Alexius of Constantinople

Alexius of Constantinople
Alexius of Constantinople
	Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
	Appointment of Alexios Stoudites as patriarch (top) by Emperor Constantine VIII (below)
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	December 1025 – 20 February 1043
Predecessor	Eustathius of Constantinople
Successor	Michael I Cerularius
Personal details
Died	20 February 1043

Alexios Stoudites or Alexius Studites (Greek: Ἀλέξιος ὁ Στουδίτης) (? – 20 February 1043), an Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, was a member of the Monastery of Stoudios (founded 462), succeeded Eustathius of Constantinople as Patriarch in 1025, the last of the Patriarchs appointed by the Emperor Basil II.

Patriarchate

Alexius set out to reform the church institution of the charistike dorea (donation), which recent research dates to the period just after the Triumph of Orthodoxy (843). Effectively, it involved the donation of monasteries to private individuals unrelated to the establishments founders, for a limited period of time. Ostensibly undertaken so that the monastery buildings could be repaired or conserved and the estate out to good use, while at the same time protecting and preserving its spiritual functions, in actuality it was widely abused by the landed gentry and so became a source of abused patronage by high church officials and a tool against the powerful monastic establishment.[1] Alexius tried to temper the worst abused of the notorious charistike by appointing through Synodal legislation the patriarch's chancellor, the chartophylax, as the official to serve as the final point of approval for all grants under the system. Alexius also restricted the granting of charistike to non-dioceesan monasteries and eukteria. The fact that Alexius sought reform over abolishment of the charistike dorea likely shows the inability of the Church to claim back many of these properties from the powerful land-owning elite who held them.[2]

Alexius promoted the zealous actions of John of Melitene whose interest it was to limit the influence of the Syro Jacobite Church in the south east of the Byzantine Empire, especially in the newly conquered themes of Mesopotamia and Telouch. For this reason the Syro-Jacobite Patriarch John VIII bar Abdoun was arrested and brought to trial in Constantinople and then forced into a monastery on Mt. Ganos. In 1034 he crowned Michael IV the Paphlagonian, the favorite of the Byzantine Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita, who, to make way for him, procured the death of her husband, the Emperor Romanos III Argyros. He thwarted the attempts of John the Orphanotrophos (the emperor's brother) to gain the patriarchal see in 1036, and died in 1043.

Typikon

Alexius also established a monastery for which he wrote the rule (typikon) which was then used as the rule for the Kiev Monastery of the Caves.

Decrees of Alexius are still extant.[3][4][5] He is noted for the elevated style employed in the numerous decrees of his which have survived.

Synod decrees

The synod decrees are unusual for their number and the fact they are dated precisely.

1027 (Grumel 832)
1027 (Grumel 833)
1027-1030 (Grumel 834)
1028 (Grumel 835)
1030 (Grumel 839)
1038 (Grumel 840)
1034 (Grumel 841)
1037 (Grumel 842)
1038 (Grumel 844)
1038 (Grumel 845)
1039 (Grumel 846)
1030-1040 (Grumel 848)
undated (Grumel 847,849, 850)

Bibliography

F. Lauritzen, Against the Enemies of Tradition, Alexios Studites and the Synodikon of Orthodoxy in A. Rigo and P. Ermilov, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Byzantium, Roma 2010.
J. Thomas and A. Constantinides, eds., Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks, 1998.
A. Pentkovsky, Typikon Patriarxa Aleksija Studita v Vizantii i na Rusi, Moscow 2001,

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References

Thomas and Constantinides, eds., pp. 49, 305. See also: "The Middle Byzantine Period"", accessed at http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/09/en/k/867/main/k10a.html, January 2011.
Thomas and Constantinides, eds., p. 204.
ap. Jus Gr. Rom. vol. i. lib. iv. p. 250, Leunclav. Francof. 1596
Christie, Albany James (1867). "Alexius I of Constantinople". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 131.
Johann Albert Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca vol. xi. p. 558.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Alexius I of Constantinople". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Titles of Chalcedonian Christianity
Preceded by Eustathius	Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople 1025–1043	Succeeded by Michael I Cerularius

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[1] Thomas and Constantinides, eds., pp. 49, 305. See also: "The Middle Byzantine Period"", accessed at http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/09/en/k/867/main/k10a.html, January 2011.

[2] Thomas and Constantinides, eds., p. 204.

[3] . Jus Gr. Rom. vol. i. lib. iv. p. 250, Leunclav. Francof. 1596

[4] Christie, Albany James (1867). "Alexius I of Constantinople". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 131.

[5] Johann Albert Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca vol. xi. p. 558.

Bishops of Byzantium and Patriarchs of Constantinople
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Patriarchs of Constantinople Ottoman period (1453–1923 AD)	Gennadius II Isidore II Joasaph I Sophronius I Mark II Symeon I Dionysius I Raphael I Maximus III Nephon II Maximus IV Joachim I Pachomius I Theoleptus I Jeremias I Joannicius I Dionysius II Joasaph II Metrophanes III Jeremias II Pachomius II Theoleptus II Matthew II Gabriel I Theophanes I Meletius I Neophytus II Raphael II Cyril I Timothy II Gregory IV Anthimus II Cyril II Athanasius III Neophytus III Parthenius I Parthenius II Joannicius II Cyril III Paisius I Parthenius III Gabriel II Parthenius IV Dionysius III Clement Methodius III Dionysius IV Gerasimus II Athanasius IV James Callinicus II Neophytus IV Gabriel III Neophytus V Cyprianus Athanasius V Cyril IV Cosmas III Jeremias III (Callinicus III) Paisius II Seraphim I Neophytus VI Cyril V Callinicus IV (III) Seraphim II Joannicius III Samuel Meletius II Theodosius II Sophronius II Gabriel IV Procopius Neophytus VII Gerasimus III Gregory V Callinicus V (IV) Jeremias IV Cyril VI Eugenius II Anthimus III Chrysanthus Agathangelus Constantius I Constantius II Gregory VI Anthimus IV Anthimus V Germanus IV Meletius III Anthimus VI Cyril VII Joachim II Sophronius III Joachim III Joachim IV Dionysius V Neophytus VIII Anthimus VII Constantine V Germanus V Meletius IV
Patriarchs of Constantinople Turkish period (since 1923 AD)	Gregory VII Constantine VI Basil III Photius II Benjamin Maximus V Athenagoras Demetrius Bartholomew
^† in exile at Nicaea Christianity portal