December 1075-1081 A.D. Kosmas I—Constantinople’s 105th;
Born in Antioch & Educated in Jerusalem
Cosmas I of
Constantinople
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Cosmas
I of Jerusalem (Greek: Κοσμάς Α΄ Ιεροσολυμίτης) was Patriarch of
Constantinople from 2 August 1075 to 8 May 1081. Originally from Antioch, he was educated and resided in Jerusalem for a large part of his life, earning his
geographic epithet. He may have been appointed to the patriarchate out of a
monastery near or in Jerusalem.[1]
He crowned the Byzantine
Emperor Nikephoros
III Botaneiates. He disapproved of Nikephoros' marriage to the ex-wife of the previous
Emperor Michael VII but took no further action than degrading the
priest who performed the service.[2] Later he used his influence to try to convince him
to resign as his popularity declined and the empire entered a period of
instability.
Cosmas likewise crowned Alexios I
Komnenos in 1081. When Alexios attempted to repudiate his wife Irene Doukaina to marry the ex-empress Maria of Alania, Cosmas successfully blocked the move as she had
already been twice married. Cosmas resigned or was forced out soon after, as
Alexios' mother, Anna Dalassene, disliked Irene's link to the Doukas family and resented this interference.[3] She further pressed for the resignation as she
wished to place her favourite on the patriarchal throne, which she achieved
with the appointment of the ill-educated Eustratius
Garidas.[4] According to Anna Komnene, Cosmas resigned voluntarily on the condition that
he be allowed to crown Irene empress first, which he did and then left.[5]
The most important synodal
action taken by Cosmas was the condemnation, in 1076-1077, of certain heretical
views taken by John Italos, a scholar connected to the Doukas family.[6] In a more general sense, Cosmas' retirement is said
to mark a period where, between Alexios I and the emperor Manuel I Komnenos, the Church was moved to a position of dependence
on, identification with, and subservience to the state, reversing the greater
self-determination the Church had exercised through the eleventh century.[7] The historian John
Skylitzes (continuatus) speaks poorly of Cosmas, suggesting that the emperor
selected him for his lack of greatness, writing that after the death of the
previous patriarch, Michael VII "chose another, not from those of the
senate, nor from those of the Great Church, nor any other of the Byzantines famed for word
and deed, but a certain monk Cosmas sprung from the Holy City, and honoured by
the Emperor... although he was without wisdom or taste...."[8]
He was proclaimed a saint by
the Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 2 January (new calendar).
Sources
References
No comments:
Post a Comment