METHODIUS
242
METHODIUS
clusively for women, 23 theological institutions (some
of them forming part of the universities already men-
tioned), t)3 foreign mission schools, unci i missionary
institutes and Bible training schools. .\n educalional
Croject which appeals for support and .-iyMipath.v to all ranches of .\mcrican Mctliodisin. is ilic exclusively post-graduate "American I'nivcrsity ". .\ site of ninety-two acres was purchascil in 18'J0 in tlie suburbs of Washington, U. C, and the university was organ- ized the following year. It is not to be opened in any of its departments until its endowment " be not less than §5,000,000 over and above its present real estate". The dissemination of religious literature is obtaineti by the foundation of '"Book Concerns" (located at Xew York and Cincinnati for the ilctho- dist Episcopal Church; at Nashville, Tennessee, for the Methodist Episcopal Church South) and a periodi- cal press, for the piiblicatiotis of which the title of "Advocates" is particularly popular. The young people are banded together for the promotion of personal piety and charitable work in the prosperous Epworth League founded in 1SS9 at CleveUmd, Ohio, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, and organized in the Methodist Episcopal Church, .South, in 1891. In the second half of the nineteenth centurj-, the de- nomination extended its social work considerably by the foimdation of orphanages and homes for tlie ageci. Hospitals were introduced in ISSl with the incorpora- tion of the Methodist lOpiscopal Hospital at Brooklyn. VI. General Statistics. — .According to the "Metho- dist Year-book" (New York, 1910) the Wcsleyan Methodists have 520,808 church members (including probationers) in Great Britain, 29,.'):U in Ireland, 143,467 in their foreign missions, and 1 IT.IKJ in .South Africa. The Austnilasian Metliodist ('liiirch lias a membership of 1.50,751, and the Chunh of Canada one of 3.33,692. In the United States .M.th.Hli^ni lall branches) numbers, according to Dr. Carroll, 0, 177,224 communicants. Of these 3,159,913 belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church and 1,780,778 to the Methodist Episcopal Cliiucli, South.
SCH\FF, Creeds ofi • . -, \,a N ■ .rk, 1877), I, 8S2-904:
III. 807-13;. Stevln -, // ' '/ S.-w York, 1858-61) ;
Idem. Hist, of thr 1/ . ' - (New York. 1864);
Smith. Hist, of H'o/. , ., _l/ " - I ,.l"i.. 1 s.-i7-il i ■ Cm!-
ROI.U The Religious Forrrs o{ Ihi I . i, L,,, ( i :,,,'. /I ist Series. I (New Y'ork. 1S1!6); BncKLi K /; ■ i; - ,,: ilir
t/. S., *id., V(6thed..Ncw Y'ork. l:iM I ,/ U.lh-
odists in the Story of the Churchrx ,\- , i _\ , .v Y.jik. I'jii:)); Alexander, Hist, of the Methodist Kpi.^copnl Church South in Amer. Church Hist. Series. XI (New York. 1894); Drinkhouse, Hist, of Methodist Reform (Baltimore, 1899); Sdtherland, Methodism in Canada (London, 1903).
N. A. Weber.
Methodius, S.wnt. See Cyril and Methodius, Sai.nts.
Methodius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (842- 846), defender of images during the second Iconoclast persecution, b. at .Syracuse, towards the end of the eighth century; d. at Constantinople, 14 June, 846. The son of a rich family, he came, as a young man, to Constantinople intending to obtain a place at Court. But a monk persuaded him to change his mind and he entered a mona-stery. Under the Emperor Leo V (the Armenian, S13-S20) the Iconoclast persecution broke out for the second time. The monks were nearly all staunch defenders of the images : Methodius stood by his order and dLstinguishecl himself by his opposition to the Government. In 815 the Patriarch .N'icephorus I (806-815) was deposed an<I banished for his resistance to the Iconoclast laws; in his place Theodotus I (81.5- 821) was intruded. In the same year Methodius went to Rome, apparently sent by the deposed patriarch, to report the matter to the pope (P.a,sch,al I, 817-824). He staved in Home till Leo V was nmrdered in 820 and succeeded by Michael II (820-829). Hoping for bet- ter things from the new emperor, Methcnlius then went back to Constantinople bearing a letter in which the pope tried to persuade Michael to change the
policy of the Government and restore the Patriarch
Nicephorus. But Michael only increased the fierce-
ness of the persecution. As soon as Methoditis had
delivered his letter and exhorted the emperor to act
according to it, he w-as severely scourged (with 70
stripes), taken to the island .\ntigoiii in the Propontis,
and there imprisoned in a disused toml). The tomll
must be conceived as a building of a certain size;
Methodius lived seven years in it. In 828 .Michael II,'
not long before his death, mitigated the persecution
and proclaimed a general amnesty. Profiting by this,
Methodius came out of his prison and returned to Con-
stantinople almost worn out by his privations. His
spirit was unbroken and he took up the defence of the
holy images as zealously as before.
Michael II was succeeded by his son Theophilus (S29-S42), who caused the last and fiercest persecu- tion of image-worshippers. Methodius again with- stood the emperor to his face, was again scourged and imprisoned under the palace. But the same night he escaped, helped liy lus friends in the city, who hid him in their hoti.se and bound up his wounds. For this the Government confiscatctl their property. But seeing that Methodius was not to be overcome by punish- ment, the emperor tried to convince him by argument. The result of their discussion was that Methodius to some extent persuaded the emperor. At any rate towards the end of the reign the persecution was miti- gated. Theophilus died ui 842 and at once the whole situation was changed. His wife, Theodora, became regent for her son Michael III (the Drunkard, 842- 867). She had always been an image-wor»hij)per in secret; now that she had the powershcatonce began to restore images, set free the confessors in prison and bring back everything to the conditions of the Second Niccne Council (787). The Patriarch of Constanti- nople, John VII (832-842), was an Iconoclast set up by the late Government. As he persisted in his heresy he was deposed and Methodius was made patriarch in his place (842-846). Methodius then helped the em- press-regent in her restoration. He summoned a synod at Constantinople (842) that approved of John VII's deposition and his own succession. It had no new laws to make about images. The decrees of Nic;ea II that had received the assent of the pope and the whole Church as those of an CEcumenicil Council were put in force again. On 19 Feb., 812, the images were brought in solemn procession back to the churches. This was the first "Feast of Orthodoxy", kept again in memory of that event on the first Sun- day of Lent every year throughout the Byzantine Church. Methodius then proceeded to dejiose Icono- clast bishops throughout his patriarchate, replacing them by image-worshippers. In doing so lie seems to have acted severely. An opposition formed itself against him that nearly became an organized schism. The patriarch was accused of rape; but the woman in question admitted on examination that she had been bought by his enemies.
On 13 March, 842, Methodius brought the relics of his predecessor Nicephorus (who had died in exile) with great honour to Constantinople. They were ex- posed for a time in the church of the Holy Wi-sdom. then buried in that of the .\postles. Methodius was succeeded by Ignatius, under whom the great schism of Photius broke out. Methodius is a saint to Catho- lics and Orthodox. He is named in the Roman Mar- tyrology (14 June), on which day the Byzantine Church keeps his feast together with that of the Prophet ElLseus. He is acclaimed with the other pa- triarchs, defenders of images, in the service of the feast of Orthodoxy: "To Germanus, Tar.asius, Nice- phorus and Methodius, true high priests of (Jorl and defenders and teachers of Orthodoxy, R. Internal memory (thrice)." The Uniate Syrians have his feast on the same day. The Orthodox have a curiotis legend, that his prayers and those of Theodora saved
