Dionysius IV of Constantinople

{{Short description|Five-time Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1671 to 1694}} {{Hatnote|"Dionysius IV" redirects here. It may also refer to Mar Dionysius IV.}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox Christian leader | name = Dionysius IV of Constantinople | image = | caption = | church = Church of Constantinople | title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | term = 8 November 1671 – 25 July 1673 29 July 1676 – 30 July 1679 10 July 1682 – 30 March 1684 March 1686 – 17 October 1687 August 1693 – April 1694 | predecessor = Parthenius IV of Constantinople James of Constantinople Callinicus II of Constantinople | successor = Gerasimus II of Constantinople Athanasius IV of Constantinople Parthenius IV of Constantinople James of Constantinople Callinicus II of Constantinople | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Constantinople | death_date = 23 September 1696 | death_place = Târgoviște | buried = Radu Vodă Monastery, Bucharest | denomination = Eastern Orthodoxy }}

'''Dionysius IV of Constantinople''' ({{langx|el|Διονύσιος Μουσελίμης}}; died 23 September 1696) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for five times, in 1671–1673, 1676–1679, 1682–1684, 1686–1687, and 1693–1694.

== Life == He was born in Constantinople, where he grew up. He studied at the Phanar Greek Orthodox College and worked as an administrative officer at the Patriarchate. On 9 August 1662, he was elected bishop of Larissa, where he remained until 1671, when he was first elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. After serving his first term as Patriarch, Dionysius IV was appointed the Metropolitan of Philippopolis (Plovdiv).<ref name=pravenc>[https://www.pravenc.ru/text/%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%20IV.html ДИОНИСИЙ IV СЕРОГЛАНИС], pravenc.ru</ref> He claimed descent from the Komnenian dynasty, but this claim is considered fictional by modern historians<ref>{{Varzos-Genealogy of the Komnenoi|volume=B|page=30 (note 97)}}</ref>

During his second term, in 1678 Dionysius IV merged eparchies of Gothia and Caffa in Crimea on decision of the Holy Synod.<ref name=pravenc/>

After his second term as Patriarch of Constantinople, from 1676 to 1679, he settled in Wallachia, a historical region of Romania, while serving another term at the eparchy of Philippopolis.<ref name=pravenc/> Dionysius IV was in conflict with Patriarch James of Constantinople from 1679 to 1682, whom he forced to resign in 1682. After his third term (1682–1684), when Parthenius IV of Constantinople (1684–1685) was restored for his fourth time, he moved to Chalcedon until 1686. He returned to Constantinople in March 1686 and overthrew James again, who was restored for the first time (1685–1686). He wrote letters to the Patriarch of Moscow which effectively established the Metropolis of Kiev (Patriarchate of Moscow). James retaliated by offering a large sum to the Grand vizier and overthrew Dionysius IV on 12 October 1687.

He was imprisoned by the Ottoman Turks twice, in 1679, and from 1687 until 1688. After his final removal from the patriarchal throne in 1694, he retired in Bucharest, Romania. Dionysius IV died on 23 September 1696 at Târgoviște in Wallachia and was buried in Radu Vodă Monastery, a Romanian Orthodox monastery in Bucharest, where he lived his last years.

During his time of patriarchy, he dealt with many religious and political subjects including the position of the Orthodox Church against the Protestant confessions and Calvinist theologians.

== Notes and references == {{Reflist}}

== Bibliography == * [https://ec-patr.org/oikoymeniko-patriarxeio/istoria/diatelesantes-patriarxes/ List of Patriarchs] on the official website of the [http://www.ec-patr.org/ Ecumenical Patriarchate].

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|eo}} {{Succession box | before = Parthenius IV (3) | title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | years = 1671 – 1673 | after = Gerasimus II }} {{Succession box | before = Parthenius IV (4) | title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | years = 1676 – 1679 | after = Athanasius IV }} {{Succession box | before = James | title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | years = 1682 – 1684 | after = Parthenius IV (5) }} {{Succession box | before = James (2) | title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | years = 1686 – 1687 | after = James (3) }} {{Succession box | before = Callinicus II (2) | title = Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople | years = 1693 – 1694 | after = Callinicus II (3) }} {{s-end}} {{Patriarchs of Constantinople}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dionysius 04 Of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch}} Category:1600s births Category:Year of birth unknown Category:1696 deaths Category:17th-century ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople Category:Bishops of Larissa Category:Clergy from Istanbul Category:Constantinopolitan Greeks