Methodios I of Constantinople

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Saint

Methodius I
Roman Catholic Church
FeastJune 14
Saint

Methodios I of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Installed843
Term ended847
PredecessorJohn VII
SuccessorSt Ignatius
Personal details
DenominationChalcedonian Christianity

Methodios I or Methodius I (

feast day is celebrated on June 14 in both the East and the West
.

Life

Born to wealthy parents, Methodios was sent as a young man to Constantinople to continue his education and hopefully attain an appointment at court. But instead he entered a monastery in Bithynia, eventually becoming abbot.[citation needed]

Under Emperor

iconodule by the Iconoclast regime of Emperor Michael II. Methodios was released in 829 and assumed a position of importance at the court of the even more fervently iconoclast Emperor Theophilos.[citation needed
]

Patriarch Methodios discussing matters with the emperor Theophilos (12th century Manasses Chronicle)

Soon after the death of the emperor, in 843, the influential minister

Triumph of Orthodoxy".[citation needed
]

Throughout his short patriarchate, Methodios tried to pursue a moderate line of accommodation with members of the clergy who were formerly Iconoclasts. This policy was opposed by extremists, primarily the monks of the

Stoudios monastery, who demanded that the former Iconoclasts be punished severely as heretics. To rein in the extremists, Methodios was forced to excommunicate and arrest some of the more persevering monks.[citation needed
]

Methodios was indeed well-educated; engaged in both copying and writing of manuscripts. His individual works included polemica, hagiographical and liturgical works, sermons and poetry.[citation needed]

See also

References

Titles of Chalcedonian Christianity
Preceded by
John VII
Patriarch of Constantinople

843–847
Succeeded by
Ignatios