Jeremias III
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	23 March 1716 – 19 Nov 1726 15 Sept 1732 – March 1733
Predecessor	Cosmas III Paisius II
Successor	Callinicus III Seraphim I
Personal details
Born	c. 1650/1660
Died	1735 Mount Athos
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia

Jeremias III (Greek: Ἰερεμίας; c. 1650/1660 – 1735) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople twice, in 1716–1726 and 1732–1733.

Life

Jeremias was born between 1650 and 1660^[1] in the island of Patmos, where he was ordained deacon. He served as a priest in Halki and then in the Diocese of Caesarea in Cappadocia. When his Metropolitan Cyprianus became Patriarch of Constantinople in 1707, he succeeded him as Metropolitan of Cesarea.^[2]

Jeremiah was elected Patriarch for the first time on 23 March 1716. His first patriarchate was long compared to the usual length of his office in that centuries, and Jeremias succeeded to cope with two attempts of deposition, probably sprung from his support to the Russian Tsardom: on 1 January 1718 the Metropolitan of Pruoza, Cyril, was elected Patriarch in his place, but Jeremias returned on the throne next 17 January, and in 1720 he was arrested and his rival, the previous Patriarch Cyril IV, reigned from 10 to 22 January, when Jeremias was re-installed.^[3] Jeremiah was finally deposed on 19 November 1726 after his clashes with the ruler of Moldova Grigore II Ghica concerning his refusal to grant divorce to Ghica's brother, and he was exiled to Mount Sinai.

In 1732, Jeremiah returned from exile and on 15 September 1732 he was appointed Patriarch for the second time,^[3] but after only a few months, in March 1733, he had to leave the throne because he suffered of hemiplegia, and he retired in Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, where he died in 1735.

Patriarchate

Asked by the Tsar Peter I of Russia about the validity of the Baptisms celebrated by Protestants, on 31 August 1718 Jeremias confirmed that, as his predecessor Cyprianus stated about the Catholic baptism, it is not necessary to re-baptize the Protestants who joined the Orthodox Church, the Chrismation being enough.^[2]

In 1720, he got permission from the Sultan to rebuild a new, larger and brighter Orthodox Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George, destroyed by fire some years before, at the headquarters of the Patriarchate at the Fener.^[4] He also reorganized the Monastery of the Transfiguration on the Princes' Islands, which was enriched with a collection of valuable pictures that had been donated by Peter I of Russia.

In December 1723, Jeremias approved the suppression, made in 1721 by Peter I of Russia, of Patriarchate of Moscow and its replacement with the Most Holy Synod.^[2]

After that the Melkites of Damascus elected the pro-Westerner Cyril VI Tanas as the new Patriarch of Antioch, Jeremias declared Cyril's election to be invalid, excommunicated him, and appointed the young monk Sylvester as new Patriarch. Jeremias consecrated Sylvester as bishop in Constantinople on October 8, 1724.^[5]^[6] These events split the Melkite Church between the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church of Antioch.

Jeremias imposed austerity at the expense of the Patriarchate, thus managing to reduce debt and improve its financial situation.

Notes

^ Γεννάδιος Ηλιουπόλεως, «Ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης Ιερεμίας ο Γ'», Ορθοδοξία 25 (1950), σελ. 148 (in Greek)
^ ^a ^b ^c R. Aubert (2003). "Jérémie III". Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 28. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. 1001-1002. ISBN 2-7063-0210-0.
^ ^a ^b Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press LLC. p. 41,47. ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6.
^ Μ.Γ.Βαρβούνη, Το Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο, εκδόσεις Χελάνδιον, Αθήνα 2006, ISBN 960-87087-5-3, σελ. 23 (in Greek)
^ Korolevsky, Cyril (1924). "Antioche". Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 3. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. p. 647.
^ on September 27 according to the Julian calendar

v t e Bishops of Byzantium and Patriarchs of Constantinople
Bishops of Byzantium (Roman period, 38–330 AD)	Andrew Stachys Onesimus Polycarpus I Plutarch Sedecion Diogenes Eleutherius Felix Polycarpus II Athenodorus Euzois Laurence Alypius Pertinax Olympianus Marcus I Philadelphus Cyriacus I Castinus Eugenius I Titus Dometius Rufinus Probus Metrophanes Alexander
Archbishops of Constantinople (Roman period, 330–451 AD)	Alexander Paul I Eusebius Macedonius I Eudoxius Evagrius Demophilus Maximus I Gregory I Nectarius John I Chrysostom Arsacius Atticus Sisinnius I Nestorius Maximianus Proclus Flavian Anatolius
Patriarchs of Constantinople (Byzantine period, 451–1453 AD)	Anatolius Gennadius I Acacius Fravitta Euphemius Macedonius II Timothy I John II Epiphanius Anthimus I Menas Eutychius John III John IV Cyriacus II Thomas I Sergius I Pyrrhus Paul II Peter Thomas II John V Constantine I Theodore I George I Paul III Callinicus I Cyrus John VI Germanus I Anastasius Constantine II Nicetas I Paul IV Tarasius Nicephorus I Theodotus I Antony I John VII Methodius I Ignatios Photios I Stephen I Antony II Nicholas I Εuthymius I Stephen II Tryphon Theophylact Polyeuctus Βasil I Αntony III Nicholas II Sisinnius II Sergius II Eustathius Alexius Michael I Constantine III John VIII Cosmas I Eustratius Nicholas III John IX Leo Michael II Cosmas II Nicholas IV Theodotus II Neophytus I Constantine IV Luke Michael III Chariton Theodosius I Basil II Nicetas II Leontius Dositheus George II John X Michael IV^† Theodore II^† Maximus II^† Μanuel I^† Germanus II^† Methodius II^† Manuel II^† Arsenius^† Nicephorus II^† Germanus III Joseph I John XI Gregory II Athanasius I John XII Nephon I John XIII Gerasimus I Isaias John XIV Isidore I Callistus I Philotheus Macarius Nilus Antony IV Callistus II Matthew I Euthymius II Joseph II Metrophanes II Gregory III Athanasius II
Patriarchs of Constantinople (Ottoman period, 1453–1923 AD)	Gennadius II Isidore II Joasaph I Sophronius I Mark II Symeon I Dionysius I Raphael I Maximus III Nephon II Maximus IV Joachim I Pachomius I Theoleptus I Jeremias I Joannicius I Dionysius II Joasaph II Metrophanes III Jeremias II Pachomius II Theoleptus II Matthew II Gabriel I Theophanes I Meletius I Neophytus II Raphael II Cyril I Timothy II Gregory IV Anthimus II Cyril II Athanasius III Neophytus III Parthenius I Parthenius II Joannicius II Cyril III Paisius I Parthenius III Gabriel II Parthenius IV Dionysius III Clement Methodius III Dionysius IV Gerasimus II Athanasius IV James Callinicus II Neophytus IV Gabriel III Neophytus V Cyprianus Athanasius V Cyril IV Cosmas III Jeremias III (Callinicus III) Paisius II Seraphim I Neophytus VI Cyril V Callinicus IV (III) Seraphim II Joannicius III Samuel Meletius II Theodosius II Sophronius II Gabriel IV Procopius Neophytus VII Gerasimus III Gregory V Callinicus V (IV) Jeremias IV Cyril VI Eugenius II Anthimus III Chrysanthus Agathangelus Constantius I Constantius II Gregory VI Anthimus IV Anthimus V Germanus IV Meletius III Anthimus VI Cyril VII Joachim II Sophronius III Joachim III Joachim IV Dionysius V Neophytus VIII Anthimus VII Constantine V Germanus V Meletius IV
Patriarchs of Constantinople (Turkish period, since 1923 AD)	Gregory VII Constantine VI Basil III Photius II Benjamin Maximus V Athenagoras Demetrius Bartholomew
^† in exile at Nicaea Christianity portal

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