Editing Theodore Metochites (section)

== Life ==
Metochites was born in [[Constantinople]] as the son of the [[archdeacon]] [[George Metochites]], a fervent supporter of the [[Second Council of Lyons|union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches]]. After the [[Council of Blachernae (1285)|Council of Blachernae]] in 1285, his father was condemned and exiled, and Metochites seems to have spent his adolescence in the monastic milieux of [[Bithynia]] in [[Asia Minor]]. He devoted himself to studies of both secular and religious authors. When Andronicus II visited [[Nicaea]] in 1290/91, Metochites made such an impression on him that he was immediately called to the court and made [[Logothete of the Herds]]. Little more than a year later, he was appointed a Senator. Besides carrying out his political duties (embassies to [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia|Cilicia]] in 1295 and to [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Serbia]] in 1299), Metochites continued to study and to write. In 1312/13, he started learning astronomy from [[Manuel Bryennios]]; later he himself became the teacher of [[Nicephorus Gregoras]]. He was married with five sons and one daughter, Irene (spouse of [[List of Byzantine usurpers|John Komnenos Palaiologos]]).

Metochites' political career culminated in 1321, when he was invested as [[Grand Logothete]]. He was then at the summit of his power, and also one of the richest men of his age. Some of the money was spent on restoring and decorating the [[Chora Church|church of the Chora monastery]] in the northwest of Constantinople, where Metochites' [[donor portrait]] can still be seen in a famous [[mosaic]] in the [[narthex]], above the entrance to the nave.

Metochites' fortunes were, however, linked with his emperor's. After a few years of intermittent civil war, Andronicus II was overthrown in 1328 by his own grandson, [[Andronicus III Palaeologus]]. Metochites went down with him. He was deprived of his possessions and forced into exile in [[Didymoteicho]]n. In 1330, he was allowed to return to Constantinople. He then withdrew to Chora, where he died on 13 March 1332, having adopted the monastic name Theoleptos.