John IX of Constantinople (''Agapetos'' or ''Hieromnemon'' ( or Ἱερομνήμων; died April 1134) 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 ...

between 24 May 1111 and late April 1134. John IX's nickname is because before his election to the Patriarchal throne, he held the office of '' hieromnemon'' within the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

. He was the nephew of a prominent

Metropolis of Chalcedon The Metropolis of Chalcedon () is an ecclesiastical territory (diocese) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Christianity spread in Chalcedon during the 2nd century AD. The city was initially the see of a bishopric before being promot ...

. 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" () 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 Empire, correspond ...

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 Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

. He also convened a council in Constantinople in 1117 which condemned the doctrine of

Eustratius of Nicaea Eustratius of Nicaea (; 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 See of Nicaea, Nicaea in the early 12th century. ...

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 (, – 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 ...

to bridge the

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

between the Orthodox and the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

but these failed, as

Pope Paschal II Pope Paschal II (; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Raniero Raineri di Bleda, 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 creat ...

in late 1112 pressed the demand that the Patriarch of Constantinople recognise the

Papal primacy Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the bishop of Rome, is an ecclesiological doctrine in the Catholic Church concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their episcopal sees. While the doctri ...

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.

Notes and references

Sources

Ecumenical Patriarchate
* Joan M. Hussey, ''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 ...

, 1986. * {{DEFAULTSORT:John 09 Agaoetos 12th-century patriarchs of Constantinople 1134 deaths Officials of Alexios I Komnenos