Gennadius Scholarius - Ottoman Period

Ottoman Period

After the fall of Constantinople, Gennadius was taken prisoner by the Turks. In administering his new conquest, 21-year old conquering Sultan Mehmed II wished to assure the loyalty of the Greek population and above all avoid them appealing to the West for liberation, potentially sparking a new round of Crusades. Mehmed therefore sought the most anti-Western cleric he could find as a figure of unity for the Greeks under Turkish rule - and Gennadius as leading anti-Union figure was a natural choice. On 1 June 1453, just three days after the fall of the city, the new Patriarch's procession passed through the streets where Mehmed received Gennadius graciously and himself invested him with the signs of his office – the crosier (dikanikion) and mantle. This ceremonial investiture would be repeated by all Sultans and Patriarchs thereafter.

The city's famous patriarchal basilica, the Hagia Sophia, had already been converted into a mosque by the conquerors, so Gennadius established his seat at the Church of the Holy Apostles. Eventually Mehmed had this church demolished to make way for his Fatih Mosque, and Gennadius moved again to the Church of the Pammakaristos.

The Ottomans divided their Empire into millets or subject nations, of which the Greeks were the largest, known as the Millet-i Rûm. The Patriarch was appointed the official head or Ethnarch of the Greek millet, which was used as the Ottomans as a source for imperial administrators. Gennadius became a political authority as well as a religious one, as were all his successors under the Ottomans.

As was normal when a monk or lay scholar was appointed patriarch, Gennadius was consecutively ordained, first as a deacon, then as a priest, then finally as a bishop before being appointed patriarch.