MICHAEL of Anchialus. — Greek Patriarch of Constantinople (1170–78). He displayed zeal regarding the discipline of the clergy and vigilance against Christological errors. While he made attempts at union with the Armenian katholikoi Nerses IV and Gregory IV, he showed great intransigence in the negotiations conducted in the name of the Greek Emperor Manuel I Comnenus with the Roman Church, which he effectively obstructed, as is demonstrated by his still extant dialogue with the Emperor at the conference of 1171 (or 1176). M. rejected the three pillars of the projected union, namely the juridical primacy of the pope, the right of appeal to the pope, and the liturgical commemoration of the pope.
Bibl.: V. Laurenti, Michel d’Anchialo, in Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, X, cols. 1668–74; V. Grumel, Les regestes des actes du patriarcat de Constantinople, I, III, Paris 1947, nn. 1109–50, pp. 143–69.