Albeneka 1 was a protospatharia; addressee of a letter (Ep. 395) from Theodore the Stoudite (Theodoros 15) written between 815 and early 819, during the persecution of iconophiles under Leo V (Leo 15) (ἐν ταῖς τοῦ διωγμοῦ ἡμέραις: p. 550, line 32); she was apparently of noble birth (τῆς εὐγενείας σου: p. 549, line 2) and is addressed by Theodoros as κυρία, p. 549, line 11; she was a relative of the empress (i.e. Theodosia 1) (οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα αὐτή, ἀλλὰ τῶν ὑπερεχουσῶν καί γε τῶν συναίμων τῇ βασιλευούσῃ: p. 550, lines 32-33); she had written to Theodoros 15 but also entrusted a further message to the letter-bearer to be delivered orally (ἅπερ ζώσῃ φωνῇ παρέθου αὐτῷ ἐξειπεῖν: p. 549, line 7); she was married but desired to become a nun and in the meantime she was avoiding the imperial court; Theodoros 15 advised her to discuss the matter with her husband and try to persuade him also to abandon the world; if, however, he refused, she should nonetheless carry out her wish and become a nun, with or without his approval; she is said to have been supporting an unnamed oikonomos (Naukratios 1, who was in fact ill in 818/819, possibly the date of the letter): Theod. Stud., Ep. 395, pp. 549-551 (addressed Ἀλβενέκᾳ πρωτοσπαθαρέᾳ). Her title suggests that she was the wife of a protospatharios; she may possibly therefore have been the wife of Anastasios 58 (addressee of Theod. Stud., Ep. 401, pp. 556-557). She may be identical with an unnamed protospatharia to whom another letter of Theodoros 15 was addressed, between 815 and 818; to this person, addressed by Theodoros 15 as κυρία μου (p. 399, line 3), Theodoros 15 had not previously written, fearing to trouble her; however, she had sent money by a letter-bearer to help him (εἰς ἀνάπαυσιν τῆς ταπεινώσεώς μου: p. 399, line 5); she was an iconophile (ἀντέχῃ εὐσεβείας: p. 399, line 12): Theod. Stud., Ep. 270, p. 399 (addressed Πρωτοσπαθαρέᾳ). If the two protospathariae are one and the same person, Ep. 270 was clearly written before Ep. 395.

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