Cyril Lucaris, Greek patriarch and theologian (d. 1638)

Cyril Lucaris or Loukaris (Greek: Κύριλλος Λούκαρις, 13 November 1572 – 27 June 1638), born Constantine Lucaris, was a Greek prelate and theologian, and a native of Candia, Crete (then under the Republic of Venice). He later became the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria as Cyril III and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as Cyril I. Calvinist contemporaries, and some modern Calvinist writers as well, have claimed that he strove for a reform of the Eastern Orthodox Church along Calvinist Protestant lines. Attempts to bring Calvinism into the Orthodox Church were rejected, and Cyril's actions, motivations, and specific viewpoints remain a matter of debate among scholars. However, the Orthodox Church recognizes him as a hieromartyr and defender of the Orthodox faith against both the Jesuit Catholics and Calvinist Protestants. The official glorification of Cyril Loukaris took place by decision of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria on 6 October 2009, and his memory is commemorated on 27 June.