Ghenadie al II-lea Scholarios - primul patriarh al creștinilor din imperiul cucerit în 1453
Gennadius II Scholarios – the first patriarch of Christians in the empire conquered in 1453

Summary/Abstract: In this study, I would like to emphasize the significance of the enthronement of Gennadius Scholarius as the Patriarch of Constantinople, the first patriarch of the Christians from the Byzantine Empire that was conquered on May 29, 1453, by the Turks led by Sultan Mehmed II. At this time, Constantinople did not have a patriarch. The last patriarch, Gregory Mammas, had been in Italy since 1451. The hero of the Byzantines after the fall of the capital would not be a soldier, nor an emperor, but a monastic. The Orthodox Church, which for many years had shown a capacity of survival greater than that of the Byzantine State, was now called to fill in the vacuum created by the removal of secular institutions from the Christian society. The Sultan wanted to reunite the Christians from the Empire in communities called millet, and to offer them a Christian leader. The one who was the best choice for accomplishing this purpose would be the learned George Scholarius, who would eventually take the monastic name of Gennadius. He was found to be serving in the house of a Turk from Adrianople, from where he was brought to the Sultan’s court. At first, Scholarius was hesitant, but then he ultimately accepted this responsibility. Before accepting to be Patriarch, Scholarius and Sultan Mehmed worked on the constitution that would govern the Christian Church and the entire Orthodox millet. According to the agreement between the two, the patriarch, in collaboration with the Holy Synod, would achieve total control of the ecclesiastical organization. Patriarch Gennadius II Scholarius would shepherd his community through a tempestuous time, serving as the Patriarch of Constantinople for three different terms. Forced to occupy the third time the Constantinopolitan throne, he took the vow of faith on August 15, 1463, but after one year, he retired to the Prodromou Monastery, where he would live until his death, in 1472.

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