Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1921 to 1923
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Emmanuel Metaxakis was born inCrete, in the commune of Christos, now part of theIerapetra municipality. His father was astockbreeder, and his maternal uncle was the villagepriest.[a] From 1889 to 1891, Emmanuel studied at the Patriarchal School of theBrotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1891, he became thehegumen of the Monastery ofBethlehem, and the Archbishop ofMount Tabor, Spyridon, ordained him adeacon with the name of Meletius. He resumed his studies at the Theological School of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross atJerusalem, when the school opened in 1893. He graduated in 1893primi ordinis.
In 1903, he was appointed Chancellor of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and administered the reorganisation of the patriarchal printing office and the editing of the periodicalNew Zion in 1904. He founded new schools and reorganized the existing ones, while he succeeded in granting diplomas to graduates of the Theological School of Jerusalem as well, though he did not ordain any priests. He confronted theDuchovnaye Missia (Spiritual Mission) aRussian organisation which practicedantihellenicpropaganda; founded the Practical School inJoppa; and increased the circulation of academic books. In 1907 he took part, as representative of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in a meeting with the representative of the throne of theEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Basil, theMetropolitan bishop ofAnchialos, and the Patriarch of Alexandria, Photius, concerning issues with theArchbishop of Cyprus. The ruling which at last decided the issue was based on a document which had been drafted by Metaxakis and which had been published in the Gazette of the Cypriot government. They published that document along with various dialogues that he that time with thePatriarch Photius of Alexandria in two publications of the Patriarchate of Alexandria,Ekklisiastikos Faros (Greek:Εκκλησιαστικός Φάρος, "Ecclesiastical Lighthouse")[b] andPantainos (Greek:Πανταἰνος).[c]
In 1910, he was elected Metropolitan ofKition in theChurch of Cyprus. He organized the Statutory Charter of the Church of Cyprus and founded the periodicalEkklesiastikos Kirix ("Ecclesiastical Herald"), which he continued to publish later on inAthens and inNew York City. He established the Pancypriot Seminary in October of 1910, and the Commercial High School ofLarnaca. In 1912–1913 he travelled to Athens where he collaborated withIon Dragoumis and a commission of theGreek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explore fundraising for issues which had arisen with the return of territories under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria while drafting a report on the return. Ιn articles inEkklisiastiki Kirika in 1914 he would be opposed in every proposal put forward by the metropolitans of the newly-returned territories, for reasons of ethnic politics: they feared the diminution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in which he fulfilled the role ofethnarch.[4][d]
A known supporter of Greek prime ministerEleftherios Venizelos, he served as bishop in Cyprus, until he was electedArchbishop of Athens following the abdication ofConstantine I of Greece, replacing Archbishop Theocletus I, a known royalist. Two years later, King Constantine I was restored to the throne, Archbishop Meletius was ousted, and former archbishop Theocletus I was reinstated. In 1921 during theOccupation of Constantinople he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. He resigned in 1923 following the defeat of theHellenic army in theGreco-Turkish War in 1919–1922.
^ Η παιδική ηλικία του Πατριάρχη Μελετίου. Με το κοσμικό όνομα Εμμανουήλ ο Μελέτιος ήταν πρωτότοκος γιος του Νικολάου Μεταξάκη και της Μαρίας το γένος Αντωνίου Προβατάκη και γεννήθηκε στο χωριό Παρσάς της Κοινότητας Χριστού της επαρχίας "Ιεραπέτρας του νομού Λασιθίου Κρήτης, στις 21 Σεπτεμβρίου του έτους 1871. Η μητέρα του Μαρία Προβατάκη, αδελφή του παπά Στεφάνου, γεννήθηκε στο χωριό Χριστός. Ο πατέρας του Νικόλαος Μεταξάκης μετερχόμενος το επάγγελμα του γεωργού και του κτηνοτρόφου ήταν εριστικός και φιλόδικος όπως φανερώνεται από επιστολές και του ίδιου του Μελετίου που θα παρουσιάσουμε παρακάτω. Ο παππούς του Μελετίου ονομαζόταν Γεώργιος Δαγαλάκης και επειδή ασχολούνταν με την μεταξουργία επονομά Κρήτης. Αποκτά 11 παιδιά - 3 στον Παρσά και 8 στις. [Regarding the childhood of Meletios: "With the secular name of Emmanuel, Meletius was the first son of Nicholas Metaxakis, and Maria, a descendant of Antonios Provatakis, and was born in the village of Parsas, in the commune of Christos, in the province ofIerapetra, in the prefecture ofLasithi,Crete, on 21 September 1871. His mother, Mary Provatakis, the sister of the priest Stephen, was born in the village of Christos. His father, Nicholas Metaxakis, a farmer and stock breeder by profession, had moved there and was bad-tempered and quarrelsome, as depicted in the letters of Meletius himself which we will submit further down. Meletius's grandfather was named George Dagalakis because he was engaged in the eponymous silk industry of Crete; he had eleven children, three in Parsas, and eight elsewhere"].[3]: 403
^A likely reference to theLighthouse of Alexandria, in the same vein as the reference to the Alexandrian theologian Pantaenus.
^Greece, along with Serbia and Bulgaria, gained a number of territories from the Ottoman Empire after theBalkan Wars and the annexation of theCretan State that had remained part of the jurisdiction of the patriarchate when their national autocephalous churches were formed in the nineteenth century. TheBulgarian Orthodox Church andSerbian Orthodox Church are now autocephalous patriarchates, but at the time (in all, from 1872–1945) theBulgarian Exarchate that was in formalschism with Constantinople over jurisdictional issues; while the Serbian church was divided into thePatriarchate of Karlovci, theMetropolitanate of Belgrade, andMetropolitanate of Montenegro, roughly corresponding to the borders of theKingdom of Serbia,Kingdom of Montenegro and theAustro-Hungarian Empire.See the above linked articles for more information To this day, thirty-six of the eighty-onedioceses of the Church of Greece in the "New Lands" while represented in thesynod of the Church of Greece and administered as part of it "in stewardship", are yet nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, acknowledging the patriarch as theirprimate (bishop) in thediptychs and retain right of appeal to him in disputes with other bishops.
^"Meletios II Metaxakis (1926–1935)". Official web site of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved7 February 2011.
^Νεότεροι Χρόνοι [Recent Chronicles]. Diethnous Kretologikou Synedriou [International Synedrium of Cretan Studies]. To Panepistemion. 1981.
^Θεοδόσης Τσιρώνης [Theodosis Tsironis] (2010).Εκκλησία πολιτευομένη. Ο πολιτικός λόγος της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος (1913–1941) [Church Politician - The Political Debate in the Church of Greece (1913-1941)] (in Greek). Εκδόσεις ΕΠΙΚΕΝΤΡΟ.
^"List of Patriarchs". Official web site of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved7 February 2011.
