Theodore the Branded

Venerable Theodore the Branded (Graptos) lived in the ninth century, came from Palestine and was a confessor of the holy icons. The Orthodox Church commemorates him on 27 December. He was the brother of Venerable Theophanes, who is also called the Branded.

He was born in Palestine, and his father was Venerable Jonas. He struggled in the monastery of Saint Sabbas and was a fervent venerator of icons. He was imprisoned in a monastery in Pontus in the time of the emperor Leo V the Armenian (813 to 820) and tormented in the time of Theophilus (829 to 842). Twelve verses were written on his forehead with red-⁠hot iron, and so he was called “the Branded.”

He was then imprisoned at Apameia in Bithynia, where he also died, in 836 or 837.