METOCHITES, GIORGIO. - Byzantine writer, defender of the union of the Second Council of Lyons (1274), ambassador of his emperor Michele VIII Paleologo to Innocenzo V (v.) in the period 1275-76. M. died in prison for the cause of the unity of the Church in 1328.
M. wrote five books on the procession of the Holy Spirit, two books refuting the writings of Massimo Planudes and Manuele Moscopulos, and a historical work concerning the origins of the Byzantine schism and the religious controversies in the time of the emperors Michele VIII Paleologo and Andronico II. Of his writings only a part has hitherto been published, by Cardinal A. Mai and the learned Basilian Cozza-Luzi, and partly reprinted by Migne (PG 141, 1275-1418), and recently enlarged by C. Gianelli.
