Gabriel II of Constantinople

Gabriel II
Gabriel II
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
Appointed	23 April 1657
Term ended	30 April 1657
Predecessor	Parthenius III
Successor	Parthenius IV
Other post(s)	Metropolitan of Prousa
Previous post(s)	Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	3 December 1659; Prousa (Bursa)
Sainthood
Feast day	December 3
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Gabriel II (Greek: Γαβριήλ; died 3 December 1659) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for one week in 1657.

In 1659 he was hanged by the Ottoman Sultan for having baptized a converted Muslim, and after refusing to abjure his own Christian faith. He is hence revered as New Hieromartyr Gabriel, Metropolitan of Prousa and his feast in the Eastern Orthodox Church is December 3.^[1]

Life

Gabriel was elected Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora on 23 March 1648 for a first term which lasted until 26 November 1651, and again in 1654.^[2]^: 172-3 After the execution of Parthenius III he was appointed as the new Patriarch on 23 April 1657^[2]^: 40 with the support of the Greek Orthodox nobility. However the Holy Synod considered him uneducated and unsuitable for the throne, and deposed him a few days later, on 30 April 1657.^[3]

After his deposition, besides his diocese of Ganos, he was given the position of administrator (proedros) of the vacant Metropolitan See of Prousa (Bursa). Here he was accused by the Jewish community to have baptized a Muslim,^[4] even if actually the baptized was a Jew and not a Muslim.^[3] He was also charged with maintaining good relations with the Russians, at the time at war with the Ottoman Empire.^[3]

Sultan Mehmed IV was in those days in Bursa, and his Grand Vizier Mehmed Koprulu imprisoned Gabriel, and promised him freedom and honor in change to conversion to Islam. Gabriel refused and was tortured and finally hanged on 3 December 1659.^[4]

Notes

^ "Γαβριὴλ Β´". Ecumenical Patriarchate. Retrieved 23 June 2011.(in Greek)
^ ^a ^b Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press LLC. p. 40,47,172–3. ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c Moustakas Konstantinos. "Gabriel II of Constantinople". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
^ ^a ^b Vaporis, Nomikos Michael (2000). Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian neomartyrs of the Ottoman period. Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. pp. 117–118. ISBN 0-88141-196-5.