Eustratius Garidas (; died after 1084) was

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 ...

(as Eustratius II) between 8 May 1081 and July 1084. A monk, he was elevated to the patriarchal throne through the influence of the mother of the emperor

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

Anna Dalassene Anna Dalassene (; ca. 1025/30 – 1 November 1100/02) was an important Byzantine noblewoman who played a significant role in the rise to power of the Komnenoi in the eleventh century. She exercised great influence over her son, the Emperor Alexi ...

, to whom he had become an intimate advisor. He was an

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

Anna Comnena Anna Komnene (; 1 December 1083 – 1153), commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine Greek historian. She is the author of the '' Alexiad'', an account of the reign of her father, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Her work constit ...

and other writers describe him as uneducated and of weak character. Due to his illiteracy and apparent gullibility he was involved in the case of John Italus, whom his predecessor, Patriarch

Cosmas I of Constantinople Cosmas I of Constantinople (; died 1082) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 2 August 1075 to 8 May 1081. Biography Originally from Antioch, Cosmas was educated and resided in Jerusalem for a large part of his life, earning his g ...

had condemned. Alexios I had to take over the case against Italus as Eustratius, in his words, "rather dwelt at leisure and preferred peace and quiest to noisy throngs and turned to God alone". During the war against the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

, at the beginning of the reign of Alexios I in 1081–1082, Eustratius did not resist the expropriation of artworks and consecrated treasures of the capital's churches, destined to be melted for currency to pay the army of Alexios I. This lack of resistance was not forgiven by Leo of Chalcedon who sought to expel him from his throne, at one point also accusing him, without evidence, of diverting part of the appropriate treasure for his own use.Hussey, p. 148. Finally, accused of heresy, Eustratius was cleared by a commission of inquiry established by Alexios I in 1084, but he chose to abdicate.

Notes and references

Bibliography

Ecumenical Patriarchate
* Buckler, Georgina, ''Anna Komnena - A Study'',

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 ...

, 1929. *

; ''The Alexiad'', New York,

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, 2003. * Joan M. Hussey, ''The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire'',

, 1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Garidas, Eustratius 11th-century patriarchs of Constantinople Byzantine eunuchs 11th-century slaves Officials of Alexios I Komnenos