Constantine Babutzikos

Holy Martyr Constantine Babutzikos was one of the forty-⁠two martyrs of Amorion, put to death at Samarra on 6 March 845. He was a Byzantine commander and a relative of the imperial family.

His place and time of birth are not known. All that is known is that he was the husband of Sophia, sister of Empress Theodora, wife of the Emperor Theophilos, and that he came from a family with close ties to the Amorian dynasty, originating in Paphlagonia. He had reached a high position in the army, though the sources disagree about his ranks and offices: some call him patrician, others drungarios, others magistros. Since he is recalled as the most noble among the martyrs, it is assumed that he was patrician by rank and drungarios of the watch by office.

At the fall of Amorion in 838, where he had been sent as reinforcement by the Emperor Theophilos together with other commanders of the guard, he was taken prisoner by the army of Caliph al-⁠Mutasim, with forty-⁠two others. He was executed at Samarra on 6 March 845, and since then has been honoured with the others as a martyr for the Christian faith. His day of commemoration is 6 March, in the West as in the East. A relative of his was Theodosios Babutzikos, patrician and envoy of Theophilos to the western powers.