Cyril I of Constantinople (Cyril Lucaris or Kyrillos Loukaris (; 13 November 1572 – 27 June 1638) was a Greek prelate and theologian, and a native of Heraklion, Crete (then under the Republic of Venice).
Life
Early life and education
Cyril Lucaris was born in Candia (Heraklion), Kingdom of Candia on 13 November 1572, when the island was part of the Republic of Venice's Stato da Mar. In his youth, he travelled through Europe, studying at Venice and the University of Padua, and at Geneva where he came under the influence of Calvinism and the Reformed faith. Lucaris pursued theological studies in Venice and Padua, Wittenberg and Geneva where he developed greater antipathy for Roman Catholicism.
Ordination and patriarchate
While the exact date is unknown, Cyril Lucaris was ordained in Constantinople. In 1596 Lucaris was sent to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by Meletius I of Constantinople, patriarch of Alexandria, to lead the Orthodox opposition to the Union of Brest, which proposed a union of Kiev with Rome.
Due to Turkish oppression combined with the proselytization of the Orthodox faithful by Jesuit missionaries, there was a shortage of schools which taught the Orthodox Faith and the Greek language. Roman Catholic schools were set up and Catholic churches were built next to Orthodox ones, and since Orthodox priests were in short supply something had to be done. His first act was to found a theological seminary in Mount Athos, the Athoniada school.
In 1627, he authorised the establishment of a Greek language printing press in Constantinople, the first of its kind. However, the French government lodged an official protest with Ottoman authorities once the press began to publish anti-Catholic polemics, and as a result, Ottoman authorities ordered its closure one year later.
He sponsored Maximos of Gallipoli to produce the first translation of the New Testament in Modern Greek.
Calvinism
Cyril I's aim was to reform the Eastern Orthodox Church along Calvinistic lines, and to this end he sent many young Greek theologians to the universities of Switzerland, the northern Netherlands and England. bishop Arsenius Bryantsev, Vasily Malakhov, George Michaelides, Nikolay Talberg) have denied the authenticity of the "Confessio", which resulted in the canonisation of Cyril I in 2009 by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, and on 11 January 2022 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Nevertheless, some scholars argue that the Confession was the work of Lucaris, noting "the evidence that (the Confession) is his is overwhelming. There is an extant manuscript that is clearly in Cyril I's handwriting. The language used echoes that of his other writings. We have multiple records of his having admitted it to be his, and none of his denial of it, nor of any effort to counter it".
Politics and death
Cyril I was several times temporarily deposed and banished at the instigation of both his Orthodox opponents and the French and Austrian ambassadors, by the Janissaries on 27 June 1638 aboard a ship in the Bosporus. His body was thrown into the sea, but it was recovered and buried at a distance from the capital by his friends, and only brought back to Constantinople after many years.
Cyril I was honoured as a saint and martyr shortly after his death, and Eugenios of Aitolia compiled an Acolouthia (service) to celebrate his memory.
According to a 1659 letter to Thomas Greaves from Edward Pococke (who, on his book-hunting travels for archbishop William Laud, had met Lucaris), many of the choicest manuscripts from Cyril I's library were saved by the Dutch ambassador who sent them by ship to Holland. Although the ship arrived safely, it sank the next day in a violent storm along with its cargo.