Background
Jeremias was born between 1650 and 1660 in the island of Patmos, where he was ordained deacon.
priest Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Jeremias was born between 1650 and 1660 in the island of Patmos, where he was ordained deacon.
He served as a priest in Halki and then in the Diocese of Caesarea in Cappadocia. When his Metropolitan Cyprianus became Patriarch of Constantinople in 1707, he succeeded him as Metropolitan of Cesarea. Jeremiah was elected Patriarch for the first time on 23 March 1716.
Jeremiah was finally deposed on 19 November 1726 after his clashes with the ruler of Moldova Grigore II Ghica concerning his refusal to grant divorce to Ghica"s brother, and he was exiled to Mount Sinai.
In 1732 Jeremiah returned from exile and on 15 September 1732 he was appointed Patriarch for the second time, but after only a few months, in March 1733, he had to leave the throne because he suffered of hemiplegia, and he retired in Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, where he died in 1735. In 1720 he got the permission from the Sultan to rebuilt a new, larger and brighter Orthodox Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint George, destroyed by fire some years before, at the headquarters of the at the Fener.
He also reorganized the Monastery of the Transfiguration on the Princes" Islands, which was enriched with a collection of valuable pictures that had been donated by Peter I of Russia. In December 1723 Jeremias approved the suppression, made in 1721 by Peter I of Russia, of of Moscow and its replacement with the Most Holy Synod.
After that the Melkites of Damascus elected the pro-Westerner Cyril VI Tanas as the new Patriarch of Antioch, Jeremias declared Cyril"s election to be invalid, excommunicated him, and appointed the young monk Sylvester as new Patriarch.
Jeremias consecrated Sylvester as bishop in Istanbul on October 8, 1724. These events split the Melkite Church between the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of Antioch. Jeremias imposed austerity at the expense of the, thus managing to reduce debt and improve its financial situation.