JOSEPH, Bishop of Methone. - Celebrated polemicist of the 15th century, b. on Crete (cf. his letter in J. Hardt, Catal. cod. mss. Bibl. reg. di Baviera, II, Munich 1806, p. 256); he was named "head of the Churches" by Card. Bessarion, when the latter became patriarch of Constantinople (Apr. 1463), and "viceprotopope" of the island (1470). Later he was elected bishop of Metone in Greece. He made a journey to Rome (1498) and to Venice (1499), where he preached and collected alms. As soon as he learned of the Turkish attack against Metone he returned to the city and encouraged everyone to resist. He was therefore killed by the enemies in 1500. G. was a valiant defender of the Union of Florence, a skilled writer and a virtuous man.
G.'s fame goes back to his polemical works: 1) Defensio Synodi Graecae, formerly attributed to Gennadius: PG 159, 1109-1394; 2) Responsio ad libellum Marci Ephesi: PG 159, 1023-94; 3) Disceptatio de differentiis inter Graecos et Latinas: PG 159, 957-1022. He was also the author of other minor works: a Canon Synodi VIII Florentiae habitae and a Synaxorion: PG 159, 1093-1106. In addition he transcribed the entire ms. Conv. sopp. 3 of the Laurenziana in Florence (signed) and Parisinus Gr. 423 (unsigned). There are unpublished works of G. that include sermons, a letter, a treatise In Cretenes schismaticos (cf. A. Olivieri and N. Festa, Indice di codd. gr. Bolognesi, in Stud. ital. di filol. class., 3 [1895], p. 471; V. Puntoni, Indici codd. gr. Bonon. ab A. Olivieri compos., supp., ibid., 4 [1876], p. 370) and a hymn to the Holy Spirit (Conv. sopp. 3, f. 390?).
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Giuseppe Gill