THEODORE THE STUDITE (758/759-826)
Saint Theodore the Studite was born in Constantinople in a noble family around 758-759. At the age of about twenty, he professed monastic vows and entered the monastery of "Sakkudion" in Bithynia (North-West Turkey). In 796, he was exiled to Thessalonica for having disapproved of the divorce of Emperor Constantine VI from his wife Maria to marry Theodota.
After being returned to his homeland at the death of the king, he moved to the urban monastery of "Studios" with most of the monastic community of the "Sakkudion" and began his famous "Reform".
He was a staunch defender of the cult of sacred images (iconophilia) and fought against the iconoclasm of Emperor Leo V the Armenian. Between 815 and 821, he was tortured, imprisoned and exiled to various places in Minor Asia. His "Tipikon" (Rule), modelled on the precepts of St. Basil and St. Pachomius, will inspire numerous community regulations of the Byzantine East and Southern Italy.