GIORGIO ACROPOLITA. — Byzantine writer of the 13th century. Born in Constantinople, he was a pupil of NICEPHORUS BLEMMYDES, tutor to the emperors NICEPHORUS I and NICEPHORUS II LASKARIS. He took part in the war against Epirus and was taken prisoner there (1257–59), from which Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus freed him, sending him as one of his legates to the Second Council of Lyon; and there, on 6 July 1274, G. made on behalf of his emperor the oath of submission to the Roman Church. He who had still in the years 1257–59 defended the doctrine contrary to the *Filioque* sincerely converted to the Catholic Church and remained faithful to it until his death, which occurred in 1282.
G. was a prolific and versatile writer, in poetry, eloquence, history, philosophy, and theology; he was also a teacher of philosophy and had as a pupil the future Patriarch Gregory of Cyprus, who, however, went from being a friend of the Union to becoming its bitterest opponent.