Theoctista

Theoctista (740 to 802) was the mother of Saint Theodore the Studite, a politically influential Byzantine ascetic. The daughter of an official, she married Photius, another wealthy official in Constantinople. She was deeply religious, strong-⁠willed and strict, generous to the poor. She supported the iconophile policy of Irene, and her house became a meeting place of the party of the icons. She sold most of the family property and moved to Bithynia, where she founded the monastery of Sakkoudion on her estate; her husband, her brother Plato and her sons became monks, while she and her daughter were the only women allowed there. In 795 she protested against the divorce and remarriage of Constantine VI to Theodote; the monastery was dissolved and Plato and Theodore were arrested. She led the opposition in Constantinople and was arrested, which gave her the standing of a confessor. After Irene came to the throne in 797 the monastery was reopened, and she lived another five years in severe asceticism. Her life was written by her son, Theodore. She is honoured as a saint together with her son and her brother.