Manuel II of Constantinople

Manuel II (Μανουήλ; died 3 November 1254) was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1244 to 1255. Because of the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204–61), Manuel resided at the temporary Byzantine capital in Nicaea. He worked in close collaboration with Emperor John III Ducas Vatatzes, particularly in negotiations concerning possible union with the Roman Church. In 1249, Manuel II was likely involved with the delegation from Pope Innocent IV and led by the Franciscan friar John of Parma, which arrived at the temporary Patriarchal seat in Nymphaeum in 1249 and until 1250, there to debate the filioque against the Orthodox spokesman Nikephoros Blemmydes. The delegation from the Pope returned to him with a note from the Patriarch which exhorted unity under Christ as the only head of the Church, avoiding the term "Schism" and referring only to the "separation" of the Churches. In 1253, the Emperor and Manuel sent envoys to Pope Innocent IV to more formally discuss ecclesiastical union, renewing these negotiations. These were conducted in Perugia, and appear to have achieved some entente, with Innocent acknowledging the sincerity of the Orthodox Church's desire for union. Despite continued disagreement about the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed, negotiations continued, which resulted in an initial offer of formal recognition of the Greek patriarchate. No further progress was made after 1254, however, as the architects of the entente—Pope Innovent IV, the Emperor John Vatatzes, and the Patriarch Manuel II—all died within a few months of each other, and the impetus was lost.

In 1247–48 he wrote to the Armenian King Hethum I and the Catholicos regarding their relations with the Byzantine Church, and in July 1250 he composed a series of responses to canonical questions. In 1253–54 he received solemn assurance, under pain of censure, from the regent Michael VIII Palaeologus, that he would not intrigue against the Emperor of Nicaea, Theodore II Lascaris (1254–58); and early in 1254 he addressed a letter to the emperor instructing him on his duties.

Manuel held, before his patriarchate, the position of protopapas among the ecclesiastics of the Byzantine court, then fixed at Nicea. Noted as a man of piety and holiness, "though married," Akropolites comments sourly that he was a man "who had no experience of letters, nor was able to unravel the meaning of what he read". The three Sententice Synodales of the patriarch Manuel given in the Jus Graeco-Romanum undoubtedly belong to this patriarch.

Manuel's death is distinctly fixed as having occurred two months before that of the Emperor John III Ducas Vatatzes, on 30 October 1255. The duration of his patriarchate is fixed by Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, at eleven years. George Akropolites and Xanthopoulos both suggest the throne was vacant "for some years" before Manuel was appointed. It is therefore relatively certain Manuel died in office that year, before 3 November 1255.