

[1] Kallistos Ware, Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church under Turkish Rule (Wipf and Stock Publishers), p. 26-27

[2] Vasileios Tsakiris, The ‘Ecclesiarum Belgicarum Confessio’ and the Attempted ‘Calvinisation’ of the Orthodox Church under Patriarch Cyril Loukaris (The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Volume 63, Issue 3, July 2012, pp. 475-487). "In fact, a large number of copies of both [a translation of the Ecclesiarum Belgicarum Confessio and a translation of the New Testament] was successfully distributed during the two short periods in which Parthenios II, a partisan of Loukaris, was patriarch of Constantinople (1644–6/1648–51). It seems, therefore, that efforts to disseminate Calvinism in the East did not entirely stop when Loukaris died, even though, with his death, the enterprise no longer had any real chance of sucess [sic]."

[3] Eleni Gara and Ovidiu Olar, "5. CONFESSION-BUILDING AND AUTHORITY: THE GREAT CHURCH AND THE OTTOMAN STATE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY", in Entangled Confessionalizations? (edited by Tijana Krstić and Derin Terzioğlu; Gorgias Press, 2022). "The conciliatory policy of Parthenios I, who in March 1643 corroborated the revised version of Peter Mohila’s Orthodox Confession that had been prepared by the anti-Protestant theologian Meletios Syrigos under the auspices of Prince Vasile Lupu of Moldavia, was a disappointement [sic] to Loukaris’ followers. But they had enough power to replace him in early September 1644 with Parthenios II, the preferred successor of Loukaris himself and a proponent of the plan to distribute copies of the Bible’s translation in the vernacular." (p. 185) It is also noted that "Parthenios I, Parthenios II, and Ioannikios II had ties with the Catholic world, while Parthenios II was also in contact with Calvinist circles in Leiden". (p. 185, footnote 149)

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