John IX Agapetos or Hieromnemon ( el, ), (? – April 1134) was
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople ( Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of ...
between 1111 and 1134. John's nickname is because before his election to the Patriarchal throne he held the office of ''
hieromnemon'' within the Patriarchate. He was the nephew of a prominent
Metropolitan of Chalcedon
The Metropolis of Chalcedon ( el, Μητρόπολη Χαλκηδόνος) is an ecclesiastical territory (diocese) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Christianity spread in Chalcedon during the 2nd century AD. The city was initially ...
.
He was a cleric from within the scholarly, philosophical branch of the Church hierarchy, and had risen through the ranks of the patriarchal clergy. He sought to reverse the secularising trend within the clergy by banning them from acting as advocates in civil courts. A lifelong scholar, he sought to reclaim the great, but dispersed, collection of books within the capital, as there was no central library. He made it a practice to acquire the book collections of deceased powerful men, and then had the patriarchal staff recopy them. His measures greatly expanded the range of titles held in the
Great Church
The term "Great Church" ( la, ecclesia magna) is used in the historiography of early Christianity to mean the period of about 180 to 313, between that of primitive Christianity and that of the legalization of the Christian religion in the Roman ...
to which teachers were attached.
Within religious matters, he pushed the trend of making the patriarchal clergy, rather than the monastic community, the authoritative voice of
Orthodoxy. He also convened a synod in Constantinople in 1117 which condemned the doctrine of
Eustratius of Nicaea
Eustratius of Nicaea ( el, Εὐστράτιος; c. 1050/1060 – c. 1120)Donald J. Zeyl, Daniel Devereux, Phillip Mitsis, 1997, ''Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy'', page 59. Greenwood Press was Metropolitan bishop of Nicaea in the early 12t ...
as
Nestorian
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...
, despite the defence offered by the Patriarch. During his patriarchate some efforts were made by Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
to bridge the
schism between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church but these failed, as
Pope Pascal II
Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
in late 1112 pressed the demand that the Patriarch of Constantinople recognise the
Pope's primacy over "all the churches of God throughout the world". This was something the patriarch could not do in face of opposition from the majority of secular clergy, the monastic world, and the laity.
[Hussey, pp. 170-171.]
Sources
Ecumenical Patriarchate*Hussey, J.M.. ''The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire''. Oxford: University Press, 1986.
*
Magdalino, Paul. ''The Empire of Manuel Komnenos''. Cambridge: University Press, 1993.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:John 09 Agaoetos
12th-century patriarchs of Constantinople
1134 deaths