Callistus II of Constantinople (''Xanthopoulos'' or ''Xanthopulus'', ; died after 1397) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Hesychast Hesychasm () is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Christian traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in ...

monk and spiritual writer who reigned as

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the List of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople, archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox ...

in 1397. He was Patriarch through the reign of the

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Manuel II Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the name Matthaios (). Manuel was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, which ...

, and through his short Patriarchal reign, Constantinople was under siege by the Ottoman Sultan

Bayezid I Bayezid I (; ), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt (; ; – 8 March 1403), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He adopted the title of ''Sultan-i Rûm'', ''Rûm'' being the Arabic name for the Eastern Roman Empire. In 139 ...

. Within the Orthodox Church, his memory is celebrated on

22 November Events Pre-1600 * 498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore. * 845 – The first duke of Brittany, Nominoe, defeats the Franki ...

.Great Synaxaristes:
Ὁ Ὅσιος Κάλλιστος ὁ Β’ Πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως
', 22 Νοεμβρίου, ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ. His surname indicates that he was from the monastery of Xanthopoulos. The majority of Patriarchs in the 14th century were monks in the Hesychast tradition.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Joan M. Hussey (1986), The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, p. 289. * * Hunter H. D.,
Callistus II Xanthopulus, Patriarch of Constantinople
, . * Joan M. Hussey, ''The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire'',

, 1986. 14th-century births 1397 deaths 14th-century patriarchs of Constantinople Byzantine saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Philokalia {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub