Metropolis of Ioannina


The Metropolis of Ioannina is a Greek Orthodox diocese centred on the city of Ioannina, in the Epirus of Greece. As one of the "New Lands", it belongs formally to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but is administered by the Church of Greece., the Metropolitan of Ioannina is Maximos Papagiannis.

History

The exact time of Ioannina's foundation is unknown. It is commonly identified with an unnamed new, "well-fortified" city, recorded by the historian Procopius as having been built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I for the inhabitants of ancient Euroia, but archaeological evidence for this is lacking; indeed, early 21st-century excavations have brought to light fortifications dating to the Hellenistic period, the course of which was largely followed by the later Castle of Ioannina.
The name Ioannina appears for the first time in 879, in the acts of the Fourth Council of Constantinople, which refer to one Zacharias, Bishop of Ioannine, a suffragan of Naupaktos. After the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, in 1020 Emperor Basil II subordinated the local bishopric to the Archbishopric of Ohrid. In the treaty of partition of the Byzantine lands after the Fourth Crusade, Ioannina was promised to the Venetians, but in the event, it became part of the new principality of Epirus, founded by Michael I Komnenos Doukas.
Following the assassination of the last native ruler, Thomas I Komnenos Doukas by his nephew, Nicholas Orsini, in 1318, the city refused to accept the latter and turned to the Byzantines for assistance. On this occasion, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos elevated the city to a metropolitan bishopric, and in 1319 Andronikos II issued a chrysobull conceding wide-ranging autonomy and various privileges and exemptions on its inhabitants. The new metropolis was placed in 53rd place among the metropolitan sees subject to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but rose to 42nd place under Andronikos III Palaiologos, and further to 33rd place in. The suffragan sees of the new metropolis in the 14th century are not known, but are likely the same four sees as those attested for : the bishoprics of Vela, Dryinoupolis, Bouthrotos/Glyky, and Himarra.
Under the regime of Thomas II Preljubović, the citizens and the local Church suffered greatly: Thomas confiscated property in favour of his Serb followers, and drove the Metropolitan Sebastianos to exile; nevertheless, he was able to repel successive attempts by the Albanian chieftains Peter Losha and John Bua Spata to capture the city, most notably the great surprise attack of 1379, whose failure the Ioannites attributed to intervention by their patron, Saint Michael. After Thomas' murder in December 1384, the citizens of Ioannina offered their city to Esau de' Buondelmonti. Esau took care to recall those exiled under Thomas, including the Metropolitan Gabriel, and restore the properties confiscated by him. Esau secured a period of peace for the city, which lasted until his death in 1411. The Ioannites then invited the Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, Carlo I Tocco, as their new ruler. Following the death of Carlo I in 1429, in October 1430 Ioannina surrendered to an Ottoman army.
Led by the Metropolitan, the notables of the city secured a charter, the "Order of Sinan Pasha", which outlined the privileges of the city: the church bells would continue to be tolled, no mosques were to be erected, and the authority of the Metropolitan and the possessions of the Church were to be respected. This privileged position lasted until 1611, when the city was engulfed by the peasant revolt led by Dionysius the Philosopher, the Metropolitan of Larissa. In its aftermath, Christians were evicted from the Ioannina Castle, and Muslim and Jewish families settled in their stead. The residence of the Metropolitan was moved from the Castle to the Church of St. Athanasios, where it remains to this day. The original cathedral of the city, which lay in the southeastern part of the Castle, survived at least until 1430, but is recorded as being ruined by 1596/97. Columns from it were reused in the Fethiye Mosque, built by Ali Pasha in 1795.
A separate bishopric for the region Zagori was established from the Metropolitan's jurisdiction in the late 16th century, but it was disestablished soon after. Its seat was probably the Rongovou Monastery. In 1659, Sultan Ahmed III established the Exarchate of Metsovo as a special privilege for the villages of the region of Metsovo. The exarchate was under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and lasted until 1795. Following the Asia Minor Disaster and the Greco-Turkish population exchange, in 1924 a separate Metropolis of Metsovo was established for the provisional settlement of bishops evicted from Asia Minor. Its first and only metropolitan was the former Metropolitan of Ganos and Chora, Timotheos.

Bishops

Apart from Bishop Zacharias in 879, no incumbent of the see is known by name prior to its raising to metropolitan status. From the 14th century, the episcopal list is as follows:
NameName in GreekTenureNotes
SebastianΣεβαστιανός1365–1381
MatthewΜατθαῖος1382–1385
GabrielΓαβριήλ1386–1408
JosephἸωσήφ1408
ProclusΠρόκλος
NeophytosΝεόφυτος1480–1487
NephonΝήφων1500
NilusΝεῖλος1513
TheoleptusΘεόληπτος1513Subsequently Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 1513–1522
GregoryΓρηγόριος1513
SophroniusΣωφρόνιος1520
NephonΝήφων1526–1545
MacariusΜακάριος1545–1549
JoasaphἸωάσαφ1549–15711st tenure
DanielΔανιήλ1571–1580
JoasaphἸωάσαφ Β΄1580–15852nd tenure
MatthewΜατθαῖος1585–1595Subsequently Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 1596, 1598–1602, 1603
NeophytusΝεόφυτος15971st tenure
ManassesΜανασσής1605–1613
MatthewΜατθαῖος1614
NeophytusΝεόφυτος το Β΄1616–16202nd tenure
TheocletusΘεόκλητος1621–1632
Joannicius, formerly of XanthiἸωαννίκιος ὁ ἀπό Ξάνθης1632
PartheniusΠαρθένιος1632–1639Subsequently Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 1639–1644
CallinicusΚαλλίνικος1639–16401st tenure
JoasaphἸωάσαφ1640–1644
CallinicusΚαλλίνικος1644–16662nd tenure
CyrilΚύριλλος1666–16891st tenure
CallinicusΚαλλίνικος1669–16703rd tenure
CyrilΚύριλλος1670–16762nd tenure
JacobἸάκωβος1676–1680
Clement of ChiosΚλήμης ὁ Χίος1680–1715
Hierotheus RaptisἹερόθεος Ράπτης1716–1735
Gregory of ByzantiumΓρηγόριος ὁ Βυζάντιος1736–17671st tenure
Gabriel of SmyrnaΓαβριήλ ἐκ Σμύρνης1767–1771Subsequently Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 1780–1785
Gregory of ByzantiumΓρηγόριος ὁ Βυζάντιος1771–17762nd tenure
HierotheusἹερόθεος1776
PaisiusΠαΐσιος1776–1780
MacariusΜακάριος1780–1799
Hierotheus TremoulasἹερόθεος Τρεμούλας1799–1810
Gabriel GagasΓαβριήλ ὁ Γκάγκας1810–1826
Benedict of ByzantiumΒενέδικτος ὁ Βυζάντιος1826–1830
Joachim, formerly of SofiaἸωακείμ ὁ ἀπό Σόφιας1830–1835
Joachim of ChiosἸωακείμ ὁ Χίος1835–18381st tenure.
Joannicius of CreteἸωαννίκιος ὁ Κρῆς1838–1840
Joachim of ChiosἸωακείμ ὁ Χίος1840–18452nd tenure. Subsequently Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 1860–1863, 1873–1878
JoanniciusἸωαννίκιος1845–1854
PartheniusΠαρθένιος1854–1869
Sophronius ChristidisΣωφρόνιος Χρηστίδης1869–18991st tenure
Gregory KallidisΓρηγόριος Καλλίδης1889–1902
Sophronius ChristidisΣωφρόνιος Χρηστίδης1902–19062nd tenure
Gerasimos TantalidisΓεράσιμος Τανταλίδης1906–1910
Gervasios OrologasΓερβάσιος Ὡρολογᾶς1910–1916
Spyridon VlachosΣπυρίδων Βλάχος1916–19221st tenure
Germanos Karavangelis, formerly of AmaseiaΓερμανός Καραβαγγέλης, ὁ ἀπὸ Ἀμασείας1923–1924
Spyridon VlachosΣπυρίδων Βλάχος1924–1949Subsequently Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, 1949–1956
Demetrios EfthymiouΔημήτριος Ἐυθυμίου1956–1958
Seraphim Tikas, formerly of ArtaΣεραφείμ Τίκας, ὁ ἀπὸ Ἄρτης1958–1974Subsequently Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, 1974–1998
Theocletus SetakisΘεόκλητος Σετάκης1975–2014
Maximos PapagiannisΜάξιμος Παπαγιάννης2014–