Ecumenical Patriarch Parthenius III of Constantinople

Parthenius III
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
Appointed	26 July 1656
Term ended	24 March 1657
Predecessor	Joannicius II
Successor	Gabriel II
Personal details
Born	unknown Island of Lesvos
Died	24 March 1657 Istanbul
Previous post	Metropolitan of Chios
Sainthood
Feast day	March 24
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Parthenius III (Greek: Παρθένιος Γ΄), (? – 24 March 1657) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1656–1657. In 1657 he was charged with treason by the Ottoman Sultan and hanged, after refusing to abjure his own Christian faith. He is hence revered as New Hieromartyr Parthenius III and his feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is March 24.

Parthenius was born in the island of Lesbos, and in 1639 he was elected metropolitan of Chios. On 26 July 1656 he became Ecumenical Patriarch, succeeding Joannicius II.

Parthenius, who sided with the Russians in the clashes for the control of the Church in the Ukraine, in 1656 denounced the 1643 Confession of Faith of the previous Metropolitan of Kiev Peter Mogila, which he deemed to be too close to the Catholic doctrine. The Confession of Faith of Peter Mogila had been however already approved by all the Greek-speaking Patriarchs in 1643, and it was again approved in 1662 by Patriarch Nectarius of Jerusalem and by the 1672 Synod of Jerusalem. Parthenius also held a burial for the remains, recovered on a shore, of his predecessor Cyril Lucaris, who was killed in 1638 on a ship in the Sea of Marmara and his corpse thrown in the waters.

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