Philotheos, Patriarch of Constantinople

Philotheos Kokkinos (Greek: Φιλόθεος Κόκκινος; c. 1300 – 1379) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for two periods from November 1353 to 1354 and 1364 to 1376, and a leader of the Byzantine monastic and religious revival in the 14th century. His numerous theological, liturgical, and canonical works received wide circulation not only in Byzantium but throughout the Slavic Orthodox world. He was appointed patriarch in 1353 by the emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, deposed by John V Palaiologos in 1354, then restored to the patriarchal throne in 1364. He opposed Emperor John V in his intent to negotiate the political re-union of the churches with Popes Urban V and Gregory XI. Instead, in 1367 he supported the proposed assembly of an authentic, ecumenical union-council, in order to properly resolve the differences with the Western Church. He is commemorated on October 11, and is regarded as a "Protector of Orthodoxy", alongside Saints Photios the Great, Mark Evgenikos, and Gregory Palamas.