Venerable Theodore Graptus “the Branded”, Confessor and brother of St Theophanes the Hymnographer

Theodore and his younger brother Theophanes grew up in Jerusalem and became monks at the monastery of St Sabbas. Sent to Constantinople on church business, they were caught up in the second period of Iconoclasm: Leo V had them beaten and exiled. Emperor Theophilus later had them flogged and, in 836, had twelve lines of mocking verse cut into their faces with needles — hence their name Graptoi, “the inscribed”.

Exiled to Apamea in Bithynia, Theodore died there about 841. Theophanes outlived him, became metropolitan of Nicaea after the icons were restored, and wrote many hymns.