Metropolis of Mytiline
The Holy Metropolis of Mytiline, Eressos and Plomariou [1] (Gr. Μυτιλήνης, Ερεσσού και Πλωμαρίου) is part of the Church of Greece. The Metropolis of Mytiline, Eressos and Plomariou covers the area of the island of Lesbos in the northeastern Aegean Sea. The metropolis is one of the metropolises of the New Lands in Greece that are within the jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople but de facto are administered for practical reasons as part of the Church of Greece under an agreement between the churches of Athens and Constantinople. [1]
Contents
Metropolitan
- Iakovos (Frantzis) 1988 - Present
Past hierarchs
- Constantine (Valiadis) 1876 - 1893
History
Lesbos, the area of the metropolis, was colonized by Hellenic peoples in pre-Christian times and through the centuries became part of the empires of Alexander, the Ptolemies, and the Romans. The Apostle Paul visited the island in 52 AD, bringing Christianity. During the periods of Roman and Eastern Roman times the island was used as a place of exile and was subject to frequent attacks.
After the island was conquered by Sultan Mehmet II in 1462 the population was decimated and economic and cultural life came to a halt bringing a period where the monasteries and churches became the intellectual centers of the island life. During the nineteenth century, Greek liberation movements arose that eventually resulted in the island becoming part of Greece in 1923. [2]
The island of Lesbos is separated from the Turkish mainland by a narrow channel of the Mediterranean. The town of Mutiline on Lesbos is most famous for an original icon painted by St. Luke the Evangelist and it is enshrined in the village and the Church of Agiassos. Mytiline is also famous for housing the relics of St. Theodore of Byzantium and more recently the Ss. Raphael, Nicholas and Irene. It also has taken on a greater significance for housing the Mantamados icon, one of only two "statue" icons in Orthodoxy and extremally wonder-working for the army, military and air-force.
See also
Miraculous and wonder-working icons
Local saints
- Saint Euprepeia [2]
- Saint Thomayi of Lesbos (January 3, 1204)
- Saints Olympia and Euphrosynis (May 11 - 13th century)
- Saint Andrew, Archbishop of Crete (July 4 - 7th and 8th-century)
- Saint George, Bishop of Mytiline (April 7, 821)
- Saint Gregory, Bishop of Accou (March 4, either 1150 or 1185)[3]
- Saint Theoctiste
- Saint Theophanis the Sirgiannis
- Saints Full Brothers David, Symeon and George the Confessors
- The Saints 5 virgin-martyrs of Lesbos [4]
New Martyrs
- New-martyr Theodore of Byzantium (February 17, 1795)
- Holy New-martyrs Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene
- New-martyr Anastasios and Demetrios of Asomaton and Agiason (August 11 - between 1816-1819)
- New-martyr George the so-called Pazianos [5] (February 14, 1693)
- New-martyr Doukas the Mytilinain (April 24, 1564)
- New-martyr Theodoros the Hatzi-Mytilinain (January 30, 1784)
- New-martyr Constantinos of Agarinon (June 2, 1819)
- New-martyr Luke the Mytilinain (March 23, 1802)
- New-martyr Nicholas the Mytilinain (1771)
- Ecumenical Patriarch Parthenios and new-martyr (March 24, 1657)
- New-martyr Efthymios Agritellis (May 29, 1921)
Other
- "Saint" Ignatios Agallianos (1480-1566)
- Saint Irene of Athens
- Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Leimonos founded by Saint Ignatios Agallianos in 1526.
End notes
- ↑ Mytiline can also be spelled Mytilene, Mitiline or Mitilene
- ↑ Her identity was discovered in 1931 in an ancient ruin and is unoffocially recognised since there are no records to her martyrdom.
- ↑ His holy relics and tomb were found in 1935.
- ↑ How they martyred and when is unknown. They are only mentioned in a Synaxaristis by Saint Nicodemos the Aghiorite
- ↑ Goerge the so-called Pazianos or Paizianis or Pasgianos.
Source
- Patriarch Constantine V In Greek
External links
- Official Webpage (in Greek)
