Seraphim II of Constantinople
|Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|
|Church||Church of Constantinople|
|Installed||22 July 1757|
|Term ended||26 March 1761|
|Predecessor||Callinicus IV (III)|
|Died||1781 or 1782
|Previous post||Metropolitan of Philippoupolis|
Serapheim II was born in Delvinë, southern Albania to Greek parents in the late 17th century. Before he was elected as Patriarch of Constantinople on 22 July 1757 he was Metropolitan of Philippoupolis.
In 1759 he invited Eugenios Voulgaris to head the reforms in the patriarchal academy and during his tenure in the academy influenced by Serapheim's pro-Russian ideals Voulgaris contributed to the reapproachment of the Russian Empire with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As a consequence Serapheim II was deposed on 26 March 1761 and exiled on Mount Athos, and he was replaced by the Ottoman authorities with Joannicius III.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 he supported the Russian Empire and the establishment of an Orthodox pro-Russian state in the Balkans and in 1769 he urged the Greek population to rebel against the Turks. After the failure of the revolution, in 1776 he moved to Ukraine, where he died on 7 December 1779. He was buried in the Mhar Monastery.
- Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; official website ( Greek )
- Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate. Wildside Press LLC. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6.
- Μ.Γ.Βαρβούνη (2006). Το Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο, εκδόσεις Χελάνδιον. Athens. p. 117. ISBN 960-87087-5-3.(Greek)
- Nomikos, Michael (2000). Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian neomartyrs of the Ottoman period, 1437-1860. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. p. 200. ISBN 0-88141-196-5.
- Demaras, Konstantinos (1972). A history of modern Greek literature. SUNY Press. p. 136. ISBN 0-87395-071-2.
- Angold, Michael (2006). Eastern Christianity. Cambridge University Press. p. 204. ISBN 0-521-81113-9.
- "Σεραφεὶμ Β´". Ecumenical Patriarchate. Retrieved 19 June 2011.(Greek)