Theophanes the Branded

Who they were

Theophanes and his brother Theodorus were monks from Jerusalem, trained at the monastery of St. Sabas, who became leading defenders of the veneration of images during the second Iconoclast controversy. Exiled under Leo V, they were exiled again by the Emperor Theophilus, who in 836 had them scourged and twelve lines of verse cut into their skin, which is why they were called the 'written upon'.

Theodorus died in exile, but Theophanes lived to see the end of the controversy in 842 and was made Archbishop of Nicaea, which he governed until his death in 845. He wrote many religious poems. The brothers are honoured as saints; in the Roman Church both are commemorated on 27 December.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A defender of holy images who was branded with verses cut into his skin.

Connected on this site

• Theodoros Graptos Saint Brother or sister