List of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople

[a] The list is mostly based on the compilation made by Demetrius Kiminas,[4] but there is no single "official" numbering of bishops.

[11] During the 16th session of the Council of Chalcedon (October–November 451), also known as the Fourth Ecumenical Council, a resolution was passed elevating the See of Constantinople to a status equal to Rome in ecclesiastical matters, granting it second place after Rome.

[14] After 1204, various Byzantine warlords struggled to establish their legitimacy and sought to reconquer Constantinople.

One of the major contenders, Theodore I Laskaris of Nicaea, sought legitimacy through religion.

[16] The appointment of Michael IV was controversial and legally questionable given that only a lawful emperor could appoint a legitimate patriarch and only a legitimate patriarch could crown a lawful emperor.

Greece, which was recognized as an independent country in 1830, adopted the modern Gregorian calendar in 1923, followed by Turkey in 1926.

On 24 July 1923, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved and replaced by the Republic of Turkey.

This page of the iconodule Chludov Psalter illustrates the line "They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink" with a picture of a soldier offering Christ vinegar on a sponge attached to a pole. Patriarch John VII of Constantinople is depicted rubbing out a painting of Christ with a similar sponge attached to a pole. John VII is caricatured, here as on other pages, with untidy straight hair sticking out in all directions, which was considered ridiculous by the Byzantines.