Theodore of Stoudios

   Theologian; anti-Iconoclast leader during the reign of Leo V (q.v.); monastic reformer; saint. In 795, when he was a monk in Bithynia, Constantine VI (qq.v.) banished him for a year for his opposition to the emperor's (q.v.) adulterous marriage (the so-called Moechian Controversy [q.v.]). In 799 he refurbished the old Monastery of St. John Stoudios in Constantinople (qq.v.), which became a center of militant opposition to Iconoclasm (q.v.). When Leo V (q.v.) revived Iconoclasm in 815, Theodore was exiled until 821, when Michael II (q.v.) came to the throne. Whereupon he determined to create a monastic center independent from imperial interference. His writings include panegyrics, hymns (q.v.), homilies, a defense of icons (q.v.), and an extensive correspondence. His disciples collected at least 1,124 letters, of which over 550 are preserved.