Neophytus VII or Neophytos VII (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Νεόφυτος Ζʹ; died after 1801) 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 th ...

during the periods 1789–1794 and 1798–1801.

Biography

Neophytus was born in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

. He studied in the

Evangelical School of Smyrna The Evangelical School ( el, Ευαγγελική Σχολή) was a Greek educational institution established in 1733 in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, now Izmir, Turkey. The school, initially an Orthodox Church-approved institution, attracted major fi ...

, where he was classmates with

Nicodemus the Hagiorite Nicodemus the Hagiorite or Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain ( el, Ὅσιος Νικόδημος ὁ Ἁγιορείτης; 1749 – July 14, 1809) is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was an ascetic monk, mystic, theologian, and philos ...

and

Adamantios Korais Adamantios Korais or Koraïs ( el, Ἀδαμάντιος Κοραῆς ; la, Adamantius Coraes; french: Adamance Coray; 27 April 17486 April 1833) was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major ...

. He was an especially educated man and was against the simplification of religious texts, as he thought that something like that would lead to their vulgarisation. He served as great

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

of the Patriarchate and in May 1771 he was elected metropolitan bishop of

Maroneia Maroneia ( el, Μαρώνεια) is a village and a former municipality in Rhodope regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Maroneia-Sapes, of which it is a munic ...

. On May 1789 he succeeded Patriarch Procopius on the Ecumenical Throne, with some concerns about how canonical his election was. Even though his reign is considered worthy, he had to resign on 1 March 1794 and retired to

Heybeliada Heybeliada, or Heybeli Ada, is the second largest of the Prince' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbull, Turkey. It is officially a neighbourhood of the Adalar district of Istanbul. Its name, meaning 'with a saddlebag' in Turkish, in ...

and later to

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northernmos ...

and

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

. He was reelected Patriarch in 1798, but on 17 June 1801 he resigned again and was exiled to Mount Athos. During his reign, the philosophy teacher Christodoulos Pamplekis, was excommunicated, while the

Great School of the Nation Phanar Greek Orthodox College or Phanar Roman Orthodox Lyceum ( tr, Özel Fener Rum Lisesi), known in Greek as the Great School of the Nation and Patriarchal Academy of Constantinople ( el, Μεγάλη του Γένους Σχολή, ''Megáli t ...

was reconstituted and many schools were founded. With a canonical arrangement he condemned

pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ex ...

, while a synodic decision condemned the book "Περί συνεχούς μεταλήψεως", written by the former

metropolitan bishop of Corinth The Metropolis of Corinth, Sicyon, Zemenon, Tarsos and Polyphengos ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κορίνθου, Σικυώνος, Ζεμενού, Ταρσού και Πολυφέγγους) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece in ...

Macarius Macarius is a Latinized form of the old Greek given name Makários (Μακάριος), meaning "happy, fortunate, blessed"; confer the Latin '' beatus'' and ''felix''. Ancient Greeks applied the epithet ''Makarios'' to the gods. In other languag ...

. He re-founded after 413 years the

Metropolis of Corfu The Metropolis of Corfu, Paxoi and the Diapontian Islands ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κερκύρας, Παξών και Διαποντίων Νήσων) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece. Its seat is the town of Corfu on th ...

and blessed, with the permission of the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

, the new

flag of the United States of the Ionian Islands The Flag of the United States of the Ionian Islands was used between 1815 and 1864. The flag consisted of a Blue Ensign with the coat of arms of the predecessor state, the Septinsular Republic on it with a red border. History The United States ...

in the Church of St. George. During his lifetime, and after many discussions, the translation and publication the Canon of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

Demotic Greek Demotic Greek or Dimotiki ( el, Δημοτική Γλώσσα, , , ) is the standard spoken language of Greece in modern times and, since the resolution of the Greek language question in 1976, the official language of Greece. "Demotic Greek" (w ...

was finally approved. Consequently, Christopher's "Κανονικόν" and

's "Πηδάλιον" were published,Σπύρος Καρύδης, «Η χειρόγραφη εκδοχή της εγκυκλίου του πρώην Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Νεοφύτου Ζ΄ (1802) για τις προσθήκες στην α΄ έκδοση του Πηδαλίου», Ο Ερανιστής 27 (2009), 259-262 the latter also publishing "Μέγα Ευχολόγιον" in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. With his permission, John Nesteutes's Canon was also published by the Patriarchal Press.

Sources

Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο

Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού
*

References

External links

Ο Πατριάρχης Νεόφυτος Ζ’
(Εξ ανεκδότου κώδικος Ιω. Πρωΐου Θεραπειανού) (pdf) {{authority control 18th-century Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople 19th-century Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople Smyrniote Greeks