Cyril II

Kyrillos II. (* 1792 in Samos , Vilâyet Cezayir , Ottoman Empire ; † 1877 in Istanbul ) was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1845 to 1872 .

Born in 1792 on Samos as Konstantinos Criticus and baptized Orthodox, from 1816 he worked as a deacon, presbyter and monastery master. In 1835 he was ordained Archbishop of Sebasteia, in 1838 he was transferred to the cathedra of Lydia. In 1845 the Jerusalem Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher elected him Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. In contrast to his predecessors, he did not usually reside in Constantinople, but permanently in the Holy City. His numerous pastoral activities include the establishment (1857) of the Theological School of the Holy Cross in the former Georgian cross monastery near Jerusalem. In 1872 he took part in the Council in Constantinople, which was held under the Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimos VI. declared the Bulgarian Exarchate established in 1870 to be schismatic and excommunicated its followers. Cyrilus II refused to give his consent and traveled back to Jerusalem on September 14, 1872. On December 12th J. he was removed from office by the synod there in absentia and replaced by Prokopios II , who in turn was deposed on February 15, 1875 under public pressure. Supported by the Russians and popular with the Arabophone Orthodox Palestine, Kyrillos declined to run again for reasons of age. He died on August 18, 1877 in Constantinople's Metochion of the Holy Sepulcher and was buried there.

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predecessor	Office	successor
Athanasios V.	Patriarch of Jerusalem 1845 - 1872	Prokopios II.

personal data
SURNAME	Cyril II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Criticus, Konstantinos (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
DATE OF BIRTH	1792
PLACE OF BIRTH	Samos , Vilâyet Cezayir , Ottoman Empire
DATE OF DEATH	1877
Place of death	Istanbul , Ottoman Empire