Saint Dionysius I of Constantinople

Dionysius I of Constantinople (Greek: Διονύσιος; died 1492) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople two times, from 1466 to 1471 and from 1488 to 1490. He is honoured as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day is 23 November. Dionysius was born in Dimitsana, in the Peloponnese. He became a monk and entered in a monastery in Constantinople where he was a pupil of Mark of Ephesus, Archbishop of Ephesus, who ordained him as priest. During the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 he was enslaved by the Ottomans, but he was bought and freed some time later in Adrianople by an archon known as Kyritzes (probably Demetrios Apokaukos, one of the two Greek secretaries of Sultan Mehmed II). Following his release Dionysius became highly thought of by Mara Branković, daughter of the Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković and one of the wives of Sultan Murad II, the father of Mehmed II. Although Mara remained a lifelong Christian, she was quite influential with Mehmed II. Supported by Mara, Dionysius was appointed Metropolitan of Philippopolis by Patriarch Gennadius II of Constantinople. At that time the Patriarchal throne was contested by two factions, one led by the lay archons George Galesiotes (the Great Chartophylax) and Manuel Christonymos (the future Patriarch Maximus III of Constantinople), the other composed of the nobles of the former Empire of Trebizond who were forced to move to Constantinople after Trebizond's fall to the Ottomans in 1461. The former supported Mark II of Constantinople as Patriarch, the latter supported Symeon I of Constantinople. In 1466 Symeon I was successful in deposing Mark II and obtaining the throne after presenting the Ottoman government with 2000 pieces of gold. Symeon I's first reign lasted only a short time because his simoniac action outraged Mara Branković, who went to Constantinople to complain to Mehmed II.