1. Life and Work

Before Symeon became a patriarch he had been a monk. He was born in Trebizond probably between 1400 and 1420 and settled in Constantinople (Istanbul) after his birthplace fell to the Ottomans and a part of the population had to migrate by force. According to Komninos Ypsilantis, he had “… a lot of virtues and was everybody’s friend”.¹ He belonged to the upper social strata and had relationships with the important families from Trebizond, who after the fall had settled in Constantinople and established relations with the Ottoman authorities; those circles helpedhim to ascend the patriarchal throne. He was first elected patriarch in 1466, after the above circles illegally overthrew patriarch Markos II Xylokaravis and had to pay for the first time an amount (peşkeş) of 1000 golden coins to the Ottoman authorities. The names of those who promoted Symeon to the patriarchal throne remain unknown. The most prominent of them possibly was Georgios Amiroutzis along with his sons, but it is likely that other influential Trebizond families were involved in the case as well. As for the Amiroutzis family, their support for Symeon could also be suggested by the fact that in his third ascension to the patriarchal throne (1482) he succeeded Maximos III, an enemy of Amiroutzis, while after Symeon’s death, İşkender Bey, the Islamized son of Amiroutzis, tried to appropriate his inheritance. The first patriarchal tenure of Symeon was very short and ended in 1466, when Mara Branković² took advantage of his dispute with Markos II Xylokaravis and, using as an argument the pacification of the Church, she paid the double sum to the sultan and succeeded in dethroning Symeon for the benefit of Dionysios of Philippopolis.³ Symeon retired to a monastery in the area of Stenimachos. However,he was reelected in 1472⁴, which is possibly connected with the efforts of the sultan to suppress the commotion that had broken out in Trebizond due to the movement of Alexios Komnenos to recapture the city. It seems that when Symeon ascended the throne he promised the sultan that he would contribute to the restoration of order in his birthplace. As a matter of fact, one of his first actions within the same year was to replace Pangratios, the metropolitan of Trebizond, who must have been involved in the rebellion, with Dorotheos. This tenure ended in 1475, when he was overthrown by the Serb monk Raphael, allegedly supported by influential circles, and paid 2500 florins.⁵ Symeon ascended the patriarchal throne for a third time in 1482 and remained until his death in the mid-1485. In addition to the role he possibly played in the restoration of order in Trebizond, between 1472 and 1475 he renewed the privileges of the monasteries of Patmos and Eikosifinissa on Mt. Pangaion, while in his tenure between 1482 and 1485 he convened a council in Constantinople, which officially renounced the agreements of the Council of Florence.

2. Evaluation

The patriarchal career of Symeon I reveals the mainly political role of the office of patriarch under the new conditions prevailing after the subordination of the Orthodox populations to the Ottoman administration. The first ascension of Symeon in 1466, supported by the influential circles of Trebizond, and the second ascension in 1472, which served the sultanic policy, show that from then onwards the succession of patriarchs was going to be a means of promoting the political aspirations or interests of the Greek Orthodox and/or Ottoman circles, while the approval of any patriarchal election by the sultanic authorities depended on the amount paid. Symeon I served the sultanic interests, as suggested by both the policy he followed on Trebizond and his openly anti-Western attitude, which culminated when he convened the council that officially renounced the decisions of Florence.