Gregory VI of Constantinople

Gregory VI (Greek: Γρηγόριος ΣΤ΄), baptismal name Georgios Fourtouniadis (Greek: Γεώργιος Φουρτουνιάδης; March 1, 1798 - June 8, 1881) was Ecumenical Patriarch in the periods 1835-1840 and 1867-1871.

He was born in the 1st of March in 1798 in the village Fanarraki (now known as Rumelifeneri) of Bosphorus. In 1815 he was ordained deacon of the Metropolis of Durusu, adopting the name Gregory. In the 24th of September 1824 he was designated great archdeacon of the Patriarchate by Chrysanthos of Constantinople and in 1825 he was ordained both great protosyncellus and later metropolitan bishop of Pelagonia. On August 1833 he was elected metropolitan bishop of Serres. After much discussion and recriminations and with the support of guilds he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch in the 26th of September in 1835.

He was especially ethical and devout, but persistent to his ideas. He published canonical provisions concerning wedding (matchmaking, dowry), the education of the monks and dogmatic differences with the Catholic Church and the Protestants, he forbid the burial inside churches and he condemned the translation of the Bible in a simpler form of the Greek language. In the 19th of December in 1839 he published a Patriarchal and Synodic newsletter («Περί της νεωστί αναφανείσης αντιχρίστου διδαλίας του Θεοσεβισμού») against Theophilos Kairis and his teaching.

He was deposed by Sultan Abdülmecid I in the 20th of February in 1840 and retired to his house in Arnavutköy. He was reelected 27 years later, after the resignation of Sophronius III of Constantinople, in the 10th of February in 1867 and resigned in the 10th of June in 1871. He died in the 8th if June in 1881. He was buried in the forecourt of the Holy Church of Asomati in Arnavutköy and in 1906 his bones were recovered.