Jeremias II, Patriarch (1572–1595)
JOHN A. MCGUCKIN
Jeremias was a patriarch of Constantinople from 1572 to 1595, at a time when the higher offices of the Orthodox Church were being regularly “auctioned off” by the sultans. This “Babylonian captivity” caused much instability in the governance affairs of the church. His period of tenure, being exceptionally long for that period, allowed him to emerge as a significant and learned leader. During his tenure, Jeremias was approached by Lutheran theologians from Tubingen university who wished to gain his favorable opinion to assist them in their struggle with Counter-Reformation theologians over issues of justification theology. The exchange is symbolic in a sense, as it was the first time that the Reformation came into the official purview of Eastern Orthodoxy. The written three Answers of Jeremias to the Lutherans became part of the collection known as Symbolical Books which were extensively used by the Orthodox from the early modern era to the 19th century as highly authoritative statements of worldwide Orthodox dogma. Jeremias had clearly studied the Augsburg Confession (1530) and decided that there were too many significant differences between Orthodoxy and Lutheranism in matters concerning holy tradition, sacraments, and justification theory for him to give any straightforward endorsement of the Reformation theology as such. Jeremias was also patriarch at the time (1582) when Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the change to the civil and ecclesiastical calendar (from Julian to Gregorian), a move that he protested against strongly. His visit to Russia (1588–9) to seek funds from the tsar for the assistance of the Orthodox people in the Ottoman Empire was the occasion when he formally agreed to the elevation of the metropolia of Moscow to the rank of patriarchate.
SEE ALSO: Constantinople, Patriarchate of; Cyril Lukaris, Patriarch of Constantinople (1572–1638); Iasi (Jassy), Synod of (1642); Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Mastrantonis, G. (1982) Augsburg and Constantinople. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press. Runciman, S. (1968) The Great Church in Captivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.