Patriarch of Constantinople (842-846), defender of images during
the second Iconoclast persecution, b. at Syracuse, towards the
end of the eighth century; d. at Constantinople, 14 June, 846.
The son of a rich family, he came, as a young man, to
Constantinople intending to obtain a place at Court. But a monk
persuaded him to change his mind and he entered a monastery.
Under the Emperor Leo V (the Armenian, 813-820) the Iconoclast
persecution broke out for the second time. The monks were nearly
all staunch defenders of the images; Methodius stood by his
order and distinguished himself by his opposition to the
Government. In 815 the Patriarch Nicephorus I (806-815) was
deposed and banished for his resistance to the Iconoclast laws;
in his place Theodotus I (815-821) was intruded. In the same
year Methodius went to Rome, apparently sent by the deposed
patriarch, to report the matter to the pope (Paschal I,
817-824). He stayed in Rome till Leo V was murdered in 820 and
succeeded by Michael II (820-829). Hoping for