Parthenius IV of Constantinople

Parthenius IV (Greek: Παρθένιος; died after 1685) was 5-time Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (1657–1659, 1665–1667, 1671, 1675–1676, 1684–1685)

Parthenius IV of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	1 May 1657 – June 1662 21 October 1665 – 9 September 1667 March 1671 – 7 September 1671 1 January 1675 – 19 July 1676 10 March 1684 – 20 March 1685
Predecessor	Gabriel II of Constantinople, Dionysius III of Constantinople, Methodius III of Constantinople, Gerasimus II of Constantinople Dionysius IV of Constantinople
Successor	Clement of Constantinople, Dionysius IV of Constantinople, James of Constantinople
Personal details
Born	unknown probably Adrianople
Died	after 1685 (probably was late in the 17th century) probably Adrianople

Life

Little is known of his early life. He was born in the first half of the seventeenth century, probably in Adrianople. He is also referred to as Mogilalos or Choumchoumis. He became known when he was elected Metropolitan of Prousa (Bursa in modern Turkey) in January 1655. While metropolitan of Prousa he took care of the restoration and decoration of the Church of St. George, which became the cathedral of the city of Prousa.

He became Patriarch of Constantinople for the first time on May 1, 1657 and remained patriarch until June 1662 when he was deposed and returned to his old see. However, he remained there for only a short time before leaving the Diocese of Prousa and settling at Wallachia. From Wallachia he returned to Constantinople to become patriarch again on October 21, 1665. In September 1667, he was deposed from the patriarchal throne a second time and exiled to Tenedos. A few months later he was recalled and was appointed the Metropolitan of Proilabos, before he settled at Adrianople and becoming the Metropolitan of Tirnovo “eis zoarkeian” (i.e. without pastoral obligations).

In March 1671, Parthenius became patriarch of Constantinople for a third time, after paying 20,000 florins. He was patriarch for about a half year, until October 1671, when he was exiled to Cyprus. Later he was allowed to leave exile, and he returned to Adrianople. Parthenius became patriarch for the fourth time on January 1, 1675 with a term lasting until October 24, 1676. He served a fifth term as patriarch of Constantinople from 1684 to 1685, before he was retired as the “eis zoarkeian” metropolitan of Anchialos.

The date that Parthenius died is unknown, but it probably was late in the seventeenth century, in Adrianople.

Sources

This article incorporates text from Parthenius IV of Constantinople at OrthodoxWiki which is licensed under the CC-BY-SA and GFDL.