Anonymus 226 was an ecumenical teacher (οἰκουμενικὸν ... διδάσκαλον); he is said to have lived in Constantinople in an imperial house situated in the basilica close to the Chalkoprateia; the house was the long-time residence of the head of higher education at Constantinople and a library of books of secular and religious learning was supposedly kept there; he had twelve colleagues who also lived there; they all gave instruction in higher education to any who desired it and were maintained at public expense; because of their status and learning they were employed as advisers by emperors; under Leo III (Leo 3) they were summoned to discuss the arguments for and against the veneration of sacred images, but in spite of repeated attempts Leo 3 failed to convince them of the correctness of the iconoclast case; finally he dismissed them back home, but then had their house burned to the ground, in the process destroying the library and killing the ecumenical teacher and all his twelve assistants: Zon. XV 3. 13-22. The existence of the oikoumenikos didaskalos at this date is doubtful and the whole story is probably a fiction invented to cast a bad light on the emperor Leo 3 and his iconoclast policies; the story describes them as martyrs.

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