1. Introduction

Kallinikos V¹ was born in Moudania (Mudanya); he was archdeacon of the Diocese of Nicomedia, while in 1779 he became archdeacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In October of the following year he was ordained metropolitan of Adrianople, and he remained at that post until September 1792, when he was transferred to the Diocese of Nicaea.² He was elected to the throne of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on June 17th, 1801; earlier in that same day the Patriarch Neophytos VII had resigned.³ Mathas claims that though Kallinikos was “self-indulgent and indolent and slothful and lackadaisical in church matters, he was however educated, he lacked greed and was beneficent”.⁴

2. Kallinikos V’s first tenure (1801-1806)

Kallinikos’ first tenure lasted until 1806 and is of interest because it is connected with the political balances and the conditions of that period. Koumas mentions that “the faction of Makarios, the new Metropolitan of Ephesus, whose leader was the later prince Alexanderos Soutsos, promoted for the position of the Patriarch Kallinikos IV of Nicaea.⁵ This man who was famed for many things, was helped by the circumstances and his mildness and thrived. For as Dimitrios Mourouzis of the Phanariots was -so to speak- a monarch, he [the Patriarch] could do nothing else but carry out his will exactly”.⁶ An important undertaking of Kallinikos was the erection of the building in Kuruçesme, where the "Megali tou Genous Scholi" (Great School of the Nation) was housed. Koumas, moreover, implies that the building’s erection to an extent resulted from the favour shown to the Constantinople Patriarch by the Sultan Selim III,⁷while Mathas makes the same allusion.

During the tenure of Kallinikos three canonical edicts were issued. His most important actions were the following: in June 1803, the Exarchy of Geromirion was merged with the bishopric of Vella and formed one bishopric under the bishop of Ioannina; in July of the same year, the bishopric of Petra in Crete was united with the village Kainourio, which was already declared a stauropegion; in August 1803 took place the validation of the cenobitic regime of the Russian monastery of St Panteleimon and the recognition of the hieromonk Savvas as its abbot. In April 1804, the Exarchy of Tripolitsa was merged with the bishopric of Amyclae, while in April 1805 was ratified the annexation of the monastery of St George Koudounas in Pringipos (Büyükada) island by the monastery of Holy Lavra in the Peloponnese.⁸

The rise of the influence of the pro-French faction among the Phanariots had as result the weakening of the strength of the Ypsilantis and the Mourouzis families, who leaned towards Russia. As an immediate effect of this Kallinikos lost the support of the faction, thanks to the help of which he had climbed to the throne.⁹ In this way, on September 22nd 1806, he was forced to resign, the official excuse being his advanced age, which impeded him, on account of his frequent illnesses, to continue to fulfil his duties with competency. After this, he retired to Diplokionion (Βeşiktas) in the Bosphorus.

3. His second tenure (1808-1809)

Kallinikos’ second tenure was rather brief; it started on September 10th,1808 –after Gregorios’ V resignation– and lasted until April 23rd, 1809. Koumas as well as Mathas claim that after Mahmud II became Sultan, Kallinikos approached the Grand Vizier Mustafa Bayraktar and promised a significant amount of money to become Patriarch again.¹⁰ Kallinikos was thus elected Ecumenical Patriarch again. Among his most important actions of his second tenure we should mention the establishment of a hospital in Prousa (Bursa), the aim of which was mainly the treatment of those afflicted by the plague.¹¹