Metrophanes 1 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | M IX |
| PmbZ No. | 4986 |
| Religion | Christian |
| Locations | Constantinople; Noumera (Prison of, Constantinople); Cherson (Tauric Chersonese) (exileplace); Smyrna (Asia); Smyrna (Asia) (officeplace) |
| Occupation | Bishop |
| Titles | Bishop, Smyrna (Asia) (office) |
| Textual Sources | Genesii, Josephi, Regum Libri Quattuor, eds. A. Lesmüller-Werner and I. Thurn, CFHB 14 (Berlin, 1978) (history); Photius, Epistulae, ed. B. Laourdas and L. G. Westerink, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1983-85) (letters); Theophanes Continuatus, ed. I. Bekker (Bonn, 1838) (history) |
Bishop of Smyrna; Metrophanes 1 was an only child; his mother (Anonyma 21) was suborned by Ioannes 5 and the iconoclasts to bring charges of rape against the patriarch Methodios (843-847) (Methodios 1), which she admitted were false and made for money; this occurred before Metrophanes 1 became bishop: Theoph. Cont. IV 10 (p. 158). Bishop of Smyrna (Μητροφάνει, τῷ κατὰ καιρούς τινας προέδρῳ τῶν Σμυρναίων πόλεως χρηματίσαντι); his mother, Anonyma 21, claimed that he was the son of the patriarch Methodios 1: Genesius IV 5.
Already metropolitan of Smyrna in 859, Metrophanes 1 supported Ignatios 1 at the synod of 859; in August of that year he was one of those imprisoned in the Noumera prison (Mansi XVI 416D) and was subsequently exiled to Cherson. Archbishop of Smyrna; he is named in a letter written by pope Nicolas I (Nikolaos 28) to the emperor Michael III (Michael 11) as one of the supporters of the patriarch Ignatios 1: Nicolaus I, Ep. 86. At the synod of 869/870 he was among the first to be restored to his see (Mansi XVI 18C). He spoke at length at the synod (Mansi XVI 82B-83C, 344D-345A, 89C-92D, 349D-353C) and addressed a letter to the logothetes of the dromos, Manuel (see PBE II) (Mansi XVI 413E-420D).
Metrophanes 1, metropolitan bishop of Smyrna, was the addressee of a letter from the patriarch Photios 1, probably written between November 877 and November 879; after Photios 1 regained his see following the death of Ignatios 1, Metrophanes 1 refused to recognise him and was consequently expelled from his own see by papal legates; he is addressed as φίλων ἄριστε by Photios 1 and is styled τῇ σῇ ὁσιότητι: Photius, Ep. 282 (II 236ff. Laourdas-Westerink) (addressed Μητροφάνει μητροπολίτῃ Σμύρνης).
At the Synod of 879/880 Metrophanes 1 had been replaced by Niketas (Mansi XVIIA 496C-501C; see PBE II).
Metrophanes 1 was author of several hagiographic, exegetic and liturgical works (Beck, Kirche 543ff.). Two epitaphs exist for him, one by Anastasios protospatharios and kuaistor and one by Leo patrikios and magistros (ed. S. G. Mercati, in BZ 30 (1929/30) 60. See also Anastasius Bibliothecarius, Epistula ad Gaudericum episcopum (BHL 2072), 437, 9-27 (= p. 65).
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