Gabriel II of Constantinople

Saint Gabriel II, hieromartyr, was ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople for only one week in 1657, and then metropolitan of Prousa. He was hanged by the Turks at Bursa on 3 December 1659 for having baptized a convert and refusing to renounce the Christian faith. He is honoured as a New Hieromartyr, and his feast is 3 December.

Early life

Little is known of his birthplace and date, or of his youth. One source says he was unlearned. He was made metropolitan of Ganos and Chora on 23 March 1648 and remained there until 26 November 1651, when according to some sources he withdrew because of old age and illness, and he returned in 1654.

After the Turks executed Patriarch Parthenius III, Gabriel was raised to the patriarchate on 23 April 1657, with the support of much of the Phanariot and Orthodox nobility. The Holy Synod, however, judged him too little educated for the patriarchal throne and removed him within days, on 30 April 1657, or after a week or twelve days by other sources.

Martyrdom

After his removal Gabriel kept the see of Ganos and received as proedros the administration of the metropolis of Prousa, vacant at the time, at Bursa. Two years later the Jewish community of the city denounced him to the sultan for having secretly baptized a Muslim, though according to other sources the person baptized was in fact a Jew who was afterward passed off as a Muslim to impress the Turkish authorities. They also charged him with keeping good relations with the Russians, with whom the Ottoman Empire was then at war.

Sultan Mehmed IV and his grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha were then at Bursa, and the denunciation was given directly to them. Gabriel was known for his pro-⁠Russian sympathies, and relations between the Ottomans and Russia were tense, so the vizier decided to "believe" the accusation. The metropolitan was arrested and imprisoned. The grand vizier promised him pardon and honours if he would convert to Islam. Gabriel refused, was tortured, and was finally hanged at Bursa on 3 December 1659.

Veneration

According to the Greek sources he was buried in the Kamariotissa monastery on the island of Halki. Because of the manner of his death he was counted a hieromartyr, and his memory is kept on 3 December.