Mark II of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	Autumn 1465 – Autumn 1466
Predecessor	Gennadius Scholarius^[1]
Successor	Symeon I^[1]
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	after 1467

Mark II Xylokaravis (Greek: Μᾶρκος Ξυλοκαράβης; Bulgarian: Марк Ксилокарав; died after 1467) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1465 to 1466.^[1] In 1467 he became Archbishop of Ohrid, a post he held until his death.

Life

Concerning the early life of Mark our main source is a document of the Senate of Venice dated 26 June 1466, which orders the Venetian government in Crete to prevent Mark and his father in case they tried to seek refuge on the island. From this document scholars, such as Laurent,^[2] deduce that in June 1466 Mark was actually Patriarch, that he and his family had previously been in Crete and that they opposed the East-West Union of Churches established in the Council of Florence and supported by the Republic of Venice.

Mark became Metropolitan of Adrianople in 1464,^[3] and in autumn 1465 (or early 1466) he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople with the support of lay archons such as the Great Chartophylax George Galesiotes and the Grand Ecclesiarch (i.e. Head Sacristan) Manuel (the future Patriarch Maximus III), as well as the secretary of the Sultan Demetrios Kyritzes.^[2] On the other hand, it is known that some bishops refused to commemorate him during the Divine Liturgy, as a sign that they did not recognize him as patriarch, probably accusing him of simony.

Mark clashed mainly with the faction composed of the nobles of the former Empire of Trebizond who were forced to move to Istanbul (Constantinople) after Trebizond's fall to the Ottomans in 1461. This faction supported its own candidate for the patriarchal throne, the future Patriarch Symeon of Trebizond.^[4] Symeon was successful in obtaining the throne, giving 2000 pieces of gold as a present to the Ottoman government, thus beginning a simoniac practice that marked the history of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for the following centuries.^[4] According to Laurent however,^[2] who places the patriarchate of Mark after the one of Symeon, it was Mark that bought the patriarchal office paying 2000 pieces of gold.

Whichever the cause, Mark was deposed in humiliation from the throne,^[5] facing lapidation in autumn 1466 or early 1467. However he was soon rehabilitated and appointed by Sultan Mehmed II as Archbishop of Ohrid.^[3] The Archbishopric of Ohrid was at the time the semi-autonomous main religious center of the Ottoman Bulgaria. The date of death of Mark is not known.

Disputed chronology

There is no consensus among scholars concerning the chronology of Mark II's reign.

Many scholars, such as Kiminas (2009),^[6] Runciman (1985),^[4] Grumel (1958)^[7] and Bishop Germanos of Sardeis (1933–8)^[8], as well as the official website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,^[5] follow the chronicles of Dorotheos of Monemvasia and place the reign of Mark II before Symeon I, even if with some slightly different suggestions about the precise dates of the reign, however generally in the range from 1465 to 1467.

Laurent (1968),^[2] followed by Podskalsky (1988),^[9] believes that the clashes with Symeon happened when Mark was still Metropolitan of Adrianople, and place Symeon's reign before Mark's. For a comparison of the main proposals, see the List of Patriarchs of Constantinople. Laurent alone suggests a second short patriarchate of Mark after the first reign of Dionysius I at end 1471.

Notes

Sources

Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 9781434458766.
Laurent, Vitalien (1968). "Les premiers patriarches de Constantinople sous la domination turque (1454-1476): Succession et chronologie d'après un catalogue inédit". Revue des études byzantines. 26: 229–263. doi:10.3406/rebyz.1968.1407.
Runciman, Steven (1985) [1968]. The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521313100.

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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