Ioannes 183 was metropolitan bishop of Laodikeia (Phrygia); owner of a seal dateable to the second half of the ninth century: Laurent, Corpus V 1, no. 527 = Schlumberger, Sig., p. 254, no. 1 = Likhachev, IZIGI, p. 68. Obv.: Virgin and Child, between two invocative monograms of Θεοτόκε βοήθει, with the liturgical formula [Σ]ὲ προσκυνοῦμεν (καὶ) τὸν ἐκ Σοῦ, Παρθένε. Rev.: [+] τῷ σῷ - δούλῳ Ἰωάννῃ - μητροπολ(ίτῃ) Λα - οδικείας. Because of the remarkable similarity of their seals, this man is identified by Laurent with the owner of Corpus V 1, no. 914, who was bishop of Rhousianon in Calabria. This seal was found in South Italy and is in the museum at Reggio. Obv.: Virgin holding medallion of Child, between two invocative monograms of Θεοτόκε βοήθει, with the same liturgical formula as above, [+][Σὲ π]ροσκυνοῦμεν (καὶ) τὸν ἐκ Σ[οῦ, Παρ]θέν[ε]. Rev.: +τῷ σῷ - δούλῳ Ἰωάν - νῃ ἐπισκ(όπῳ) τ - οῦ Ῥουσια(νοῦ). Laurent suggests that the see of Rhousianon could not have existed before Calabria was conquered by Nikephoros Phokas, soon after the death of Basil I (Basilios 7), and that Ioannes 183 was bishop there before being translated, under the patriarch Stephanos (886-893) (PBE II) from Calabria to Phrygia. The reverse direction might seem more likely, but Laodikeia was a metropolis while Rhousianon was only a suffragan of Reggio. See the remarks of Laurent, op. cit., pp. 719-721.

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