FILOTEO KOKKINOS. — A Palamite theologian of the 14th century, from Thessalonica. His fame is due to the fact that, while still a simple monk on Mount Athos, he was commissioned to draw up the Τόμος Ἀγιορευτικῆς in favor of Gregorio Palama. He is subsequently found as hegumen of Laura on the same Mount Athos, later as metropolitan of Heraclea, and finally, twice, as patriarch of Constantinople (1353–54; 1364–76).
In the three principal issues of his patriarchate, namely, the hesychast controversy, the Turkish threat, and the union of the Churches, he gave eloquent proof of his singular audacity in his manner of acting. While the emperor Giovanni V Paleologo was negotiating with the Pope concerning his submission to the unity of the Church, F. placed obstacles in the way by condemning the most prominent opponents of Palamism, such as Precoro Cidonio, and by entering Gregorio Palama himself in the catalogue of the saints (1368). He died in 1379, leaving a substantial legacy of patriarchal decrees worthy of study and a considerable number of works, for the most part unpublished. Although the Greek Church does not preserve F. K. in its synaxaries and menologies, it still celebrates his memory on the Sunday called Orthodoxy Sunday.