Editing Persecution of Christians (section)

=== Byzantine Empire ===
George Limnaiotes, a monk on Mount Olympus known only from the ''[[Synaxarion of Constantinople]]'' and other [[synaxaria]], was supposed to have been 95 years old when he was tortured for his [[iconodulism]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|43}} In the reign of [[Leo III the Isaurian]] ({{Reign|717|741}}), he was mutilated by [[rhinotomy]] and his head burnt.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|43}}

[[Germanus I of Constantinople]], a son of the ''[[patrikios]]'' Justinian, a courtier of the emperor [[Heraclius]] ({{Reign|610|641}}), having been castrated and enrolled in the cathedral clergy of [[Hagia Sophia]] when his father was executed in 669, was later bishop of [[Cyzicus]] and then patriarch of Constantinople from 715.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|45–46}} In 730, in the reign of Leo III ({{Reign|717|741}}), Germanus was deposed and banished, dying in exile at Plantanion ([[Akçaabat]]).<ref name=":15" />{{rp|45–46}} Leo III also exiled the monk John the Psichaites, an iconodule, to [[Chersonesus|Cherson]], where he remained until after the emperor's death.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|57}}

According only to the ''Synaxarion of Constantinople'', the clerics [[Hypatios and Andrew]] from the [[Thracesian Theme|Thracesian ''thema'']] were, during the persecution of Leo III, brought to the capital, jailed and tortured.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|49}} The ''Synaxarion'' claims that they had the embers of burnt [[icons]] applied to their heads, subjected to other torments, and then dragged though the Byzantine streets to their public execution in the area of the city's [[Seven hills of Istanbul#VIIth|VIIth Hill]], the so-called {{Langx|grc-x-medieval|ξηρόλοφος|lit=dry hill|translit=Xērólophos}} near the [[Forum of Arcadius]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|49}}

[[Andrew of Crete (martyr)|Andrew of Crete]] was beaten and imprisoned in Constantinople after having debated with the iconoclast emperor [[Constantine V]] ({{Reign|741|775}}), possibly in 767 or 768, and then abused by the Byzantines as he was dragged through the city, dying of blood loss when a fisherman cut off his foot in the [[Forum of the Ox]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|19}} The church of [[Saint Andrew in Krisei]] was named after him, though his existence is doubted by scholars.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|19}}

Having defeated and killed the emperor [[Nikephoros I]] ({{Reign|802|811}}) at the [[Battle of Pliska]] in 811, the [[First Bulgarian Empire]]'s ''[[Khan (title)|khan]]'', [[Krum]], also put to death a number of Roman soldiers who refused to renounce Christianity, though these martyrdoms, known only from the ''Synaxarion of Constantinople'', may be entierely legendary.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|66–67}} In 813 the Bulgarians invaded the ''thema'' of [[Thrace (theme)|Thrace]], led by Krum, and the city of Adrianople ([[Edirne]]) was captured.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|66}} Krum's successor [[Dukum]] died shortly after Krum himself, being succeeded by [[Ditzevg]], who killed Manuel the archbishop of Adrianople in January 815.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|66}} According to the ''Synaxarion of Constantinople'' and the ''[[Menologion of Basil II]]'', Ditzevg's own successor [[Omurtag of Bulgaria|Omurtag]] killed some 380 Christians later that month.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|66}} The victims included the archbishop of [[Develtos]], [[George, archbishop of Develtos|George]], and the bishop of Thracian Nicaea, Leo, as well as two ''[[Strategos|strategoi]]'' called John and Leo. Collectively these are known as the [[Martyrs of Adrianople]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|66}}

The Byzantine monk Makarios, of the [[Pelekete monastery]] in Bithynia, having already refused an enviable position at court offered by the iconoclast emperor [[Leo IV the Khazar]] ({{Reign|775|780}}) in return for the repudiation of his iconodulism, was expelled from the monastery by [[Leo V the Armenian]] ({{Reign|813|820}}), who also imprisoned and exiled him.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|65}} The patriarch [[Nikephoros I of Constantinople]] dissented from the iconoclast [[Council of Constantinople (815)|Council of Constantinople]] of 815 and was exiled by Leo V as a result.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|74–75}} He died in exile in 828.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|74–75}}

In spring 816, the Constantinopolitan monk [[Athanasios of Paulopetrion]] was tortured and exiled for his [[iconophilism]] by the emperor Leo V.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|28}} In 815, during the reign of Leo V, having been appointed ''hegoumenos'' of the Kathara Monastery in Bithynia by the emperor Nikephoros I, John of Kathara was exiled and imprisoned first in Pentadactylon, a stronghold in [[Phrygia]], and then in the fortress of Kriotauros in the [[Bucellarian Theme|Bucellarian ''thema'']].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|55–56}} In the reign of Michael II he was recalled, but exiled again under Theophilos, being banished to Aphousia ([[Avşa]]) where he died, probably in 835.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|55–56}}

Eustratios of Agauros,<ref>[https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/01/saint-eustratios-wonderworker.html Profile of Eustratios of Agauros], johnsanidopoulos.com. Accessed 8 November 2024.</ref> a monk and ''[[hegumenos]]'' of the Agauros Monastery at the foot of Mount Trichalikos, near [[Prusa (Bithynia)|Prusa]]'s [[Mysian Olympus|Mount Olympus]] in Bithynia, was forced into exile by the persecutions of Leo V and [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]] ({{Reign|829|842}}).<ref name=":15" />{{rp|37–38}} Leo V and Theophilos also persecuted and exiled [[Hilarion of Dalmatos]], the son of [[Peter the Cappadocian]], who had been made ''hegumenos'' of the Dalmatos Monastery by the patriarch Nikephoros I.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|48–49}} Hilarion was allowed to return to his post only in the regency of [[Theodora (wife of Theophilos)|Theodora]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|48–49}} The same emperors also persecuted [[Michael Synkellos]], an Arab monk of the [[Mar Saba]] monastery in Palestine who, as the ''[[syncellus]]'' of the patriarch of Jerusalem, had travelled to Constantinople on behalf of the patriarch [[Thomas I of Jerusalem|Thomas I]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|70–71}} On the Triumph of Orthodoxy, Michael declined the ecumenical patriarchate and became instead the ''hegumenos'' of the [[Chora Monastery]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|70–71}}

According to [[Theophanes Continuatus|Theophanes ''Continuatus'']], the Armenian monk and iconographer of [[Khazar]] origin [[Lazarus Zographos]] refused to cease painting icons in the second official iconoclast period.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|61–62}} Theophilos had him tortured and his hands burned with heated irons, though he was released at the intercession of the empress Theodora and hidden at the Monastery of John the Baptist ''tou Phoberou'', where he was able to paint an image of the patron saint.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|61–62}} After the death of Theophilos, and the Triumph of Orthodoxy, Lazarus re-painted the representation of Christ on the [[Chalke Gate]] of the [[Great Palace of Constantinople]].<ref name=":15" />{{rp|61–62}}

[[Symeon Stylites of Lesbos]] was persecuted for his iconodulism in the second period of official iconoclasm. He was imprisoned and exiled, returning to Lesbos only after the vernation of icons was restored in 842.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|32–33}} The bishop [[George of Mytilene]], who may have been Symeon's brother, was exiled from Constantinople in 815 on account of his iconophilia. He spent the last six years of his life in exile on an island, probably one of the [[Princes' Islands]], dying in 820 or 821.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|42–43}} George's relics were taken to [[Mytilene]] to be venerated after the restoration of iconodulism to orthodoxy under the patriarch [[Methodios I of Constantinople|Methodios I]], during which the hagiography of George was written.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|42–43}}
[[File:Martyrdom of Euthymius of Sardeis.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Miniature depicting the execution of the patriarch [[Euthymius of Sardis]] under the Byzantine Emperor [[Michael II]], from an [[illuminated manuscript]] of the ''[[Madrid Skylitzes]]'' (12th century).]]
The bishop [[Euthymius of Sardis]] was the victim of several iconoclast Christian persecutions. Euthymius had previously been exiled to [[Pantelleria]] by the emperor [[Nikephoros I]] ({{Reign|802|811}}), recalled in 806, led the iconodule resistance against [[Leo V the Armenian|Leo V]] ({{Reign|813|820}}), and exiled again to [[Thasos]] in 814.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|38}} After his recall to Constantinople in the reign of [[Michael II]] ({{Reign|820|829}}), he was again imprisoned and exiled to Saint Andrew's Island, off Cape Akritas ([[Tuzla, Istanbul|Tuzla]], Istanbul).<ref name=":15" />{{rp|38}} According to the hagiography of by the patriarch [[Methodios I of Constantinople]], who claimed to have shared Euthymius's exile and been present at his death, [[Theoktistos]] and two other imperial officials personally whipped Euthymius to death on account of his [[iconodulism]]; Theoktistos was active in the persecution of iconodules under the iconoclast emperors, but later championed the iconodule cause.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|38; 68–69}}<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Prieto Dominguez|first=Oscar|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429060984|title=The Emperor in the Byzantine World: Papers from the Forty-Seventh Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies|publisher=Routledge|year=2019|isbn=978-0-429-06098-4|editor-last=Tougher|editor-first=Shaun|location=London|pages=216–234|chapter=The iconoclast saint: Emperor Theophilos in Byzantine hagiography|doi=10.4324/9780429060984|s2cid=194332235}}</ref>{{rp|218}} Theoktistos was later venerated as a saint in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], listed in the ''[[Synaxarion of Constantinople]]''.<ref name=":16" />{{rp|217–218}} The last of the iconoclast emperors, [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]] ({{Reign|829|842}}), was posthumously rehabilitated by the iconodule Orthodox Church on the intervention of his wife [[Theodora (wife of Theophilos)|Theodora]], who claimed he had had a deathbed conversion to iconodulism in the presence of Theoktistos and had given 60 [[Byzantine pound]]s of gold to each of his victims in his will.<ref name=":16" />{{rp|219}} The rehabilitation of the iconoclast emperor was a precondition of his widow for convoking the [[Council of Constantinople (843)|Council of Constantinople]] in March 843, at which the veneration of [[icons]] was restored to orthodoxy and which became celebrated as the [[Triumph of Orthodoxy]].<ref name=":16" />{{rp|219}}

Evaristos, a relative of [[Theoktistos Bryennios]] and a monk of the [[Monastery of Stoudios]], was exiled to the Thracian Chersonese ([[Gallipoli peninsula]]) for his support of his ''hegumenos'' Nicholas and his patron the patriarch [[Ignatios of Constantinople]] when the latter was deposed by [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photios I]] in 858.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|41; 72–73}} Both Nicholas and Evaristos went into exile.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|41; 72–73}} Only after many years was Evaristos allowed to return to Constantinople to found a monastery of his own.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|41; 72–73}} The ''hegumenos'' Nicholas, who had accompanied Evaristos to the Chersonese, was restored to his post at the Stoudios Monastery.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|72–73}} A partisan of Ignatios of Constantinople and a refugee from the [[Muslim conquest of Sicily]], the monk [[Joseph the Hymnographer]] was banished to Cherson from Constantinople on the elevation of Ignatios's rival Photios in 858. Only after the end of Photios's patriarchate was Joseph allowed to return to the capital and become the cathedral ''[[skeuophylax]]'' of Hagia Sophia.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|57–58}}

Euthymius, a monk, [[Byzantine Senate|senator]], and ''[[synkellos]]'' favored by [[Leo VI the Wise|Leo VI]] ({{Reign|870|912}}), was first made a ''[[hegumenos]]'' and then in 907 [[patriarch of Constantinople]] by the emperor. When Leo VI died and [[Nicholas Mystikos]] was recalled to the patriarchal throne, Euthymius was exiled.<ref name=":15" />{{rp|38–40}}