 Onesimus, formerly Philemon's slave, was its first bishop according to the Apostolic Constitutions (VII, 46).Gerontius took part in the Council of Sardica (c. 344), Lucas in the Robber Council of Ephesus (449), Sebastian in the Council of Chalcedon (451), Timothy in the synod convoked by Patriarch Menas of Constantinople in 536, and Joseph in the Council of Constantinople (869) that condemned Photius.The Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos promoted the local see to an archbishopric after 1261, and it advanced further to the rank of a metropolitan see by 1300.