A Calvinist in Constantinople

This is a book about Cyril Lucaris, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1620 to 1638 (on an on-off basis). At the time, the Ecumenical Patriarch was the head of the Greek Orthodox Church and at least nominally of all Eastern Orthodox Churches. Lucaris has the unique distinction among Orthodox patriarchs of being posthumously condemned as a heretic by no less than four Church councils, one of them actually convened at Bethlehem! The reason for the prelate's unfortunate fate is not hard to find. Lucaris, despite being an Orthodox churchman, espoused a theology strongly inspired by Calvinism, as can be seen in his “Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith”, dated 1629. Apparently, some modern Orthodox historians have attempted to deny Lucaris' heresy, claiming that the confession is a Calvinist forgery. Others claim that he wrote it mostly for political reasons, being an ally of the Protestant powers. The authors of this book, by contrast, argue that Lucaris' Calvinizing tendencies were honestly held for religious reasons. Lucaris himself was executed in 1638 at the orders of Sultan Murad IV, and he may be one of the few churchmen who in a peculiar fashion have become both martyr and heretic simultaneously…

During Lucaris' time, Constantinople was the capital of the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the seat of its absolute ruler, the Sultan, and his chief minister, known as the Grand Vizier. While still an expansive great power, the empire was marked by internal decline and rampant corruption, its capital already being the center of intrigues carried out by representatives of various European Christian powers. The French, Austrian, Dutch and English ambassadors play important role in the story of Lucaris, and so do the Venetians, the Jesuits and the Roman papacy.

The Greek Orthodox Church, once the state church of the Byzantine Empire, was reduced to a shadow of its former self under the new Muslim overlords. While the Church enjoyed freedom of worship, the Ottomans demanded large payments from anyone elected to the throne of Ecumenical Patriarch, thus literally selling the dignity to the highest bidder. In order to extract the largest possible amount of money from their Greek Christian subjects, the Ottoman administration would often unseat Patriarchs, then demanding additional payments from the successors. Nor were the Greeks completely innocent in this state of affairs. The authors point out that it was the Greek Christians themselves who invented the practice of securing the Patriarchate through bribes to the Sultan or Grand Vizier, the latter being only too happy to oblige! This sordid tradition turned the Orthodox Church into a den of factionalism, in which any adventurer with money could ascend the Patriarchal Throne, at least until some competitor would outbid him. Lucaris himself was unseated and reinstated a number of times, each time being forced to pay the “peshkesh” (as the bribe to the Ottoman authorities was known) anew.

While thus dying a slow death at the hands of venal prelates, the Greek Orthodox Church was also the object of take-over attempts of Western Christians, who wanted to use the Church as a conduit for Western influence in the Ottoman Empire. Both France, Austria and the papacy (sometimes through the medium of the Jesuits) wanted to “unite” (really merge) the Orthodox Church with the Catholic ditto, and there was a powerful pro-Catholic tendency within the Greek Church at this time. Likewise, the Protestant powers England and the Netherlands clearly used Lucaris for anti-Catholic political ends, something I believe the two authors are downplaying.

The descriptions of the “Byzantine” (pardon the expression!) intrigues against Lucaris have to be read to be believed. In the end, the Protestant Patriarch's enemies proved too strong. A certain Cyril Contari, working in tandem with the Austrian ambassador, persuaded the Sultan that Lucaris was in liaison with the dreaded Russian Cossacks, who had just attacked Ottoman-held territory around the Sea of Azov, prompting the Ottoman ruler to sentence the unfortunate patriarch to death. The pro-Catholic Contari promptly became the new patriarch, but the Sultan soon got second thoughts and had him banished to Carthage. There, the story ends, inconclusively, and we are left to wonder what happened next…

As an appendix, “Protestant Patriarch” contains Cyril Lucaris' Confession, in which the Calvinist tendencies are indeed clearly visible. Thus, Lucaris believes in predestination, justification by faith and two sacraments. He rejects beliefs in purgatory or transubstantiation, never mentions Church tradition or veneration of icons, says that the Church can err, and that Scripture is the sole authority. The confession was widely publicized in Protestant nations during Lucaris' lifetime, but this book is apparently the only modern work reprinting it in English.

“Protestant Patriarch” may be too narrow for the general reader, but if you already have a working knowledge of 17th century history or an interest in matters Greek or Ottoman, this may be a good addition to your private library.