Editing Gennadius Scholarius (section)

=== Patriarch ===
In the spring of 1454 he was consecrated by the [[metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] of [[Perinthus|Heraclea Perinthus]], but, since both the Church of Hagia Sophia and the palace of the patriarch were now in the hands of the Ottomans, he took up his residence successively in two [[monastery|monasteries]] of the city.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} While holding the episcopal office Gennadius II drew up, apparently for the use of Mehmed, a confession or exposition of the Christian faith, which was translated into Turkish by Ahmed, [[Qadi]] of [[Veria|Berrhoea]] (and first printed in Greek and Latin by A. Brassicanus at [[Vienna]] in 1530).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=597}}

Gennadius II was unhappy as patriarch, and tried to abdicate his position at least twice; in 1456 he resigned. The full reason for this step commonly attributed to his disappointment at the sultan's treatment of Christians, though Mehmed II seems to have kept the fairly tolerant conditions he had allowed to them; various writers hint at other motives.<ref name="Michalcescu_13"/> Eventually, he found the tensions between the [[Greeks]] and the Ottomans overwhelming.

He was later called two times to guide the Christian community as Patriarch during the turbulent period that followed the patriarchate of [[Isidore II of Constantinople]]. There is no consensus among scholars about the exact dates of his last two patriarchates: according to Kiminas (2009), he reigned again from April 1463 to June 1463 and from autumn 1464 to autumn 1465.<ref>For the different scholars' suggestions about the second and third terms of Gennadius II see the [[list of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople]].</ref> Blanchet objects to the existence itself of these two additional terms.<ref>{{harvp|Blanchet|2001}}</ref>

Gennadius II then, like so many of his successors, ended his days as an ex-patriarch and a [[monk]]. He lived in the monastery of John the Baptist near [[Serrae]] in [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], where he wrote books until he died in about 1472.

Gennadius II fills an important place in Byzantine history. He was the last of the old school of [[polemic]]al writers and one of the greatest. Unlike most of his fellows he had an intimate acquaintance with Latin theological literature, especially with St. [[Thomas Aquinas]] and other [[scholasticism|Scholastics]]. He was as skillful an opponent of Catholic theology as [[Mark of Ephesus]], and a more learned one. However, his opposition to Aquinas can be overstated. Marcus Plested observes that Gennadius II's "love and esteem for Thomas was to continued undimmed throughout his career although he would often accentuate the note of caution in later works". Despite his cautions Gennadius writes of Thomas "We love this divinely-inspired and wise man".<ref name="Luis Petit p. 129">Luis Petit, [[Xenophon Sideridis]], [[Martin Jugie]], Eds. (1928–1936), ''Oeuvres complètes de Georges Scholarios'', 8 vols, Paris, VI, 177–178, quoted in Plested, p. 129</ref>

His writings show him to be a student not only of Western philosophy but of controversy with Jews and Muslims, of the great [[Hesychast]] question (he attacked [[Barlaam of Seminara]] and defended the monks; naturally, the Barlaamites were "latinophrones"), in short, of all the questions that were important in his time. He has another kind of importance as the first Patriarch of Constantinople under the Ottomans. From this point of view, he stands at the head of a new period in the history of his Church; the principles that regulated the condition of Orthodox Christians in the [[Ottoman Empire]] are the result of Mehmed II's arrangement with him.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}