Gennadios Scholarios, First Patriarch of Constantinople After Its Fall

Gennadios was the first Patriarch of Constantinople after its fall. He was a prominent figure of the 15th century, who sealed the course and evolution of Hellenism and the Eastern Orthodox Church in various ways.

The scion of a merchant family from Thessaly, he was born, educated and worked in Constantinople in an era deeply marked by intense ecclesiastical and political change. The time of his birth is placed between the years 1398 and 1400. His secular name was George. The name Scholarios is considered a family name and probably derives from the position of a member of his family in the army or in the palace.

Is Patriarch Gennadios II Scholarios a Saint of the Church?

Fresco of Gennadios Scholarios at the Monastery of the Forerunner in Serres, Greece

By John Sanidopoulos

I have been asked about the sainthood of Patriarch Gennadios II Scholarios more than any other ecclesiastical figure. It seems obvious that the first Patriarch after the fall of Constantinople, who held an Orthodox position in matters of dogma, was a successor of St. Mark of Ephesus, a follower of the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas, and who reposed in a monastery in Serres would merit sainthood. However, despite all the reverence he gets for his contributions to the Church, the fact of the matter is, Patriarch Gennadios II Scholarios was never canonized.

But things aren't so simple. It seems that somehow in the late 20th century, maybe even the early 21st century, the Church of Greece acknowledged his sainthood, whether officially or unofficially I do not know, and assigned his feast to be celebrated with three other Patriarchs of Constantinople on August 25th. On top of this, I can trace at least two shrines on the Greek mainland, both monasteries of recent origin, dedicated to his name: the Monastery of Saint Gennadios Scholarios located in Livadi of Thessaloniki which has one abbot and one monk (see here and here); and the Metochion of Saint Gennadios Scholarios which is a dependency of Saint Katherine's Monastery of Mount Sinai founded in 2016 for nuns and is located in Upper Kotylio, a village in Gortyna, which is in southwest Arcadia, Greece (see here and here). These shrines even have new icons of Saint Gennadios, which did not exist before this time, though there is an old fresco depicting him at the Monastery of the Forerunner in Serres where he is buried, though he is without a halo (pictured above).

"The Confession of Faith" of Gennadios Scholarios (1453 A.D.)

Introduction

Soon after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, at the request of the Mohammedan conqueror Sultan Mehmed II, Gennadios prepared a Confession of the Christian faith. The Sultan received it, invested Gennadios with the patriarchate of Constantinople by the delivery of the crozier or pastoral staff, and authorized him to assure the Roman Christians of freedom in the exercise of their religion.