John XI. (Constantinople)

Fantasy representation of Johannes Bekkos, Paris 1667

John XI. Bekkos (Greek Ιωάννης ΙΑ΄ Βέκκος ; * around 1225 in the Empire of Nikaia ; † 1297 in the fortress Hagios Georgios near Nicomedia ) was patriarch of Constantinople from 1275 to 1282 .

Life

John was probably born between 1230 and 1240 in Nikaia , the seat of the Byzantine emperor and patriarch in exile. In 1263 he was first mentioned as chartophylax (archivist) in the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1270 he stayed with the French King Louis IX on behalf of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII . to negotiate a union of the Western and Eastern Churches. In 1273 he was arrested for his negative attitude towards the planned union. While in custody, he revised his stance on the controversial filioque .

John was a member of the imperial-Byzantine delegation at the Council of Lyon in 1274, which agreed a union of the two churches.

On January 16, 1275 the unification was announced in the imperial Blachernenkirche in Constantinople. On June 2, 1275 he was installed by Michael VIII as the new Patriarch of Constantinople for the resigned Joseph I Galesiotes , an opponent of the agreement made. On December 26, 1282, John was deposed as patriarch, 15 days after the death of Emperor Michael VIII. The synods of 1279 and 1285 condemned him as a heretic . He spent the rest of his life in various dungeons, where he continued to write theological and church-political writings.

Johannes died in March 1297. His will from 1294 proves that Bekkos held on to his theological positions until the end of his life.

expenditure

• Johannes Bekkos: Opera . In: J.-P. Migne , Patrologia Graeca , Vol. 141, pp. 5-1030.

literature

Overview representations

• Georgi Kapriev: Johannes XI. Bekkos. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Schwabe, Basel 2019, ISBN 978-3-7965-2623-7 , pp. 91–93, 262 f.
• Erwin window: Johannes XI. Bekkos . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 2, Munich 1976, p. 287 f.
• Barbara Hartmann:  Johannes XI. (Constantinople). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2 , Sp. 281-284.
• Claudia Sojer: Curricula bio-bibliografici degli autori selezionati da Allacci per la 'Graecia Orthodoxa' . In: Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottferrata 7, 2010, pp. 228-234

Investigations

• Sofia Kotzabassi : The Testament of Patriarch John Bekkos : in: Βυζαντινά 32 (2012) 25–36.
• Alexandra Riebe: Rome in communion with Constantinople. Patriarch John XI. Bekkos as defender of the church ununion of Lyon (1274) . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2005.
• Gerhard Richter: Johannes Bekkos and his relationship to the Roman Church . In: Byzantinische Forschungen 15 (1990), pp. 167-217.

predecessor	Office	successor
Joseph I. Galesiotes	Patriarch of Constantinople 1275–1282	Joseph I. Galesiotes