April 1334-1347 A.D. John XIV Kalekas—Constantinople’s 145th; Active Partcipant in Byzantine Civil War, 1341-1347; Married with Son & Daughter
April
1334-1347 A.D. John XIV
Kalekas—Constantinople’s 145th;
Active Partcipant in Byzantine Civil War, 1341-1347; Married with Son & Daughter; Excommunicated Gregory Palamas;
Synod of February 1347 Deposed John XIV & Exiled him to Didymoteicho.
John XIV of
Constantinople
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Seal of John XIV Kalekas
John
XIV, surnamed Kalekas (Greek: Ίωάννης ΙΔ' Καλέκας)
(c.1282-1347) was the Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople from 1334 to 1347. He was an anti-hesychast and opponent of Gregory
Palamas. He was an active participant in the Byzantine civil war of
1341–1347 as
a member of the regency for John V Palaiologos, against John VI Kantakouzenos.
Contents
Personal life
John Kalekas was born about
the year 1282 in Apros, Thrace. After having grown up in modest circumstances,
John was married and had a son and daughter.
Career
He was ordained a priest. John came under the
patronage of John Kantakouzenos, the chief minister of emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos and later megas domestikos,
who introduced him to the imperial court. In 1334, against the resistance of
the Patriarchal Synod John
Kantakouzenos led John Kalekas to his election, first, as Metropolitan of Thessalonica and, then, as patriarch of
Constantinople, where he succeeded Isaias.
About the year 1337, during
the patriarchate of John Kalekas, a Calabrian monk, Barlaam, who was the abbot of
theMonastery of the St. Savior in
Chora, learned of the practice of hesychasm during
a visit to Mount Athos. Barlaam,
trained in western scholastic theology,
was scandalized and began to campaign against the practice and its advocate Gregory Palamas. The dispute
grew until in 1341, emperor Andronikos III, a supporter of Gregory Palamas,
convened the Fifth Council of
Constantinople at
which Patr. John, while supportive of Barlaam, did not resist his condemnation.
After his condemnation Barlaam left Constantinople permanently. Thereafter,
Barlaam's cause was taken up by Gregory Akindynos.
In 1344, in a synod convened by John Kantakouzenos, without the presence of
Patr. John Kalekas, Gregory Akindynos was also condemned.
In 1345, having finally
committed to the Barlaam party, Patr. John Kalekas convened a synod that excommunicated Gregory
Palamas from the Church and had him imprisoned for three years, until after
Patr. John's death in 1347. During the same synod, Patr. John had Bishop
Isidore elect of Monembasia, a disciple of Gregory, also excommunicated.
In June 1341, after the death
of emperor Andronikos III, two factions emerged at the imperial court that were
concerned with the succession to the imperial throne. The factions divided over
the regency for the infant co-emperor John V Palaiologos. Aided by the
intrigues of Alexios Apokaukos,
the two sides engaged in a Byzantine civil war that lasted until 1347. After some maneuvering one
faction formed around John Kantakouzenos, who was a supporter of Gregory
Palamas, and included the provincial magnates from Macedonia and Thrace. The
other faction, which seized imperial power, was led by Patr. John XIV Kalekas
and Alexios Apokaukos, and formed around Andronikos's widow Anna of Savoy in
a new regency for the young John V Palaiologos. In forming the faction, Anna
made Patr. John XIV Kalekas a regent and appointed Alexios Apokaukos aneparchos (urban prefect).
Initially, the regency held
the upper hand, but by 1345 John Kantakouzenos, aided by help from Orhan I of
the Ottoman emirate and
the murder of Alexios Apokaukos, dealt the regency a severe blow. In 1346, John
VI Kantakouzenos was crowned co-emperor in Adrianople and
entered Constantinople in February 1347. Then, the regency war ended with the
agreement that John Kantakouzenos would be the senior emperor and regent for
John V Palaiologos until he was old enough to rule on his own.
Synod of 1347
A synod was held in February
1347 which deposed the John XIV and exiled him to Didymoteicho. It also
excommunicated Gregory Akindynos. Isidore Buchiras, who had been excommunicated by the synod of 1344,
was now made patriarch.[1]
Within days after the end of
the concilabulum, John VI Kantakouzenos, victoriously entered Constantinople
and forced his opponents to crown him co-emperor. One of his first acts was to
confirm the deposition of John XIV and to approve the synodal tome that had
just been issued against him.[1]
The hesychasm dispute
continued through a synod convened by Barlaam supporters that refused to accept
Patriarch Isidore before a finally settlement of the dispute came about at a
sixth synod in 1351 during the patriarchate of Callistus I.
Final years
In the latter part of 1347,
the deposed John Kalekas was returned from exile to Constantinople where he
died later in the year.
Sources
·
Klaus-Peter Todt (1992). "Johannes XIV. Kalekas, Ökumen. Patriarch von Konstantinopel". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm.Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 3. Herzberg: Bautz. cols.
426–428. ISBN 3-88309-035-2.
References
External links
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Patriarch of Constantinople
1334 – 1347 |
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