Gazarenos 1 ὁ Κολωνιάτης was presumably a native of Koloneia, and possibly therefore he was a member of the Paulician sect; Gazarenos 1 and Choireas 1 were attendants and loyal followers of the rebel Thomas the Slav (Thomas 7); at the time of Thomas 7's overthrow (in 823) Gazarenos was in command of a place called Saniana (in Pontus Polemoniacus) (ἀνθρώπους μὲν ὄντας καὶ πιστὰ φυλάττοντας τῷ Θωμᾷ, κατέχοντας δὲ τὸν μὲν τὴν Καβάλαν τοῦ Χοιρέα, τοῦ Γαζαρηνοῦ δὲ τὴν Σανιάναν: Theoph. Cont. II 20, pp. 71-72); he and Choireas 1 refused to submit to the emperor Michael II (Michael 10) in spite of the offer of the high dignity of magistros, and they survived by pillage and plunder; eventually an agent of the emperor, Guberios 1, found a way of suborning a member of Gazarenos 1's staff, the oikonomos Anonymus 191, who ordered the gates of the city closed against Gazarenos 1 when the latter had gone out raiding; when he found re-entry impossible, Gazarenos 1 joined forces with Choireas 1 and they headed for Syria with their troops, but en route their men turned against them and executed them: Theoph. Cont. II 20 (pp. 71-73). A supporter of Thomas the Slav (Thomas 7); he and Choireas 1 refused to surrender the fortresses they held to Michael II (Michael 10) but both were captured by him and executed: Zon. XV 23. 33 (τὸν Ζαγορῆνον). On the names, see Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, pp. 160, 197, 218.

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