Metrophanes of Constantinople

First Patriarch of Constantinople.

St. Metrophanes was the first hierarch of Constantinople, shepherding the Church of Byzantium in the days when St. Constantine the Great made the city his capital. A man of peace and holiness, he guided his flock through the end of the persecutions into the freedom of the Church; by reason of his great age he could not travel to the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, but he upheld its faith.

He reposed in peace soon after, honored by emperor and people alike, and is venerated as the first of the city's long line of archbishops. He is commemorated on June 4.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Metrophanes of Constantinople is commemorated on June 4. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on June 17 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Mitrofanis

Also commemorated on June 4

• Martha and Mary, Sisters of Lazarus

  Holy Woman, Μάρθα και Μαρία

  Righteous Martha and Mary of Bethany, the sisters of Lazarus, friends and disciples of the Lord.

  Name days: Martha, Marta

• Sophia of Ainos

  Holy Woman, Σοφία η εξ Αίνου

  Venerable Sophia of Ainos in Thrace, a mother of six who became an ascetic and mother to orphans.

• John of Monagria, Monk-Martyr

  Martyr, Ιωάννης ο Οσιομάρτυρας

  Monk-Martyr John, abbot of the monastery of Monagria, drowned by the iconoclasts for venerating the holy icons.

• Alonius the Venerable

  Venerable, Αλώνιος

  Venerable Alonius of Egypt, a desert father whose sayings are preserved in the Apophthegmata.

• Zoticus, Attalus, Kamasis and Philip of Niculitel

  Martyr, Ζωτικός, Άτταλος, Κάμασις και Φίλιππος

  Holy Martyrs Zoticus, Attalus, Kamasis and Philip, who suffered at Noviodunum in Scythia Minor.

• Methodius of Peshnosha

  Venerable, Μεθόδιος ο εκ Ρωσίας

  Venerable Methodius, abbot of Peshnosha, a disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.