Gennadius Scholarius

Saint Gennadius Scholarius
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Gennadios II Scholarios on a wall fresco in a monastery in Serres
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	6 January 1454 – 6 January 1456 April 1463 – c. June 1463 August 1464 – autumn 1465[1]
Predecessor	Athanasius II Joasaph I Sophronius I[1]
Successor	Isidore II Sophronius I Mark II[1]
Personal details
Born	Georgios Kourtesios Scholarios c. 1400 Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Died	c. 1473 Saint John Prodromos Monastery near Siroz, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day	25 August
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Gennadius II (Greek: Γεννάδιος; lay name: Γεώργιος Κουρτέσιος Σχολάριος, Georgios Kourtesios Scholarios; c. 1400 – c. 1473) was a Byzantine Greek philosopher and theologian, and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1454 to 1464. He was a strong advocate for the use of Aristotelian philosophy in the Orthodox Church.

Gennadius was, together with his mentor, Mark of Ephesus, involved in the Council of Florence which aimed to end the schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Gennadius had studied and written extensively on Catholic theology. After the failure of the union of Florence and the Fall of Constantinople, Gennadius became the first Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople under Ottoman rule. Just before the fall of Constantinople, and after Cardinal Isodore had celebrated a Latin Mass in St. Sophia to celebrate the ratification of the council of Florence, its citizens consulted Gennadius. Gibbon has him say: "O miserable Romans, why will ye abandon the truth? and why, instead of confiding in God, will ye put your trust in the Italians? In losing your faith you will lose your city. Have mercy on me, O Lord! I protest in thy presence that I am innocent of the crime. O miserable Romans, consider, pause, and repent. At the same moment that you renounce the religion of your fathers, by embracing impiety, you submit to a foreign servitude."

A polemicist, Scholarios left in writing several treatises on the differences between Catholic and Orthodox theology, the Filioque, a defence of Aristotelianism and excerpts from an exposition (entitled Confession) of the Eastern Orthodox faith addressed to Mehmed II.