Patriarch Nicholas III Kirdiniat Grammatik ( Greek Πατριάρχης Νικόλαος Γ΄ Κυρδινιάτης Γ Γραμματικός ; d. April / May 1111 , Constantinople ) - Patriarch of Constantinople in 1084—11.
| Patriarch Nicholas III | ||
|---|---|---|
| Πατριάρχης Νικόλαος Γ΄ | ||
| ||
| 1084 - April / May 1111 | ||
| Predecessor | Eustratius Garida | |
| Successor | John IX Agapit | |
| Birth | ||
| Death | April / May 1111 Constantinople | |
Biography
Having been educated in Constantinople , Nicholas spent most of his youth in Antioch of Pisidia , where, as is believed, he took monastic tonsure [1] .
In 1068 he left this city, which at that moment was threatened by raids by the Seljuk Turks . Having moved to Constantinople, he founded a monastery dedicated to John the Baptist [1] .
In 1084, Emperor Aleksei I Komnin elected him Patriarch of Constantinople to replace Garida, who was ousted by Eustratius [1] .
Patriarch Nikolai immediately faced a number of delicate and complex issues. He took the side of the emperor in the case of Leo of Chalcedon , who protested against the decision to confiscate church values in order to alleviate the financial difficulties caused by the Byzantine-Norman war , which was decided at the Council of Constantinople in 1094 chaired by the Patriarch [1] . He attached great importance to the fight against heresies, for example, he condemned Vasily Bogomil as a heretical teaching. He was very cautious in the ongoing conflict between the provincial metropolitans and the Patriarchate. Despite some hostility of the opposition from the clergy of Hagia Sophia , he eventually supported Nikita Ankirsky, who opposed the emperor’s right to exalt the metropolitans, and worked hard, trying to limit the influence of hartophilaxes [1] .
He wrote a monastic charter for Athos monasteries demanding that the Vlachs leave Athos .
The political situation in the Byzantine Empire, especially in Anatolia after the disaster at the Battle of Manzikert forced Patriarch Nicholas to seek an alliance with Pope Urban II [1] [2] . He wrote to the pope an answer in which he generously allowed the Latin churches not only to reopen in the Byzantine capital, but also to serve in their own way . He promised to enter the name of the pope in the diptychs of his church, if he respects the old formal rule and sends his own confession of faith to Constantinople, as has been the case since the days of the ancient Church [3] . Despite this, Patriarch Nicholas was firm in the idleness of the Orthodox faith in matters of filioque , unleavened bread and papal primacy .
He avoided severe penalties for the sinning flock, considering it senseless to fight the universal spiritual impoverishment of his time [4] .
He died in April / May 1111 in Constantinople [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, p. 1467, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
- ↑ Nicholas III | biography - patriarch of Constantinople | Encyclopedia britannica
- ↑ Velichko A.M. History of the Byzantine emperors .. - M. , 2010. - T. 4. - 671 p. - ISBN 978-5-91399-019-8 .
- ↑ Byzantine dictionary: in 2 volumes / [comp. Total Ed. K. A. Filatova]. SPb .: Amphora. TID Amphora: RHGA: Publishing House of Oleg Abyshko, 2011, v. 2, p. 121-122.