Callinicus III ( el, ), (? – 20 November 1726) was
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople ( Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of ...
for one day in 1726. He is sometimes not counted amongst the patriarchs, and
Callinicus IV, who was Patriarch for a short time in 1757, is then numbered as the third of that name.
Life
Callinicus was a native of
Naxos
Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...
and before he was elected as Patriarch of Constantinople he was Metropolitan of
Heraclea.
When
Jeremy III was deposed on 19 November 1726, Callinicus was elected as Patriarch on the evening of the same day, but he died in the night at his home before the enthronement, possibly from a heart attack due to the happiness at his election.
The appointment fee that he had to pay to the
Ottoman Sultan to allow his election was the maximum ever reached: no less than 36,400
Kuruş
Kuruş ( ; ), also gurush, ersh, gersh, grush, grosha, and grosi, are all names for currency denominations in and around the territories formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The variation in the name stems from the different languages it is us ...
, about 5,600 gold
pounds. The high amounts of these appointment fees, that the Greek Church could barely afford, were due both to the greed of the Ottoman rulers and to the rivalries and quarrels into the Greek community which led to rapid changes and re-installments of Patriarchs. After the scandal due to a such large amount wasted for a single day reign, the situation slowly improved with longer reigns and lower fees.
Notes
1726 deaths
People from Naxos
Year of birth unknown
18th-century Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople
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