Metochita, Georgius

Metochita, Georgius (Γεώργιος ὁ Μετοχίτης), a Greek theologian, flourished in the latter half of the 13th -century. He was the archdeacon of the Church at Constantinople, the intimate friend and zealous partisan of the emperor Andronicus, and favored a union of the Greek Church with the Latin. Under the reign of Andronicus the Younger he was ostracized on account of his religious opinions, and died in exile. He was the relative, perhaps the father, of Theodorus Metochita, with whom he has often been confounded. He wrote several works of great importance for their bearing on the history of his times; but his literary style, although energetic, is rude and well-nigh barbarous. His Refutation (Α᾿ντίῥῤησις) of the three Chapters of Planude, and his Reply to Manuel Nepos of Crete, were published by Leo Allatius, in the Graecia Orthodoxa, vol. 2 The same publisher has given to the public a fragment of Metochita's Discourse on the Union of the Churches, together with a portion of the fourth book of his treatise On the Procession of the Holy Ghost, bound in one volume with Diatriba contra

Hottingerum. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grceca, 10:412; Cave, Hist. Litt. s.v.