THEODORE OF STUDION

THEODORE OF STUDION, abbot, theologian (759–826). Theodore was the abbot of the monastery of St. Joh n at the Studion in Constantinople (qq.v.). Through his strength of character, organizing ability, and courage in the face of imperial pressures to conform to iconoclasm (q.v.), including at least two periods of exile, he elevated his monastery to a position of undisputed leadership among the monastic houses of the capital, a position that it held until the close of the Byzantine era (q.v.). His writings included two large collections of occasional addresses to his monks, The Greater and The Lesser Catecheses, letters addressed both to his monks and to other supporters, a refutation of iconoclasm, and various liturgical compositions.