TheMetropolis of Corinth, Sicyon, Zemenon, Tarsos and Polyphengos (Greek:Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κορίνθου, Σικυώνος, Ζεμενού, Ταρσού και Πολυφέγγους) is ametropolitan see of theChurch of Greece inCorinthia,Greece. Since theMiddle Ages it has also existed as aRoman Catholictitular see. The latest metropolitan (since 2025) is Paul II Kitsos .
The foundation of the See of Corinth is attributed to theApostle Paul, who is held to have preached in the city and addressed multiple epistles to the Corinthian Church, two of which becamecanon. His successor and first bishop wasSaint Apollos ofEphesus.[1]Pope Clement I also wrote an epistle to the community, in the first century.[2] In theRoman and earlyByzantine periods, Corinth was the capital and metropolitan see of the province ofAchaea (southernGreece).[1][3]
The city was largely destroyed in the earthquakes of 365 and 375, followed byAlaric's invasion in 396. It was rebuilt on a smaller scale thereafter, but with grandiose buildings.[3] Corinth declined from the 6th century on, and the main settlement moved from the lower city to the Acrocorinth. Despite its becoming the capital of thethemes ofHellas andPeloponnese, it was not until the 9th century that the city began to recover, reaching its apogee in the 11th and 12th centuries, when it was the site of a flourishingsilk industry. This prosperity ended with theNorman sack of 1147.[3]
Besides St. Apollos,Le Quien (II, 155) mentions forty-three bishops for the Roman/Byzantine era: among them, St. Sosthenes, the disciple of St. Paul, St. Dionysius; Paul, brother of St. Peter, Bishop of Argos in the tenth century; St. Athanasius, in the same century; George, or Gregory, a commentator of liturgical hymns.[1] Until the 9th century, Corinth remained the metropolis of southern Greece, and particularly thePeloponnese. Indeed, the bishop of Corinth was the only bishop from the Peloponnese to attend theCouncil of Ephesus in 431, and the only bishop from Greece to attend theThird Council of Constantinople in 680.[3] From the early 9th century, however, the primacy of Corinth over the Peloponnese was challenged by theSee of Patras, and from the 10th century on Corinth was restricted to the eastern Peloponnese and certain of theIonian Islands.[3] Based on the variousNotitiae Episcopatuum from the 10th–12th centuries, Corinth counted sevensuffragan sees:Cephalonia,Zakynthos,Damala,Lacedaemon/Monemvasia,Argos,Helos andZemena.[4]
In 1203/4, the city fell to the ambitious lord of theArgolid,Leo Sgouros, who secured possession of Corinth by inviting its Metropolitan, Nicholas, toAcronauplia for dinner, and then had him thrown from its heights.[5] Sgouros' ambitions to create a state of his own in southern Greece were checked by the onslaught of the victoriousCrusaders, who captured Corinth in 1210.[6][7]
After the city's capture, the Crusaders established aLatin Archbishopric to replace the Greek Orthodox see.[8][9] Le Quien (III, 883) mentions twenty Latin prelates from 1210 to 1700, butEubel (I, 218; II, 152) mentions twenty-two archbishops for the period from 1212 to 1476.[1] Although Corinth was the oldest and most prestigious see in southern Greece, during the period ofFrankish rule it was eclipsed by theLatin Archbishopric of Patras.[10]
The city was recovered by the ByzantineDespotate of the Morea in 1395, and, after a short period (1397–1404) of rule by theKnights Hospitaller, returned to Byzantine hands, where it remained until it fell to theOttoman Empire on 8 August 1458.[3] After the Byzantine recovery of the city, the Catholic see became atitular see. Today, the Metropolis of Corinth belongs to theChurch of Greece, under theArchbishop of Athens and All Greece.
| Name | Name in Greek | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apollos | mid-1st century | ||
| Silas | |||
| Onesiphorus | |||
| Sosthenes | |||
| Apollonius | early 2nd century | ||
| Dionysius I | ca. 170 | ||
| Bacchylus | ca. 196 | ||
| Hesiodus | 3rd century | ||
| Dionysius II | ca. 350 | ||
| Dorotheus | late 4th century | ||
| Eustathius | 381 | ||
| Alexander | 406 | ||
| Perigenes | ca. 431 | ||
| Erasistratus | 446 | ||
| Peter | ca. 451 | ||
| Photius | ca. 536 | ||
| Theodore | 6th century | ||
| Anastasius | ca. 590–591 | ||
| John I | 591 | ||
| Stephen I | 681 | ||
| Gabriel I | 8th/9th century | ||
| John II | 879–880 | ||
| Paul | |||
| Basil | |||
| Athanasius | |||
| Gabriel | |||
| George | |||
| Nicetas | |||
| Michael | |||
| Nicholas | |||
| Stephen II | |||
| Theodore | |||
| Gregory | |||
| Sergius | |||
| Nicodemus I | |||
| Hyacinthus | |||
| Theoleptos | |||
| Isidore | |||
| Theognostos | |||
| Latin Archbishops, 1212–mid-15th century | |||
| Mark | 1445 | ||
| Malachias | 1446 | ||
| Joachim | ca. 1447 | ||
| Cyril I | 1492–1507 | ||
| Macarius I | 1507–1517 | ||
| Theophanes | 1517–1534 | ||
| Joasaph I | 1541–1549 | ||
| Sophronius | 1549–1569 | ||
| Laurentius | 1574–1585 | ||
| Neophytus I | 1585–1589 | ||
| Laurentius | 1590 | ||
| Neophytus I | 1595 | ||
| Anthimus | 1620–1622 | ||
| Neophytus II | 1622–1626 | ||
| Daniel | 1626–1628 | ||
| Cyril I Spanos | 1628–1635 | SubsequentlyEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, 1652 and 1654 | |
| Ezekiel II | 1636–1638 | ||
| Joasaph II | 1638–1641 | ||
| Gregory I | 1641–1660 | ||
| Parthenius | 1660–1668 | ||
| Callistus | 1668–1672 | ||
| Zachary I | 1678–1684 | ||
| Gregory II Notaras | 1684–1715 | underVenetian rule | |
| Joasaph III | 1715–1719 | ||
| Metrophanes | 1719 | ||
| Parthenios | 1734–1763 | ||
| Makarios Notaras | 1764–1767 | ||
| Gabriel III | 1776–1784 | ||
| Zachary II | 1784–1819 | ||
| Cyril II | 1819–1836 | ||
| Cyril III | 1841–1842 | ||
| Gerasimos | 1842–1843 | ||
| Jonah | 1852–1854 | ||
| Amfilochios | 1854–1875 | ||
| Bartholomew | 1899–1918 | ||
| Damaskinos Papandreou | 1922–1938 | SubsequentlyArchbishop of Athens, 1941–1949 | |
| Michail Konstantinidis | 1939–1949 | ||
| Prokopios | 1949–1965 | ||
| Paneteleimon Karanikolas | 1965–2006 | ||
| Dionysios Mantalos | 2006–2025 | ||
| Paul II Kitsos | 2025 –present | ||