1. Life and deeds

The future ecumenical patriarch Metrophanes III (secular name Georgios, of Bulgarian descent), was born in c.1520 in Agia Paraskevi or Hasköy, a suburb of Constantinople (Istanbul), hence his appellation ‘Byzantios’. Having as a young man become a monk at the monastery of Megisti Lavra on Mt Athos, he was ordained a priest there, and upon returning to his homeland later, he became the chaplain at the Agia Paraskevi church. Upon the ascent of his personal friend Dionysios Galatianos (Dionysios II) to the patriarchal throne, he was detached to the patriarchal church; very soon he was ordained metropolitan of Kaisareia (1546), although it is unlikely that he ever visited the city of Kaisareia (Kayseri) personally or even busied himself with its ecclesiastical affairs.

As the metropolitan of Kaisareia he was sent in 1546 to Venice as a patriarchal exarch with the mission of raising money for the patriarchate and following the developments relating to the Protestant movement. Being well disposed towards the Catholic Church, he probably participated in an arbitrary meeting with the pope, which provoked a serious crisis among the Orthodox Church, a crisis that spanned the 1547-1548 biennium and particularly afflicted patriarch Dionysios II. Thus, he was punished with removal from his office as metropolitan of Caesarea and was displaced to Paronaxia (1547). Four years later, when the furore had settled down, Metrophanes was forgiven and was allowed to settle at Chalki, where he re-established the monastery of Holy Trinity, which he endowed with a noteworthy library.

Moreover, a few years later (January 1565), he managed to be elected to the patriarchal throne with the help of Michael Kantakouzenos. When Kantakouzenos overthrew him on April 4, 1572, he was given the dioceses of Larisa and Chios eis zoarkeian, while he resided at the monastery of Holy Trinity. In 1573, however, he was exiled on Mt Athos because of his attempts to regain his throne, which he succeeded in doing on November 29, 1579, remaining patriarch until his death. Metrophanes III passed away on August 9, 1580, and was buried at the Monastery of Panagia Pammakaristos at Constantinople.

2. Evaluation

This was a prelate who welcomed influences from Western Europe, friendly towards the Roman Catholic Church, but also well disposed towards the Protestant movement. Thus it is no accident that the Lutheran priest Stephen Gerlach, in the service of the German Emperor’s ambassador to the Ottoman court, speaks very highly of him, describing him as follows: “wisest of all the Greeks […], a sombre philanthropist, kindred in thought to the Protestants, he makes efforts to bring about the union of the Western and Eastern Churches”.¹ In general, he was a man of wide intellectual interests and a great bibliophile,² as betokened by the creation of a library in the monastery at Chalki.