Metrophanes of Smyrna
Christian bishop, Metropolitan of Smyrna (9th century)
Metrophanes of Smyrna was a Christian bishop, Metropolitan of Smyrna, in the ninth century. He was a leader of the Ignatian (opposed to Photius) bishops at the time of the Photian schism (867).
Life
In 857, when Ignatius was deposed, Metrophanes was already Metropolitan of Smyrna. He was strongly opposed to Photius. For a short time he wavered, as Photius promised not to attack Ignatius' rights, but, as soon as he found how little the intruder kept his word, he went back to his former attitude, from which nothing could make him waver again. Metrophanes was the leader of the bishops who excommunicated Photius in 858; they declared themselves excommunicate if ever they recognized him.
He was chained and imprisoned, then sent into exile by the Government. After 867, Metrophanes came back to his see. He was present at the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 869, opened the sixth session with a speech and was one of the judges who condemned Photius. When Ignatius died in 877 and Photius succeeded lawfully with the consent of Pope John VIII, Metrophanes still refused to recognise him, for which conduct he was again banished.
“Metrophanes of Smyrna” enters the record as christian bishop, Metropolitan of Smyrna (9th century). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Metrophanes, Smyrna and Christian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Metrophanes of Smyrna” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.