(12th century
Manasses Chronicle). Born to wealthy parents, Methodius was sent as a young man to Constantinople to continue his education and hopefully attain an appointment at court. But instead, he entered a monastery in
Bithynia, eventually becoming
abbot. Under Emperor
Leo V the Armenian (813–820) the
Iconoclast persecution broke out for the second time. In 815 Methodius went to
Rome, perhaps as an envoy of the deposed Patriarch
Nicephorus I of Constantinople. Upon his return in 821 he was arrested and exiled as an
iconodule by the Iconoclast regime of Emperor
Michael II. In 828 Michael II, not long before his death, mitigated the persecution and proclaimed a general amnesty. Methodius returned to Constantinople. He then deposed the iconoclast Patriarch
John VII of Constantinople and secured the appointment of Methodius as his successor, bringing about the end of the iconoclast controversy. A week after his appointment and after the
Council of Constantinople (843), accompanied by Theodora, Michael III, and Theoktistos, Methodius I made a triumphal procession from the
church of Blachernae to
Hagia Sophia on 11 March 843, restoring the icons to the church. This heralded the restoration of Christian orthodoxy, and became a holiday in the Byzantine Church, celebrated every year on the First Sunday of
Great Lent, and known as the "
Triumph of Orthodoxy". The final years of the saint passed peacefully, he toiled much, wisely guided the Church and his flock. Throughout his short patriarchate, Methodius I tried to pursue a moderate line of accommodation with members of the clergy who were formerly iconoclasts. Methodius I was well-educated, engaged in both copying and writing of manuscripts. His individual works included polemica, hagiographical and liturgical works, sermons and poetry. == Notes and references ==