Born to wealthy parents, Methodius was sent as a young man to Constantinople to continue his education and hopefully attain an appointment at court.

Upon his return in 821 he was arrested and exiled as an iconodule by the Iconoclast regime of Emperor Michael II.

In 828 Michael II, not long before his death, mitigated the persecution and proclaimed a general amnesty.

[2] Soon after the death of the emperor, in 843, the influential minister Theoktistos convinced the Empress Mother Theodora, as regent for her two-year-old son Michael III, to permit the restoration of icons.

[5] The final years of the saint passed peacefully, he toiled much, wisely guided the Church and his flock.

[6] Throughout his short patriarchate, Methodius I tried to pursue a moderate line of accommodation with members of the clergy who were formerly iconoclasts.