Germanus II of Constantinople

Germanus II Nauplius (; died June 1240) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (in exile at Nicaea) from 4 January 1223 until his death in June 1240.

In 1223, he was selected by the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes to fill the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which had relocated in Nymphaion after the fall of Constantinople in 1204. Germanus II assumed the patriarchal throne on 4 January 1223 and quickly proved himself a valuable ally to Vatatzes.

By contrast, Germanus II was willing to bow to political realities on the issue of the Bulgarian Church. In 1235, he convened a council in Lampsacus on the Hellespont that included Eastern Patriarchs, dignitaries from the Greek and Bulgarian churches, abbots from a number of monasteries including from Mount Athos. This Council recognized the Bulgarian Church as a junior patriarchate. In part this was the result of political necessity, as a condition for the alliance between Vatatzes and the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II, but it was also seen a necessary move to detach the Bulgarian Church from its post-1204 submission to Rome. Similar motives lay behind his recognition of the autocephalous status of the Serbian Church.

Although a fierce critic of the perceived "errors" of the Catholic Church, and author of numerous anti-Catholic treatises, In response, a delegation of Franciscans and Dominicans arrived at Nicaea in 1234, but their remit was limited, they had no authority to conduct any negotiations, only to sound out the emperor and the patriarch. The Latin delegation attended a council held in Nymphaion, but it broke up in acrimony between the Greeks and Latins. The papal envoys fled back to Rome, while the Nicaeans went on to attack Constantinople.

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