Michael IV AutoreianosAncient Greek:Μιχαὴλ Αὐτωρειανός; died 26 August 1212) was theEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1208^[1] to his death in 1212.

Michael was a well-educated man and a member of the literary circle aroundEustathius of Thessalonica. In the ecclesiastic hierarchy, he had reached the post ofmegas sakellarios at the time of thesack ofConstantinople by theFourth Crusade in 1204.^[2] According to a letter written byJohn Apokaukos in 1222(?), he was nominated bishop ofAmastris, butDavid Komnenos rejected his nomination as an infringement of his sovereignty.^[3] In 1208 he was made patriarch byTheodore I Laskaris, in succession ofJohn X of Constantinople who had died in 1206. Laskaris had established aByzantine Greek successor state in Asia, theEmpire of Nicaea, and had tried to persuade John X to join him, but he had refused because of old age and died shortly after.^[4]

Shortly after his appointment, on 20 March 1208, Michael IV performed Theodore I Laskaris' coronation as emperor (Laskaris had already been acclaimed emperor in 1205). He also took the highly unusual move, contrary to both Byzantine tradition and Orthodox doctrine, of promising remission of sins for Laskaris' soldiers who fell in battle. It appears however that this pledge was of short duration. He died atNicaea on 26 August 1212.^[5]

• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991),Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium,Oxford University Press,ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.

• 12th-century births
• 1212 deaths
• 13th-century patriarchs of Constantinople
• People from the Empire of Nicaea

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