John VIII (Constantinople)

John VIII. Xiphilinos (* around 1010/1012 in Trebizond ; † 1075 ) was Patriarch of Constantinople from 1064 until his death .

He was a student of Johannes Mauropous , who later became Archbishop of Euchaita . At this time he met the later historian Michael Psellos know. Xiphilinos became head of the Law Faculty of the University of Constantinople . Under Constantine IX. he fell out of favor at court and entered the famous monastery on Mons Olympus with Psellos . While Psellos soon returned to the court, he became abbot of a monastery in Anatolia and finally, against his will in 1064 after the death of Constantine III. Lichoudas was elected Patriarch of Constantinople, although he would have preferred to remain abbot.

When the dowager empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa wanted to remarry, it was especially Xiphilinos who insisted that she keep the oath she had given her dying husband to never remarry. In order to change his mind, she proposed to the patriarch with the help of one of the court eunuchs that she might marry his brother Bardas. Xiphilinos appears to have been pleased with the proposal and submitted it to the Senate. Eventually, however, he agreed to the marriage of the empress widow to Romanus IV Diogenes, presumably because his brother was generally viewed as an unsuitable spouse, as reported by historian Johannes Skylitzes .

swell

• CN Sathas (ed.), Michael Psellos, Funeral Oration on John Xiphilinus, Bibl. Graec. Med. Aev., 4, 448.
• Hans Thurn (ed.), The Age of the Macedonian Dynasty, Part 1: End of the Iconoclasm and Macedonian Renaissance, based on the historical work of Johannes Skylitzes. Byzantine historians 15 (Graz 1983), p. 658.

literature

• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 3: Faber Felix - Juwayni, Al- . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-53243-1 , pp. 399-401.

predecessor	Office	successor
Constantine III	Patriarch of Constantinople 1064-1075	Cosmas I.