Isidore II of Constantinople (; died 31 March 1462) 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 ...

from 1456 to 1462.

Life

Little is known about the life and the patriarchate of Isidore except that he was an ethnic

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and member of Greek community in Constantinople. His surname derives from the Xanthopoulon

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

in Constantinople which he entered, becoming a

hieromonk A hieromonk,; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: ''Иеромонахъ''; ; ; ; ; Albanian language, Albanian: ''Hieromurg'' also called a priestmonk, is a person who is both monk and Priest#Roman Catholic and Orthodox, priest in the Eastern Christianity ...

and later rising to be its

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

. Isidore worked alongside

Gennadius II of Constantinople Gennadius II of Constantinople (Greek: Γεννάδιος; lay name: Γεώργιος Κουρτέσιος Σχολάριος, ''Georgios Kourtesios''; – ) was a Byzantine Greek philosopher and theologian, and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constant ...

during the

Council of Florence The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1445. It was convened in territories under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy became a venue of a Catholic ecumenical council aft ...

and was one of the signatories of a 1445 document against the East-West Union of Churches. In this period, Isidore was deemed the

spiritual father In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...

of the Greek community in Constantinople. Immediately prior to his election, he was serving as the

Metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

of Heraclea."Patriarcham factum renuntiavit Heracleensis praesul" - ''

Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae The (CSHB; ), also referred to as the Bonn Corpus, is a monumental fifty-volume series of primary sources for the study of Byzantine history (–1453), published in the German city of Bonn between 1828 and 1897. Each volume contains a critica ...

: Historia Politica et Patriarchica Constantinopoleos'', Ed. Niebuhr, B. G. (1849), pg. 95 After the resignation of Gennadius II of Constantinople as Patriarch in January 1456, Isidore was elected to succeed him. He obtained the confirmation from

Sultan Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

, and he was consecrated bishop in the

Pammakaristos Church The Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos (, "All-Blessed Mother of God"), is one of the most famous Byzantine church buildings in Istanbul, Turkey, and was the last pre- Ottoman building to house the Ecumenica ...

. His reign lasted up to his death on 31 March 1462, and he was succeeded by Patriarch

Joasaph I of Constantinople Joasaph I of Constantinople (; died after 1463) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in the 1460s. The exact dates of his reign are disputed by scholars at various times ranging from 1462 to 1465. Life Antony Kokkas was born probably to ...

Notes and references

Bibliography

* * * 1462 deaths 15th-century patriarchs of Constantinople Year of birth unknown {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub