View source for Gregory II of Constantinople

{{Short description|Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1283 to 1289}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| name          = Gregory II of Constantinople
| image         =
| caption       =
| church        = [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Church of Constantinople]]
| archbishop_of = [[List of Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]]
| term          = 11 April 1283 – June 1289
| predecessor   = [[Joseph I of Constantinople]]
| successor     = [[Athanasius I of Constantinople]]
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{circa}} 1241
| birth_place   = [[Lapithos]], [[Kingdom of Cyprus|Cyprus]]
| death_date    = {{circa}} 1290 (aged {{circa}} 49)
| death_place   =
| buried        =
| religion      = [[Eastern Orthodoxy]]
}}

'''Gregory II of Constantinople''' ({{langx|el|Γρηγόριος ὁ Κύπριος|translit=Grēgorios ho Kyprios|translit-std=ALA-LC}}; {{circa}} 1241 – {{circa}} 1290) was [[list of Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]] between 1283 and 1289.

== Life ==
Gregory was born in [[Lapithos]], [[Kingdom of Cyprus|Cyprus]]. His name was originally George. His parents were middle class but of noble origin. He moved to [[Nicosia]] as a teenager seeking further education. Not satisfied by the level of education provided by local teachers in [[Greek language|Greek]], he became a student at a [[Latin]] school (available then as Cyprus was a [[Crusader states]] Kingdom). He had difficulty learning Latin and thus got only a superficial knowledge of grammar and [[Aristotle]]'s [[Logic]].

Still determined to get a decent education, he got on a ship to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], where he arrived after three days. From there he travelled to [[Anaea (Asia)|Anaea]] in [[Anatolia]] and finally made it to [[Mount Galesios]] near [[Ephesus]]. He had heard a lot about the scholar [[Nikephoros Blemmydes]] but was disappointed by him and moved to [[Nicaea]] where he studied with [[George Akropolites]]. With the recapture of [[Constantinople]] by Nicaean forces in 1261, he moved there. Later he became a teacher, his students including [[Nikephoros Choumnos]].

He became patriarch in 1283. The Orthodox and the Catholic churches had proclaimed their union in 1274 in the [[Second Council of Lyon]], motivated more by the emperor's politics than by theological arguments. Gregory II, contrary to his predecessor refused to accept the [[Filioque clause]] added to the [[Nicene Creed]] by the Roman Catholics. Gregory spoke of an eternal manifestation of the Spirit by the Son. Gregory II's formula has been considered an Orthodox "answer" to the Filioque, though it does not have the status of official Orthodox doctrine. Gregory II's perception of [[Trinity]] was endorsed by the [[Council of Constantinople (1285)|Council of Constantinople]] in 1285.

== Influence ==
Gregory II's doctrine of an eternal manifestation of the Spirit is often interpreted by Orthodox theologians as being a significant influence on [[Gregory Palamas]] and the formulation of his [[Essence-energy distinction|Essence-Energy doctrine]]. Particularly [[Dumitru Stăniloae]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Staniloae |first=Dumitru |title=Theology and the Church |publisher=[[Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary]] |date=1980 |isbn=978-0913836699 |pages=11–44}}</ref> [[John Meyendorff]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meyendorff |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/studyofgregorypa0000meye/mode/2up?q=cyprus |title=A study of Gregory Palamas |date=1964 |publisher=[[Society of the Faith]]}}</ref> and [[Vladimir Lossky]], who states:
<blockquote>It is interesting to note that the distinction between the hypostatic existence of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father alone, and his eternal shining forth – εἰς αἷδιον ἔκφανσιν – through the Son, has been formulated during the discussions which took place in Constantinople at the end of the 13th century, after the Council of Lyon. We can grasp here the doctrinal continuity: the defence of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father alone requires clarification on the διὰ υἱοῦ, and that latter opens the way to the distinction between essence and energies. It is not a "dogmatic development" but one and same tradition defended on different points by the Orthodox theologians, from Saint Photius to Gregory II and Saint Gregory Palamas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lossky |first=Vladimir |title=La procession du Saint-Esprit dans la doctrine trinitaire orthodoxe |date=2006 |pages=90–91}}</ref></blockquote>

== Works ==
Gregory wrote collections of proverbs, his own autobiography, and a series of rhetorical exercises, as well as hagiographical and doctrinal works. He also left a collection of letters:
* ''Paroemiae'' (Proverbs): {{Cite book |date=1839 |title=Corpus paroemiographorum Graecorum |pages=349–378 |volume=I |editor-last=Schneidewin |editor-first=F. G. |editor-last2=von Leutsch |editor-first2=E. L.}} {{Cite book |date=1851 |title=Corpus paroemiographorum Graecorum |pages=53–92, 93–130 and 131–134 |volume=II |editor-last=von Leutsch |editor-first=E. L.}}
* ''Epistola ad Joannem II sebastocratorem Thessaliae'' (Epistle to John II, ''[[sebastokrator]]'' of [[Thessaly]]): {{Cite journal |last=Rapp |first=C. |date=1988 |title=Ein bisher unbekannter Brief des Patriarchen Gregor von Zypern an Johannes II, Sebastokrator von Thessalien |journal=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=12–20 |doi=10.1515/bz-1988-0204 |s2cid=191479342}}
* ''Tomus fidei'' (Explanatory tome of the Orthodox faith), {{Cite book |first=Jacques Paul |last=Migne |date=1863 |title=Patrologiae cursus completes - Series Graeca |pages=233–246 |volume=CXLIV |editor-last=Migne |editor-first=Jacques Paul Migne}}
* ''Progymnasmata'' (Rhetorical exercises), {{Cite journal |last=Kotzabassi |first=S. |date=1993 |title=Die Progymnasmata des Gregor von Zypern |journal=Ἑλληνικά |volume=43 |pages=51–63}}
* ''De vita sua'' (On his own life; autobiography), {{Cite book |last=Lameere |first=W. |date=1937 |title=La tradition manuscrite de la correspondance de Grégoire II, Patriarche de Constantinople (1283–1289) |pages=177–191}}
* ''Contra Synesium, sive comae encomium'' (Against [[Synesius]]; or, hair praise), {{Cite book |last=Pérez Martín |first=I. |date=1996 |title=El Patriarca Gregorio de Chipre (ca. 1240–1290) y la transmisión de los textos clásicos en Bizancio |pages=361–396 |chapter=El Elogio de la cabellera de Gregorio de Chipre}}
* ''Vita sancti Lazari'' (Life of St. Lazarus), {{Cite book |last=Delehaye |first=H. |date=1910 |title=Acta Sanctorum Novembris |pages=588–606 |volume=III}}
* ''Oratio antirrhetica contra Joannem Beccum'' (Discourse against [[John XI of Constantinople]]), {{Cite book |last=Kislas |first=Th. |date=2012 |title=La vie et l'oeuvre de Grégoire II (1241–1290) patriarche de Constantinople |pages=166–256 |chapter=Discours antirrhétique contre les opinions blasphématoires de Beccus}}
* ''Epistulae ad Theodoram Rhaulenam'' (Letters to Theodora Rhaulena), {{Cite journal |last=Kotzabassi |first=S. |date=2011 |title=Scholarly friendship in the thirteenth century - Patriarch Gregorios II and Theodora Raoulaina |url=https://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/parekbolai/article/view/321 |journal=Παρεκβολαί |volume=1 |pages=145–167}}
* ''Encomium maris, sive de universa aquae natura'' (Sea praise, or on the Nature of Water), {{Cite book |first=Jacques Paul |last=Migne |date=1863 |title=Patrologiae cursus completus - Series Graeca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yfQUAAAAQAAJ |pages=433–443 |volume=CXLIV}}

== Notes and references ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |last=Ostrogorsky |first=George |date=1956 |title=History of the Byzantine State |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Basil Blackwell]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ}}
* {{Cite book |last=Papadakis |first=Aristeides |title=Crisis in Byzantium - The Filioque Controversy in the Patriarchate of Gregory II (1283–1289) |date=1997 |location=Crestwood, Yonkers |publisher=[[Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary]] |isbn=9780881411768 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUBllg0JpgUC}}

== External links ==
* [https://myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/Meyendorff_12.html Myriobiblos]
* Tomos of the Blachernae Council [https://web.archive.org/web/20121001231527/http://www.reocities.com/trvalentine/orthodox/tomos1285.html ReoCities.com] [https://www.oocities.org/trvalentine/orthodox/tomos1285.html OoCities.org] [https://geocities.restorativland.org/Heartland/5654/orthodox/tomos1285.html Geocities.restorativland.org]

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{{succession box
| before = [[Joseph I of Constantinople|Joseph I]] (2)
| title  = [[List of Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]]
| years  = 1283 – 1289
| after  = [[Athanasius I of Constantinople|Athanasius I]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Patriarchs of Constantinople}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory 02 Of Constantinople, Patriarch}}
[[Category:1240s births]]
[[Category:13th-century deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century patriarchs of Constantinople]]
[[Category:13th-century Byzantine writers]]
[[Category:Autobiographers]]
[[Category:Christian writers]]
[[Category:Cypriot biographers]]
[[Category:Cypriot schoolteachers]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Cyprus]]