Arsenios Autoreianos

   Patriarch of Constantinople (qq.v.) from 1254-1260 and again from 1261-1265, who became a center of church opposition to Michael VIII Palaiologos (q.v.). He crowned Michael VIII co-emperor with John IV Laskaris (q.v.) in 1259, but when, in 1261, Michael VIII crowned his infant son Andronikos II Palaiologos (q.v.) co-emperor and had John IV blinded, Arsenios excommunicated Michael VIII. In 1265 Arsenios was implicated in a plot to overthrow the emperor, and Michael VIII had Arsenios deposed. His supporters, the so-called Arsenites (q.v.), refused to recognize Arsenios's successor Joseph I (q.v.) as patriarch. The Arsenites remained a dissident faction within the church until 1310.