Joachim III of Constantinople

His All-Holiness Joachim III (Demetriades) was the Patriarch of Constantinople during two periods that bridged the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: 1878 to 1884 and 1901 to 1912.
==Life==
Joachim was born in Constantinople in 1834. After receiving his early education in Constantinople he continued it in Vienna, Austria. He entered the clergy in Vienna when he was ordained a deacon and served at the Church of St. George from 1858 to 1861. He also served as protosyngellos for Patriarch Joachim II, his predecessor. Prior to his election as patriarch, Joachim was Metropolitan of Thessalonica. Claude Delaval Cobham, The Patriarchs of Constantinople, Prefatory Notes, p20.
Joachim was elected to the patriarchal throne in 1878. In addition to maintaining a spiritual atmosphere within the patriarchate, Joachim's efforts in office included strengthening the organization of the patriarchal offices and improving the financial status of the patriarchate. To communicate with faithful he established the magazine “Truth”. He also re-organized the philanthropic and educational charities of the patriarchate. During 1882, a new building, sponsored by Patr. Joachim, for the Great School of the Nation (Μεγάλη του Γένους Σχολή) was completed in the Phanar district, greatly expanding the school's services for the Greek population. 
After his removal from the patriarchal throne in 1884, Joachim remained in Constantinople until 1889 when he moved to a monastery on Mount Athos. He remained on Mount Athos until 1901, when he was re-elected to the patriarchal throne. 
Upon returning as patriarch, Joachim III was confronted by the upheaval within the Orthodox community in the Ottoman Balkans as Bulgarians and Serbians strove to use their languages and their ethnic clergy in their communities as the Ottoman government was confronted with various national movements in the new century. Concerned with these affairs within the Orthodox community and the scandals that disgraced the Church, he formed new initiatives within the mission of the patriarchate as it entered the twentieth century. Among these he initiated consideration of a number of reforms in an encyclical to the other patriarchates, including consideration of reform of the calendar. Claude Delaval Cobham, The Patriarchs of Constantinople, Adrian Fortescue, Introduction I, p39-40. 
In 1905, Patr. Joachim was deposed by a group of nine metropolitans led by Metrs. Joachim of Ephesus and Prokopius of Durazzo. However, this move did not have the support of the Sublime Porte that wanted Joachim to remain patriarch. Claude Delaval Cobham, Introduction I, p37-38. He remained patriarch until his repose in 1912.
 
==References==
==Sources==
*Ec-patr: Joachim III
* Wikipedia: Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople
==External links==
* Wikipedia: Phanar Greek Orthodox College
* Phantis: Great School of the Nation
Category:Bishops
Category:Patriarchs of Constantinople