Joasaph II of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	July or August 1556 – 15 January 1565
Predecessor	Dionysius II
Successor	Metrophanes III
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	after 1565 Adrianopolis
Previous post(s)	Metropolitan of Adrianopolis

Joasaph II, known as "the Magnificent" (Greek: Ἰωάσαφ ὁ Μεγαλοπρεπής; died after 1565), was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1556 to 1565.

Life

Joasaph was born in Thrace. He studied in Ioannina and then in Nafplio, learning Arabic, Persian and Turkish. In 1535 he was consecrated bishop of Adrianople by Patriarch Jeremias I.^[1]

After the death of the Patriarch Dionysius II, he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in July or August 1556.^[2]^[3] He was successful in reducing the appointment fee (peshtesh) due to the Ottoman Sultan to one thousand Écus.

Joasaph promoted learning among the clergy, reformed the administration of the Church assets, and improved the finances reducing by half the debts of the Patriarchate. He also began a major enlargement of the Patriarchal palace. Due to these achievements, he was given the sobriquet the Magnificent (Greek: ὁ Μεγαλοπρεπής).^[4] In 1556 he established in Constantinople a Patriarchal School, the forerunner of the Great School of the Nation.

He showed interest in the Protestant Reformation, in particular Lutheranism, and in 1558 he sent to Wittenberg the Serbian deacon Demetrios Mysos (Dimitrije Ljubavić) to collect information. In 1559 the Lutheran theologian Melanchthon sent him a letter along with a Greek translation of the Augsburg Confession, but it didn't produce any effect.^[5] Some scholars suggest that Melanchthon's letter never reached Constantinople.^[6]

Joasaph's expensive works, his haughty manner towards the clergy and his independent management of the finances created many opponents among the Greek community.^[4] The ultimate cause of his deposition was related to the request, in 1557, by Ivan the Terrible of Russia to have his title of Tsar formally confirmed. In place of summoning a synod to deliberate the issue, Joasaph sent to Russia a counterfeit synodical document in order to collect the rich reward for himself. His deceit was discovered, and he was deposed by a synod of sixty bishops on 15 January 1565 and exiled to Mount Athos.^[4]

Some time later he was allowed by the Holy Synod to be reinstated in the Diocese of Adrianople, where he remained until his death.

Notes

^ "Ἰωάσαφ Β´". Ecumenical Patriarchate. Retrieved 2 June 2011.(in Greek)
^ according to other scholars it was in August 1555
^ Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press LLC. p. 38,46. ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c R. Aubert (2000). "Joasaph II". Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Vol. 27. Paris: Letouzey et Ané. 1389-90. ISBN 2-7063-0210-0.
^ Angold, Michael (2006). The Cambridge history of Christianity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 188–9. ISBN 978-0-521-81113-2.
^ Eve Tibbs (2000). "16th Century Lutheran & Orthodox Exchange". Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2011.

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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