METODIO, saint. — Byzantine patriarch, born in the second half of the eighth century at Siracusa, died at Costantinopoli on 14 June 847. Educated in his homeland and later at the court of Costantinopoli, he entered a monastery there. A defender of the cult of the Most Holy Images, he went to Rome in 815, where he remained for seven years. Having returned to Costantinopoli after the death of the iconoclast emperor Leone V l'Armeno, he suffered for the faith also under the emperors Michele II and Teofilo, until, after the death of the latter, he was recalled by Teodora, the iconophile empress, and appointed patriarch of Costantinopoli. M. restored at the Synod of 843 the cult of the Most Holy Images according to the decrees of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicea (787), and established in memory of this victory the “feast of orthodoxy.”
His patriarchate was hindered by the dissension of the Studites, who were too rigorous regarding the reconciliation of clerics formerly iconoclasts and in the question concerning the commemoration of the husband of the empress Teodora; on the other hand, the patriarch seems to have been too severe toward these monks, and especially toward the writings of St. Teodoro Studita (who had already died in 826). It nevertheless appears that, before the patriarch’s death, peace was restored between him and the monks. M. is the author of apologetic, hagiographical, liturgical, and canonical writings, as well as poems. Pope Nicola I bestowed high praise upon him (PL 119, 946 D); he is venerated as a saint in the Roman and Greek Church. Feast day: 14 June.