Saints John V and George I, Patriarchs of Constantinople

Sts. John V and George I of Constantinople (Feast Day - August 18)

Verses

To George.

You exhorted George O my Christ,
Expect death, I come to call you above.

To John.

The faces of the Church are saddened,
Deprived and carrying off John.

John V was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 669 to 674 or 675. Before this he was the Skeuophylax of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and Protekdikos and Chartophylax of the Patriarchate. It was during his patriarchate that the distressing first Siege of Constantinople (674–678) was undertaken by the rigid Umayyad Caliphate. During the troubled times of the Christological disputes he was a staunch Orthodox in his faith and teaching. The length of his rule as Patriarch is uncertain as different sources have recorded it differently. Kallistos Nikephoros noted it as four years and a few months, while the catalogues of Leoglavios and Nikephoros record it as five years and nine months. Theophanes recorded it as six years.

George I was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 679 to 686. Before this he was the Skeuophylax of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and Chancellor of the Patriarchate. It was during his patriarchate that the Sixth Ecumenical Synod took place in 680 in Constantinople, at which time Monothelitism was condemned. He was succeeded, after a one-year bishopric and interlude of a reign by Patriarch Theodore I of Constantinople, by Paul III of Constantinople.