Kallistos 2 is recorded in the Acts of the Forty-Two Martyrs of Amorion (Mart. XLII Amor.), BHG 1209-1214c. One account, that by Michael Synkellos (Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1213), concentrates on him; see Michael 50. A member of the family of the Melissenoi: Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1209, p. 50, lines 5-6 (Κάλλιστον σπαθάριον, κατὰ τοὺς Μελισσεινοὺς λεγόμενον), cf. Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1213, p. 23 (of distinguished family - γονεῖς ἐκέκτητο περιφανεῖς). His father, we are told by Michael, was a man of great virtue such that after his death miraculous cures were reported; he sent Kallistos 2 to Constantinople in order to study (p. 23, line 20: τῆς ἐν γράμμασι χάριν παιδεύσεως); Kallistos 2 made good progress and when he grew up he entered service under the emperor (in the Scholai), being physically strong, handsome and with relations who were well regarded (p. 23, lines 21ff.: τῆς καταλόγου γίνεται τῆς ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτοκράτορα στρατείας διά τε ῥώμην σώματος καὶ κάλλος καὶ συγγενῶν εὐδοκίμησιν); in due course he rose to become komes of a schola (p. 23, lines 24ff.: καθ' ἣν, ἵνα τὰ ἐν μέσῳ παρήσω, τὴν τοῦ κόμητος ἀξίαν ἐν τῷ τάγματι τῶν φιλοχρίστων ἐπέχων σχολῶν); said to be of good character and a devout Christian; because of his position he had access to the imperial palace, where he is said to have attracted attention and to have incurred the displeasure of the emperor Theophilos 5 because of his untidy appearance; the emperor rebuked him once and ordered his beard to be forcibly trimmed; however he was included among the spatharioi at the imperial court (p. 25, line 25: ἤδη τοῖς οἰκειακοῖς τῶν βασιλικῶν σπαθαρίων ὄντα ἐναρίθμιον) when he was ordered to persecute the monks of the Pelekete by Theophilos 5; he refused and was beaten and expelled, apparently, from the corps (φατρίας) (it is not clear if this refers to the Scholai, or to the spatharioi at court around the emperor; Kallistos 2 apparently continued to hold the title of spatharios) and also from the palace; he was then given command of a unit known as the Ethiopians (p. 27, lines 4-5: μεταπεμψάμενος αὐτὸν ὁ καῖσαρ καθίστησιν ἄρχοντα τῶν φιλουμένων αὐτῷ Αἰθιόπων, and cf. lines 9-10: παραδοὺς τοίνυν αὐτῷ τὸ βάνδον τῶν Αἰθιόπων; on the Ethiopians, cf. Haldon, Byzantine Praetorians, pp. 252, 297, and pp. 518ff, n. 681); he was now sent with his new troops to reinforce the commanders who were engaged in pacifying "the lands of the Getthoi" (τὰς τῶν Γετθῶν χώρας) (wherever they were); his troops were guilty of disorderly conduct but Kallistos 2 survived and returned to court; towards the very end of Theophilos 5's reign, when the emperor was already approaching his end, he appointed Kallistos 2 to the office of doux of Koloneia (in Armenia) (p. 27, lines 33-34: Theophilos 5 ordered ὥστε τὸν εὐκλεῆ Κάλλιστον τὴν ἐπὶ Κολώνειαν στειλάμενον αὐτόθι τε διατρίβειν καὶ τὴν τοῦ δουκὸς διέπειν ἀρχήν); when he left for Koloneia, his mother, at his request, gave away his property to the poor (p. 28, lines 22-26); he was unmarried (p. 25, line 8); on arriving at his new command he discovered that among the leaders at Koloneia there was a number of Manichees (i.e. Paulicians) (he is styled ἄρχοντα καὶ προστάτην τῆς αὐτῶν χώρας; p. 29); his attempts to convert them failed and instead they handed him over to some of their co-religionists who had left Roman territory and were living under Arab rule, under Karbeas 1; there Kallistos 2 was kept fettered and in prison with a few attendants, until the caliph heard about him and had him conveyed to Syria; he was there imprisoned with Theodoros 67 and all the other leaders who had been captured in Amorion (in 838) (p. 29, lines 35-36: καὶ συναριθμεῖται τοῖς τῶν Χριστιανῶν στρατηγοῖς ὁ κατὰ Χριστὸν χρηματίσας δοὺξ Κολωνείας); shortly afterwards they were condemned to death, after refusing to abjure their faith, and were executed; the date was 6 March (in 845, seven years after the fall of Amorion); among those with Kallistos 2 was one of the droungarioi who had served under him (p. 34, lines 9-10): Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1213.

He was among the first to be executed, after Theodoros 67, Konstantinos 30 and Theophilos 6: Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1209, p. 50. He is mentioned in the titles of Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1211 and Mart. XLII Amor., 1212 without title; in the title of Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1213 he is called Καλλίστου δουκός. He was an iconophile; see above and cf. Mart. XLII Amor., BHG 1213, p. 28: προσκυνητὴν τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰκόνος.

Kallistos 2 is named in hymns: B. Vasilievskij and P. Nikitin, Mémoires de l'Académie imp. de Saint-Pétersbourg, 8th series, 7. 2 (1905), pp. 79ff. He seems to be different from Kallistos 1, a tourmarches who was captured at Amorion, unless the story recorded in Michael Synkellos descends into fiction.

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