Basil III (born Basil Georgiades, 1846 - September 29, 1929) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1925 to 1929. He was described as a wise prelate, "strict in life, charitable, a philanthropist and an eloquent writer."
Biographical data
He was born In 1846 in Chrysoupoli (Skoutari), Chalkidona. His parents were George, a clergyman, and Catherine. He studied theology and literature at the University of Athens, graduating in 1871. The following year he was appointed professor at the Halki Theological School, where he taught Hebrew, hermeneutics, the Old and New Testaments and geography for eight years. At the same time, he engaged in historical manuscript research and published on the subject. While a professor, he was sent by the School in 1880 for further studies in Europe. He worked in the libraries of Rome, Berlin, Leipzig, London and Vienna. In 1884, he received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Munich.
In 1884, he returned to Constantinople and was appointed director of the patriarchate's seminary. In December of the same year, he was ordained deacon and elder and appointed archimandrite by Patriarch Joachim the Magnificent.
On August 8, 1889, he was elected Metropolitan of Anchialos, and was ordained a priest on September 24. As Metropolitan, he was zealously involved in supporting education. During his time, Anchialos acquired the magnificent Greek Parthenagoga building, erected with a large bequest from Fotini Karyandi, while the magnificent church Panagia was completed. Basil II took the lead in this work, even with his personal work, but he failed to maintain the unity of his flock, the more conservative part of which turned against him with petitions to the patriarchate and publications in the press. For a time he remained in Constantinople as a synodist, where he sided with the faction opposed to the patriarch. In 1904, he sent a manuscript of church music, dated 1450, containing polychronisms by Constantine Palaiologos to the National Library in Athens. In July 1906, Vasilios witnessed a fire that destroyed Anchialos, and the so-called exarchists also set fire to his residence, destroying his large library. He was arrested by the Bulgarians and imprisoned in Silymno (Sumla) until October. After his release, he was forced to flee to Constantinople. He was then sent to Cyprus to help solve the long-standing "archbishopric problem" there. On February 7, 1909, he was elected Metropolitan of Pelagonia, and on May 13, 1910, he was transferred to the Metropolis of Nicosia.
Patriarchate
He remained in Nicaea until the population exchange, during which the then Patriarch Constantine VI was also recognized as the exchanged. Following the patriarch's resignation, an encyclical synod elected Basil as his successor on July 13, 1925, at the age of 79.
During his patriarchate, a population exchange was signed between Greece and Turkey, which excluded the synod, the bishops of the patriarchate and the patriarch. In 1925, the Autonomous Church of Romania was given patriarchal dignity, but the Turkish government forbade the convening of a pan-Orthodox synod scheduled for December 1925 on the calendar and other issues. Negotiations also began with the Italian government on the question of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Italian-occupied Dodecanese, and the Charter of Mount Athos was revised. On September 4, 1928, the Greek Church was commissioned to administer the provinces of the Ecumenical Throne that were now within Greek territory (the so-called New Territories) by virtue of the Patriarchal and Synodal Act, which detailed the ten conditions under which the concession was made. Also in 1928, St. Myra was prepared and the Charter of the Church in America was ratified. Finally, during his reign, the Patriarchate's journal Orthodoxy was launched.
Basil III died on September 29, 1929 at the age of 83 and was buried on October 2 at the Patriarchal Church.
According to the official website of the Grand Lodge of Greece, he was a member of a Masonic lodge. His patriarchate is believed to have normalized and balanced relations between the patriarchate and the newly established Turkish state, after the difficulties the relationship between the two had experienced in previous years.
