Education
At an early age he studied at Constantinople and was the pupil of Eustathius of Thessalonica.
At an early age he studied at Constantinople and was the pupil of Eustathius of Thessalonica.
Around 1175 he was appointed archbishop of Athens, which position he retained until 1204. After the establishment of Latin control, he retired to the island of Ceos. Around 1217 he moved again to the monastery of Vodonitsa near the Thermopylae, where he died.
Though he is known to classical scholars as the last possessor of complete versions of Callimachus" Hecale and Aitia, he was a versatile writer, and composed homilies, speeches and poems, which, with his correspondence, throw considerable light upon the miserable condition of Attica and Athens at the time.
Michael"s pupil George Bardanes, who had accompanied him during his exile on Ceos, became a distinguished bishop in subsequent years.
In 1204, he defended the Athenian Acropolis from attack by Leo Sgouros, holding out until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1205, to whom he surrendered the city.