Matthew II Izmirlian ( hy, Մատթէոս Բ. Կոնստանդնուպոլսեցի (Իզմիրլեան), Matthew II of Constantinople; 22 February 1845 – 11 December 1910) was the
Catholicos of All Armenians of the
Armenian Apostolic Church at the
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin ( hy, Մայր Աթոռ Սուրբ Էջմիածին, translit=Mayr At’oř Surb Ēĵmiatsin), known in Armenian as simply the Mother See (Մայր Աթոռ, ''Mayr At’oř''), is the governing body of the Armen ...
in 1908–1910. He succeeded
Mkrtich I Khrimian (better known as Khrimian Hayrik), who reigned as Catholicos from 1892 to 1907.
Biography

Matthew I was born in 1845 in Istanbul as Simeon Martirosi Izmirlian (Սիմէոն Մարտիրոսի Իզմիրլեան). He was ordained as priest in 1869 and served as the personal secretary to Patriarch
Mkrtich Khrimian
Mkrtich Khrimian or ''Mıgırdıç Kırımyan'' ( classical hy, Մկրտիչ Խրիմեան, reformed: Մկրտիչ Խրիմյան; 4 April 182029 October 1907) was an Armenian Apostolic Church leader, educator, and publisher who served as Cat ...
when the latter was still
Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople in the early 1870s. He was elected in 1872 as secretary of the Armenian religious council of Constantinople,
[ Sargsyan, G. «Մատթեոս Բ. Կոնստանդնուպոլսեցի». Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1981, vol. vii, p. 288.] and raised to level of "dzayrakouyn vardapet" or supreme archimandrite in 1873 and bishop in 1876.
After a brief period as Bishop of Egypt for the Armenian Apostolic Church from 1886 to 1890, he was elected as
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 th ...
in 1894. His insistence on democratic reforms and rights of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as well as his protest against the
Hamidian massacres
The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide an ...
against the Ottoman Armenians in 1894–1896 earned him the title "Iron Patriarch."

Because of his activism, in 1896 the Ottoman authorities dethroned him as Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople and exiled him to
Jerusalem.
He returned briefly from exile in 1908 after the
Committee of Union and Progress declared
In the sport of cricket, a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture occurs when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings without batting. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 15 of the ''Laws of ...
the restoration of the constitution in 1908 and was reelected as Patriarch of Constantinople for a few months. After the death of Catholicos Khrimian, Izmirlian was elected as Catholicos of All Armenians as Matthew II and left for Etchmiadzin for his consecration. He held the post of Catholicos of All Armenians for three years before he died. During his tenure, he became the first Catholicos to make a pilgrimage to
Ani, the ruined capital of medieval Armenia.
[ Balakian, Grigoris. ''Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918''. Trans. ]Peter Balakian
Peter Balakian, born June 13, 1951, is an American poet, prose writer, and scholar. He is the author of many books including the 2016 Pulitzer prize winning book of poems ''Ozone Journal'', the memoir ''Black Dog of Fate'', winner of the PEN/Alb ...
and Aris Sevag. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 71-72. .
Scholarly legacy
He was also a prolific author and published extensively, including a voluminous book in 1881 on the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the
Catholicosates of Sis and
Aghtamar
Akdamar Island ( tr, Akdamar Adası, ku, Girava Axtamarê), also known as Aghtamar ( hy, Աղթամար, translit=Aġt’amar) or Akhtamar ( hy, Ախթամար, translit=Axt’amar), is the second largest of the four islands in Lake Van, in east ...
. In 1911, a collection of his letters (Նամականի) was published in Cairo.
References
{{Authority control
Catholicoi of Armenia
Armenian Patriarchs of Constantinople
1845 births
Armenians from the Ottoman Empire
1910 deaths
20th-century Oriental Orthodox bishops