SIMEONE METAFRASTE (Logotheta). — Hagiographer of the 10th century. He is the author of a large collection of hagiographical legends, compiled between 961 and 964.
In composing his work, S. had aims that were more moral than historical; but the accusation that he invented martyrs and legends is unjustified. This work enjoyed immense success and continued to grow in subsequent periods, so that it is not easy to establish the Metaphrastian core. Only the acumen of A. Ehrhard, the collector of hagiographical manuscripts, was able to demonstrate that 149 lives in this work were composed by S. M. himself. From the encomium of S. by Michael Psellos, it is known that the acts of the martyrs and the legends of the ancient saints were not to the taste of the literary men of Byzantium and that, for this reason, S. undertook to recast the ancient biographies for his contemporaries in a new rhetorical style.
Ehrhard distinguishes three categories in the transformations carried out by S. M.: 1) lives incorporated with almost no changes, a minimal number; 2) lives completely changed in style, and these are the greatest in number; 3) lives newly composed. However, the questions connected with S.’s work can be resolved only when all the material collected by Ehrhard has finished being printed.
In addition to the hagiographical collection, S. also composed collections of moral maxims from the works of s. Basil the Great, Macarius of Egypt, and other authors; two discourses in honor of the Madonna; nine letters to friends; prayers and poems; and a chronicle—works whose authenticity still requires further study.