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Arsenius of Constantinople (Latinized as Arsenius Autorianus; Greek: Ἀρσένιος Αὐτωρειανός; c. 1200 – 30 September 1273), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, lived about the middle of the 13th century.

Born in Constantinople c. 1200, Arsenius received his education in Nicaea at a monastery of which he later became the abbot, though not in orders. Subsequently, he gave himself up to a life of solitary asceticism in a Bithynian monastery, and is said to have remained some time in a monastery on Mount Athos.

Life

From this seclusion, he was called by the Byzantine Emperor Theodore II Laskaris to the position of patriarch at Nicaea in 1255. Upon the emperor's death Arsenius may have shared guardianship of his son John IV Laskaris with George Mouzalon - while the later historians Nicephorus Gregoras and Makarios Melissenos say the Patriarch was so named, the contemporary historians Pachymeres and Acropolites name only Mouzalon. Nevertheless, a few days after Theodore's death George Mouzalon was murdered by Michael VIII Palaiologos, and who, at an assembly of the aristocracy presided over by Patriarch Arsenius, was appointed regent for the boy. Arsenius also performed the double coronation of Michael VIII Palaiologos and John IV Laskaris in August 1258.

Through the time between the death of Mouzalon and the double coronation, Arsenius had worked to protect the rights of the young emperor John IV Lascaris, at one point insisting that John IV and Michael VIII exchange mutual oaths of loyalty. He also insisted that at the double coronation John IV Lascaris should be crowned first, which Michael VIII Palaiologos saw as a serious barrier to his final usurpation. Pressure was put upon the patriarch to allow Palaiologos to be crowned alone, and even the young emperor was threatened. The patriarch found no support from the bishops assembled: except for two prelates, all believed that Palaiologos had the right to be crowned first. Arsenius at last conceded the point and crowned Michael VIII and his wife first, while John IV Lascaris received only a special head-dress.

The ceremony completed, Arsenius took refuge in the monastery of Paschasius, retaining his office of patriarch but refusing to discharge its duties. Nicephorus II of Constantinople was appointed in his stead. Michael VIII Palaiologos, having recovered Constantinople from the Latin Empire, induced Arsenius to undertake the office of patriarch, but soon incurred Arsenius' severe censure by ordering the young prince John IV to be blinded. Arsenios went so far as to excommunicate Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos; after attempting to frighten the patriarch into rescinding the excommunication by threatening to appeal to the Pope, Michael VIII at last convened a synod, had Arsenius deposed, and towards the end of May 1265 sent him into exile. There he died some years afterwards (according to Johann Albert Fabricius in 1264; others say in 1273).

Throughout these years Arsenius declined to lift the sentence of excommunication from Michael VIII and after his death, when the new patriarch Joseph I of Constantinople gave absolution to the emperor, the dispute was carried on between the "Arsenites" and the "Josephists". The "Arsenian schism" lasted till 1315, when a reconciliation was pronounced by the patriarch Nephon I of Constantinople. Arsenius is said to have prepared the decisions of the councils and the works of the Fathers a summary of divine laws under the title Synopsis Canonum. Some hold that Synopsis was the work of another Arsenios, a monk of Athos; the ascription depends on whether the patriarch Arsenius did or did not reside at Mount Athos.

Notes and references

1. Arsenius Autoreianus - Catholic Encyclopedia article.
2. ^ [REDACTED]  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Arsenius Autorianus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 654.
3. Deno John Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282 - A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations, (Cambridge, Harvard, 1959), p. 33n.
4. Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael, pp. 41-46.
5. Michael Angold, A Byzantine Government in Exile - Government and Society Under the Laskarids of Nicaea (1204–1261), Oxford University Press, 1975, p. 89f.
6. Donald Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453, second edition, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 45.

Further reading

• Nicolas Oikonomidès, "Cinq actes inédits du patriarche Michel Autoreianos", Revue des études byzantines, 25 (1967), pp. 113-145

• 1200s births
• 1273 deaths
• 13th-century patriarchs of Constantinople
• People from Constantinople
• People from the Empire of Nicaea
• Byzantine abbots
• 13th-century Christian abbots
• People associated with Mount Athos