Ο εκ Σκοτίνης Πιερίας πατριάρχης Αλεξανδρείας Καλλίνικος (1800-1889)

Abstract

One of the major ecclesiastical figures of the nineteenth century, Kallinikos was born at Skotina in Pieria in 1800. While still a young man, he became a monk in Olymbiotissa Monastery at Elassona. He received his early education at the splendid Tsaritsani school from some noted teachers of the time. He then became senior archimandrite in the Metropolitanate of Serres and Mytilene, where he was very active in the ecclesiastical social, and educational spheres. Ten years later, he was promoted to the apostolic throne of the Metropolitanate of Thessaloniki, where he was so well loved by his flock that he refused, in 1858, to ascend the throne of St Mark in Alexandria, relenting only after repeated pressure from the Church. In Alexandria and in Constantinople, where he later settled for reasons of health, he gave his all for the rights of Orthodoxy and his Patriarchate. He played an active role in all the major national and ecclesiastical affairs that arose during his tenure. He was a member of the national assembly that drew up the National Regulations, a member of the council that condemned the first phase of the Bulgarian Schism, and, together with Oecumenical Patriarch Cyril II (1845- 72), resolved the problem of the election of an archbishop to the Archbishopric of sinai. He warmly defended his patriarchate’s possessions in Wallachia and Moldavia against the predatory intentions of the local princes, and also re­

solved the problems that arose in Olymbiotissa Monastery. In 1860, he made an unsuccessful bid for election as Oecumenical Patriarch, and the following year resigned from his position as Patriarch of Alexandria for reasons of health. He sought refuge on Mytilene and remained there until his death in 1889. During this time, he took a special interest in his birthplace, Skotina, where, at his own wxpense, he built a magnificent church dedicated to the Theotokos and a school, depositing a considerable sum of money at the Mona­ stery of St Dionysos at Litohoro to pay the salaries of the teachers. The Oecu­ menical Patriarchate continued to assign him missions of an ecclesiastical nature on Mytilene, and he performed them successfully. It was thanks to Kal- linikos’s efforts that the islands of Mytilene and Chios were able to recover quite rapidly from the effects of the severe earthquakes that shook them. The schools of Mytilene flourished and brought forth some noted luminaries. Happy in the love and respect of the islanders, Kallinikos passed away at an advanced age in 1889.