Құдіретті Константинополь Патриархы Каллист I (1350-1363)

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1350 to 1353 and 1354 to 1363

Kallistos I (; died August 1363) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for two periods from June 1350 to 1353 and from 1354 to 1363. Kallistos I was an Athonite monk and supporter of Gregory Palamas. He died in Constantinople in 1363.

Nothing is known of Callistus' early life. He was a disciple of Gregory Palamas and Gregory of Sinai. He lived at Mount Athos for 28 years and was a monk at the Skete of Magoula near Philotheou Monastery at Mount Athos. In 1353, Kallistos refused to crown Matthew Kantakouzenos, son of emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, as emperor with his father and, as a result, was deposed. After his deposition, Kallistos returned to Mount Athos. In 1354, after John VI abdicated, Kallistos returned as patriarch. After his return, Kallistos worked to strengthen the administration of the patriarchate. He reorganized the parish system of churches under the surveillance of a patriarchal exarch. He also strove to strengthen patriarchal control over various Orthodox church jurisdictions, even to the extent of excommunicating Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia, for establishing the Serbian archbishop as an independent patriarch. In 1355, Kallistos wrote to the clergy of Trnovo that those Latins who had baptized by single immersion should be re baptized. He called the baptism by one immersion most improper and full of impiety. His view was based on the Apostolic canons which clearly state that those baptized by one immersion are not baptized and should be re baptized.

Kallistos died in 1363 while he was en route to Serres as a member of the embassy of emperor John V Palaiologos seeking aid from Helena of Bulgaria, Empress of Serbia against the Ottoman Empire. While Kallistos was Patriarch, he once passed through Mount Athos on his way to Serbia and met Maximos the Hut Burner, who greeted the Patriarch in a humorous manner, "This old man will never see his old lady again." This turned out to be a prophecy of how Kallistos would never see Constantinople ("his old lady") again, since he would die before being able to return there. Maximos then bid farewell to Kallistos by chanting, "Blessed are the blameless in the way" (from Psalm 118, a funeral psalm). Kallistos subsequently journeyed on to Serbia, where he then died. (Note that the "Callistus" in this account is often confused with Callistus II of Constantinople, who reigned as Patriarch in 1397, after the death of Maximos of Kafsokalyvia.)

With another monk, Ignatius Xanthopoulos, with whom he had developed a life long friendship at Mount Athos, Kallistos composed the important Century, a tract of 100 sections on the ascetical practices of the Hesychastic monks; it was incorporated in the Philokalia of Nicodemus the Hagiorite and had a great influence on Orthodox spirituality. In the Philokalia, the full title of the work is An exact rule and method with God's help for those who choose to live as hesychasts and monastics by the monks Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopoulos, including testimonies from the saints. Kallistos wrote the life of his teacher Gregory of Sinai probably around 1351. The date of composition is suggested by the editor based on the references to Kallistos' clash with Nikephoros Gregoras at the final Palamite council.