Bryennios 2's name is Bryainios in Vita S. Evaristi and Bryennios (in Synax. Eccl. Const.; Bryennios 2 is presumably one of the earliest members known of this distinguished family. Patrikios, he lived in Constantinople in the reigns of the emperors Theophilos and Michael III; of noble family and a member of the ruling classes, he was related through his wife (Anonyma 24) to the family of St Evarestos (Evarestos 1); when under Theophilos the young Evarestos was brought to Constantinople by his father (Anonymus 218) they visited Bryainios for a few days (παρὰ οἰκίαν ξενίζονταί τινος τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ τῶν εὖ γεγονότων ὀνόματι Βρυαινίου, ἀνδρὸς ἐπιφανεστάτου καὶ περιδόξου, ἐπεῖτα δὲ καὶ τῇ τῶν πατρικίων τιμηθέντος ἀξίᾳ, συγγενοῦς δὲ κατὰ σῶμα τούτοις ὑπάρχοντος · ἐξαδελφιδοῦς γὰρ ἦν ὁ Εὐάρεστος τῆς γυναικὸς Βρυαινίου); afterwards the father returned home to Galatia and Bryainios, after taking stock of the young man, took Evarestos 1 into his service (τοῖς πρώτοις ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτον ὑπηρέταις ἐγκαταλέγει): Vita S. Evaristi 6 (p. 300), cf. Synax. Eccl. Const. 347-348 (the same story, in very similar language).

After the death of the emperor Theophilos 5, Bryainios 2 was sent on an embassy to the Bulgars by the empress Theodora 2; he was accompanied by Evarestos 1, but when the embassy reached Probaton in Thrace Evarestos 1 secretly left the embassy to pursue the life of a religious (πρὸς τούτους ὁ περιδόξος ἐκεῖνος Βρυαίνιος παρὰ Θεοδώρας τῆς εὐσεβοῦς βασιλίδος πρέσβις ἐξαποστέλλεται): Vita S. Evaristi 7 (p. 301), cf. Synax. Eccl. Const. 347-348 (the same story). Bryennios 2 is not mentioned again in the Vita, but the embassy is perhaps that mentioned in Theoph. Cont. IV 13 (p. 162) (see Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, p. 166), although Boris 1 did not become ruler of the Bulgars until 852 (cf. Grumel, Chronologie, p. 388) and Bryennios 2's embassy appears to have been well before that date, to judge by the career of Evarestos 1.

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