Dorotheos II of Trebizond

Last updated March 25, 2019

Dorotheos II (Greek : Δωρόθεος Βʹ) was the second metropolitan bishop of Trebizond under Ottoman rule. His tenure began in 1472.

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.

Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Persia in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast. The Venetian and Genoese merchants paid visits to Trebizond during the medieval period and sold silk, linen and woolen fabric; the Republic of Genoa had an important merchant colony within the city called Leonkastron that played a role to Trebizond similar to the one Galata played to Constantinople. Trabzon formed the basis of several states in its long history and was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond between 1204 and 1461. During the early modern period, Trabzon, because of the importance of its port, again became a focal point of trade to Persia and the Caucasus.

The origin of Dorotheos is unclear, nor is anything about his early life known except that prior to his appointment to the see of Trebizond in 1472, he was Metropolitan of Athens as mentioned in his act of election to Trebizond. His activity in Athens is equally unknown, however, nor is he mentioned by any historians of the region.^[1] Dorotheos was appointed to Trebizond in succession to Pankratios, who had only months before been appointed metropolitan after a vacancy dating back to the capture of Trebizond by the Ottomans in 1461.^[1]

Pankratios or Pangratios was the first Metropolitan bishop of Trebizond following the Ottoman conquest of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461.

The Siege of Trebizond was the successful siege of the city of Trebizond, capital of the Empire of Trebizond, by the Ottomans under Sultan Mehmed II, which ended on 15 August 1461. The siege was the culmination of a lengthy campaign on the Ottoman side, which involved co-ordinated but independent manoeuvres by a large army and navy. The Trapezuntine defenders had relied on a network of alliances that would provide them with support and manpower when the Ottomans began their siege, but failed at the moment Emperor David Megas Komnenos most needed it.

Dorotheos was sent to Trebizond after the forced resignation of his predecessor. Pankratios had been appointed, after such a long interregnum, to calm the anti-Ottoman agitation among the Christians of the Pontus region around Trebizond. This agitation was particularly dangerous as it was encouraged by the neighbouring Aq Qoyunlu sultan Uzun Hassan, who was linked through family ties with the former imperial house of Trebizond and backed the designs of a scion of that house, Alexios Komnenos. In order to counteract the threat of a rebellion, the Ottoman Sultan elevated the Trapezuntine Symeon I to Patriarch of Constantinople, and the latter immediately appointed Pankratios to the metropolitan throne of Trebizond. It appears, however, that Pankratios was unable to calm the situation, or that he may have himself been actively involved in stirring up discontent, and after a few months the Sultan demanded his resignation.^[1] Dorotheos, who followed, seems to have been more successful, although no details are known about his tenure or his later life, except that he went on to become metropolitan of Caesarea. He may have been the immediate predecessor of the next known metropolitan of Trebizond, Gennadios I, attested in 1501, but this can not be verified.^[1]

The Diocese of Pontus was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of northern and northeastern Asia Minor up to the border with the Sassanid Empire in Armenia. The diocese was established after the reforms of Diocletian, and its vicarius, headquartered at Amaseia, was subordinate to the Praetorian prefecture of the East. Its military forces, facing the Sassanid threat, were commanded by the dux Ponti et Armeniae until the middle of the 5th century, and by two separate duces afterwards, until Justinian I instituted a new magister militum per Armeniam for the Armenian frontier. Justinian's reforms also abolished the diocese in 535, and its vicar was made into the governor of Galatia I. The results however were not satisfactory, and the diocese was reestablished in 548, continuing to function until replaced by the themata of Armeniakon and Opsikion in the later 7th century. On the north east shore of the Black Sea, the cities Nitike, Pitiyus, and Dioscurias were part of the diocese until the 7th century. The diocese included 12 provinces: Bithynia, Honorias, Paphlagonia, Helenopontus, Pontus Polemoniacus, Galatia I and Galatia II (Salutaris), Cappadocia I and Cappadocia II, Armenia I, Armenia II, Armenia Maior and the autonomous Armenian principalities (Satrapiae) in the area of Sophene. In 536, Armenia III and Armenia IV were created.

The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans, was a Persianate Sunni Oghuz Turkic tribal confederation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey from 1378 to 1501, and in their last decades also ruled Armenia, Azerbaijan, most part of Iran, and Iraq.

The Empire of Trebizond or the Trapezuntine Empire was a monarchy and one of three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire that flourished during the 13th through 15th centuries, consisting of the far northeastern corner of Anatolia and the southern Crimea. The empire was formed in 1204 after the Georgian expedition in Chaldia, commanded by Alexios Komnenos a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople. Alexios later declared himself Emperor and established himself in Trebizond. Alexios and David Komnenos, grandsons and last male descendants of deposed Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, pressed their claims as "Roman Emperors" against Byzantine Emperor Alexios V Doukas. The later Byzantine emperors, as well as Byzantine authors, such as George Pachymeres, Nicephorus Gregoras and to some extent Trapezuntines such as John Lazaropoulos and Basilios Bessarion, regarded the emperors of Trebizond as the “princes of the Lazes”, while the possession of these "princes" was also called Lazica, in other words, their state was known as the Principality of the Lazes. Thus from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the Laskaris and later with the Palaiologos dynasties, the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.

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Komnenos, Latinized Comnenus, plural Komnenoi or Comneni, is a noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi founded and ruled the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461). Through intermarriages with other noble families, notably the Doukai, Angeloi, and Palaiologoi, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world.

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The Pontic Greeks, also known as Pontian Greeks, are an ethnically Greek group who traditionally lived in the region of Pontus, on the shores of the Black Sea and in the Pontic Mountains of northeastern Anatolia. Many later migrated to other parts of Eastern Anatolia, to the former Russian province of Kars Oblast in the Transcaucasus, and to Georgia in various waves between the Ottoman conquest of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461 and the second Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. Those from southern Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea are often referred to as "Northern Pontic [Greeks]", in contrast to those from "South Pontus", which strictly speaking is Pontus proper. Those from Georgia, northeastern Anatolia, and the former Russian Caucasus are in contemporary Greek academic circles often referred to as "Eastern Pontic [Greeks]" or as Caucasian Greeks, but also include the Turkic-speaking Urums.

Andronikos I Gidos or Andronicus I Gidus, was an Emperor of Trebizond (1222–1235). He is the only ruler of Trebizond who was not a blood relative of the founder of that state, Alexios I Megas Komnenos. George Finlay suggests he may be the same Andronikos who was a general of Theodore I Laskaris. During his reign, Trebizond successfully withstood a siege of the city by the Seljuk Turks, and later supported the Shah of Khwarizm in the latter's unsuccessful battle with the Seljuks.

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Mark II Xylokaravis, was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1465 to 1466. In 1467 he became Archbishop of Ohrid, a post he held until his death.

Symeon I of Trebizond, was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople three times: for a short time in 1466, from 1471 to 1475 and from 1482 to 1486. In 1484 he presided over the Synod of Constantinople of 1484 which repudiated the Union of Florence.

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Lambros Koromilas was a Greek economist and diplomat, and one of the leading figures in the Macedonian Struggle during his tenure as Greek Consul-General to Thessaloniki in 1904–1907. He also served as Finance Minister in 1910–1912 and Foreign Minister before and during the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913.

Pachomius II Patestos, was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1584 to 1585. He is sometimes considered an usurper.

References

1 2 3 4 Moustakas, Konstantinos (2002). "Dorotheos II of Trebizond". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Foundation of the Hellenic World. Retrieved 10 March 2014.

Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Unknown Title last held by Isidore	Metropolitan bishop of Athens unknown – 1472	Unknown Title next held by Anthimus II
Preceded by Pankratios	Metropolitan bishop of Trebizond 1472 – unknown	Unknown Title next held by Gennadios I

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[Dorotheos-1] 1 2 3 4 Moustakas, Konstantinos (2002). "Dorotheos II of Trebizond". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Foundation of the Hellenic World. Retrieved 10 March 2014.