Cyriacus II

Holy Hierarch Cyriacus II was patriarch of Constantinople from 595 to 606. Before his patriarchate he had been a presbyter and steward of the cathedral of Hagia Sophia, and was on good terms with the future pope of Rome Gregory I the Great, whom he had come to know in the years when Gregory was in Constantinople as nuncio of Pope Pelagius II.

Pope Gregory hoped that Cyriacus would give up the novelty of his predecessor on the throne of Constantinople, John IV the Faster, who had taken the title of "ecumenical patriarch" by decision of a local council in 587. For this reason Gregory welcomed the election of Cyriacus in 595, and the interrupted communion between Rome and Constantinople was restored. Soon, however, Cyriacus drew the pope's displeasure, because he did not give up the new title, and relations between the see of Rome and the empire grew tense again, against the background of existing political disputes over Italian affairs.

He reposed in the Lord on 9 October 606 and was buried in the church of the Holy Apostles. He is commemorated on 9 November, according to the Greek calendar, and his name is not in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.