METROPHANES, me"tref'a-niz, CRITOPULUS,
crai'tep-u-lus: Patriarch of Alexandria; b. at
Berrhoea, Macedonia, probably in 1589; d. at
Alexandria, probably in 1639. After entering a
monastery at an early age and becoming the
protosyncellus of
the patriarch of Constantinople, he
was sent to England by Cyril Lucar (q.v.) and
studied at Oxford until 1623. He then went to
Helmstedt, and, after visiting other German cities,
was an associate of the Reformed at Geneva in
1627. In 1631 he signed himself at Alexandria as
Metropolitan of Memphis and Egypt; and in 1637
he was enthroned as patriarch, signing the synod's
condemnation of Lucar's teachings in 1638.
His most important work is his " Confession of
the Catholic
and Apostolic Eastern Church," writ
ten at Helmstedt (given in full by J. Michaelcescu,
Die Bekenntnisse der.gnechisch-oriental%achen Kirche,
Leipsic,1904). This is a clear presentation of Greek
doctrine and worship with sharp criticism of Roman
Catholic tenets. Dividing theology into "simple"
and "economic," he treats under the former head
the doctrine of God and the Trinity, showing that
each of the Persons sustains a definite relation to
the other two, and defending the single procession
of the Holy Ghost. In the "economic" section
he seeks to show that man, deprived of the light of
the Spirit by his fall (but not bereft of free will),
and long condemned by the law, could best be rec
onciled with God only through the Incarnation in
sinful flesh, mankind both being reconciled through
the sacrifice of Christ, and being renewed and par
doned by immediate participation in the Divine.
He cautiously defines the Church as possessing the
marks of catholic and apostolic holiness and doc
trine, though making little mention of hierarchic
organization. The sacraments are reduced to three:
baptism, representing reconciliation with the Father;
the Eucharist, incorporation with the Son; and
penance, the perseverance of the Holy Ghost. The
remainder of the work is devoted chiefly to the
rites
of the Greek Church.
In his "Panegyric on the Incarnation" (ed. G.
Queocias, Altdorf, 1626) he polemizes against those
who deny the divinity of Christ, besides treating
of redemption and emphasizing the true humanity
of Christ. In his " Answer to the Inquiry . . on
Gal. v. 16
" (Nuremberg, 1626), moreover, he ex
plains the opposition between flesh and spirit, in
genuine Greek fashion, as that between body and
soul. He also wrote an Epistula . . . de
voc>bm
in musica
liturgica Grcecorum usitatis
in 1626 (ed.
J. J. Crudelius, probably in 1737), as well as letters,
sermons, the polemic
Antipanoplia
against the Uni
ate Rhodinus, and a large work still preserved in
manuscript in Cod. Harl. 5059.
Considered by some a Greek Lutheran, by others
a Calvinist, and by others still a friend of the Ro
man Catholics, Metrophanes seems to have been willing
to enjoy the favor of the powerful without re
gard to creed. Herein may lie the reason why he
was not polemic against other communions, and
was relatively indifferent to his own.
(Philipp Meyer.)
Bibliography:
Lives have been written by J. A. Dietel
mair, Altdorf,
1769;
A.
C.
Demetracopulos, Leipsic, 1870; and G. G. Mazarakie, Cairo,
1884.
Consult further:
FabriciurHarles,
Bibliothem Graca,
a.
597 sqq.,
Hamburg,
1808;
A. H. Hors,
Eighteen Centuries of
the
Orao
dox Greek
Church, pp. 560-561, New
York,
1899; HL,
viii. 1444-48.
