Germanus I of Constantinople

Life events

1. Born — 634

   Germanus was born c. 634, a son of the patrician Justinian, according to Theophanes the Confessor.

2. Other — 668

   Following his father Justinian's execution in 668 for alleged involvement in the murder of Emperor Constans II and support of the usurper Mizizios, Germanus survived the reprisals of Emperor Constantine IV but was castrated — made a eunuch — by the victors.

3. Tonsured

   After the execution of his father, Germanus was sent to a monastery, beginning his ecclesiastical career.

4. Consecrated

   Germanus resurfaced as Bishop of Cyzicus, on the Propontis coast of Asia Minor, prior to 712.

5. Council — 712

   Germanus participated in the Council of Constantinople of 712, convened under Emperor Philippicus, which issued decisions favoring Monothelitism and abolished the canons of the Third Council of Constantinople (680–681).

6. Consecrated — 715

   On 11 August 715, Germanus was elected Patriarch of Constantinople, succeeding Patriarch John VI who had been dismissed for his Monothelite associations after Emperor Philippicus was deposed.

7. Exiled — 730

   Germanus resigned the patriarchate in 730 following Emperor Leo III's edicts against the veneration of images (726–729), which Germanus as an iconodule refused to enforce; he retired to his family's residence and lived there until his death.

8. Died — 740

   Germanus died in 740 at an advanced age; he was buried at the Chora Church in Constantinople.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Germanus was a leading iconodule who opposed Emperor Leo III's iconoclastic edicts (726–729); Pope Gregory II (715–731) praised his 'zeal and steadfastness' in defending the veneration of images. (likely)
• His Historia Ecclesiastica — published in English in 1985 as On the Divine Liturgy — served for centuries as the quasi-official explanation of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, though Johann Peter Kirsch questioned its attribution to Germanus. (likely)
• The Second Council of Nicaea (787) formally included Germanus in the diptychs of the saints, recognizing him as a confessor of icon veneration in both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic traditions. (certain)
• The hymn "Μέγα καὶ παράδοξον θαῦμα" (translated by John Mason Neale as "A Great and Mighty Wonder") has been attributed to Germanus, though Neale misattributed it to Anatolius of Constantinople. (plausible)
• Pope Pius XII cited a text of Germanus in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus (1950) proclaiming the dogma of Mary's Assumption into heaven. (likely)