1. Life and career

Coming from the Peloponnesian family of Karakallos, with a long tradition of important clergymen, Kyrillos was born in Dimitsana in the end of the 17th century, where he received his initial education at the school of Philosophos, which was subjected in the monastery with the same name.¹ He was taken prisoner during the recapture of the Peloponnese by the Ottomans in 1715 and was transferred to Constantinople (Istanbul). After he was released he went to Patmos to complete his studies at the School of Patmos (Patmias). There he became a monk, but his studies ended rather ingloriously, since according to tradition he was expelled from the school due to unbecoming behavior.

In 1737 he was elected metropolitan of Meleniko and in 1745 of Nicomedia. He became patriarch in the end of September 1745, after the third removal of Paisios II. Komninos Ypsilantis mentions that his placement at the patriarchal throne was irregular, as it was accomplished with an arbitrary action of the grand vizier and without even the typical approval of the synod.² However, this is not true, since a decision of the synod from September 1748 demonstrates that Kyrillos was elected by a regular synod and that he was chosen among three candidates.³ His first dethronement took place in May 1751 after actions of the Roman Catholic community of Peran and the French ambassador. He retired to Chalki, but he never stopped his efforts to return to the throne. His alliance with the deacon Auxentius proved rather helpful, since the latter caused a popular revolt and forced the Ottoman authorities to remove Paisios II and reinstate Kyrillos (7 September 1752). The second term of Kyrillos V ended on January 16th 1757, when the metropolitan of Proilavon Kallinikos ensured the support of the sultan and succeeded in deposing and replacing Kyrillos with himself. Even though he had retired to the skete (hermitage) of St Anna at Mount Athos, Cyril attempted to regain once more the patriarchal throne in 1763 and for this reason he went in secret to Constantinople. However, he was arrested and forced to return permanently to the skete of St Anna, where he died on July 27th 1775.

2. Activities and evaluation

The priorities of Kyrillos V were on the one hand the harsh and fanatical struggle against the Roman Catholic Church, the reason for the hostility of the Roman Catholics of Peran and the French ambassador, and on the other the promotion of education, which is evident by the foundation of the famous Athonite School (Athonias). As part of the anti-Catholic policy, he adopted various views of the movement of Anabaptism, which he imposed with decisions of the synod. Furthermore, Kyrillos, who in contrast with his opponent Paisios II was popular, allied with monk Auxentius, a popular hero and troublemaker, ensuring in this way the fanatical support of the wider lower strata. Indicative of his popularity was the fact that his opponent and successor Kallinikos III remained for a very brief period in the throne, since the people who favoured Kyrillos and the commissioners whom he himself had appointed undermined the new patriarch and caused his speedy replacement. The contemporaries of Kyrillos V, but also the later chronographers and biographers up to Gedeon, except Sergios Makraios, are adamantly against him, something that is due to his adoption of the views of Anabaptism, which were later rejected as heterodox. In the framework of this negative evaluation of Kyrillos we can also place the claim of Komninos Ypsilantis about his irregular election. The positive things of his term as patriarch, such as his efforts for the promotion of education, were pointed out much later by scholars such as Savramis and Gritsopoulos.⁴ He was an ambitious and harsh man in his efforts to claim and maintain the patriarchal throne, who often went to extremes in his disputes. Exactly these were the characteristics that made him a great opponent of Roman Catholicism, whose progress and penetration he believed was a very serious threat to the Orthodox Church.