'''Teodor Metohit''' (oko vizantijski pisac, državnik, filozof i pokrovitelj vizantijskog cara Andronika II Paleologa.

Teodor Metohit je bio sin Georgija Metohita, jednog od istaknutih vizantijskih teologa pod Mihailom VIII Paleologom i vodećeg zagovornika unije sa rimskom crkvom. Teodora je Andronik II slao na različite diplomatske misije kako bi našao pomoć za suprostavljanje nadirućim Turcima. U jednom uzaludnom pokušaju da spreči dalje vojno i političko opadanje Vizantije putem saveza sa Srbijom, Metohit je Skoplju i ugovorio Simonide, petogodišnje kćerke cara Andronika Simonide, i kralja Milutina. Kao rezultat toga, Srbija je, premda vojno jača od Vizantije i faktički vladar nekada vizantijske Makedonije, priznala univerzalni suverenitet Vizantijskog carstva. U svom ''Poslaničkom izveštaju'' ''(Presbeutikos)'' Metohit je ostavio vredan istorijski prikaz ovih pregovora, kao i konkretan opis vizantijskog uticaja na slovensku dvorsku aristokratiju.

Unapređen u velikog logoteta ''(megas logothetes)'', Metohit se oženio Irinom Paleolog te je, kao član vladajuće dinastije, presudno uticao na državnu politiku Vizantije od abdicira. Zbog svoje lojalnosti Androniku II, novi car Andronik III Paleolog oduzeo je Metohitu njegovo bogatstvo i prognao ga. Metohit se 1331. povukao u manastir ''Chora'' (danas Kariye Camii) u Carigradu, gde se bavio književnim i naučnim radom. 

thumb|Theodore Metochites presenting the model of the renovated [[Chora Church to Christ Pantocrator]]
'''Theodoros Metochites''' (Byzantine statesman, author, gentleman philosopher, and patron of the arts. From c. 1305 to 1328 he held the position of personal adviser (''mesazon'') to emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus.

== Life ==
Metochites was born in union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. After the Second Council of Nicaea in Logothete of the Herds. Little more than a year later, he was appointed a Senator. Besides carrying out his political duties (embassies to Cilicia in 1295 and to Serbia in 1299), Metochites continued to study and to write. In 1312/1313, 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 John Palaeologus).

Metochites’ political career culminated in 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 church of the Chora monastery in the northwest of Constantinople,[http://www.patriarchate.org/ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/html/chora__page_1.html] where Metochites’ donor portrait can still be seen in a famous mosaic in the narthex, above the entrance to the nave.[http://archnet.org/library/images/one-image-large.tcl?location_id=8867&image_id=41202]

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 Didymoteichon. 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.

== Works ==
Metochites’ extant œuvre comprises 20 ''Poems'' in Ptolemaic astronomy (''Stoicheiosis astronomike''), and 120 essays on various subjects, the ''Semeioseis gnomikai''. Many of these works are still unedited.

'''Editions with English translations:'''

*Featherstone, J. M. 2000. ''Theodore Metochites’s Poems ‘To Himself’.'' Introduction, Text, and Translation. Vienna. ISBN 3-7001-2853-3

*Hult, K. 2002. ''Theodore Metochites on Ancient Authors and Philosophy: Semeioseis gnomikai 1–26 & 71.'' A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, Notes, and Indexes. With a Contribution by B. Bydén. Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 65. Göteborg. ISBN 91-7346-434-1

'''Editions without translation:'''