His All Holiness Joseph II was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1416 to 1439. He was member of the delegation from the Eastern Church to the Council of Florence in 1439. He, as well as Emperor John VIII Palaiologus, was a supporter of the re-union of the Eastern and Western Churches. He died during the council. Born in 1360, the son of Tsar Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria, Joseph first appeared in history when he became a monk on Mount Athos. In 1393, he was elected Metropolitan of Ephesus in western Asia Minor. He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople on May 21, 1416.