Kosmas 4 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | M VIII |
| Dates | 763 (taq) / 763 (tpq) |
| PmbZ No. | 4101, 4111 |
| Religion | Christian; Iconophile; Iconoclast |
| Locations | Epiphaneia (Syria) (officeplace); Epiphaneia (Syria) |
| Occupation | Bishop |
| Titles | Bishop, Epiphaneia (Syria) (office) |
| Textual Sources | Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle) |
Known as Komanites, Kosmas 4 was the bishop of Epiphaneia, near Apamea in Syria (Κοσμᾶς δέ τις ἐπίσκοπος Ἐπιφανείας τῆς κατὰ Ἀπάμειαν τῆς Συρίας, Κομανίτης ἐπιλεγόμενος); a complaint was made to Theodoros 10, patriarch of Antioch, by the citizens of Epiphaneia that Kosmas 4 showed a lack of respect for sacred things (περὶ μειώσεως ἱερῶν); unable to deny the charge, he adopted the iconoclast faith of the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) (ἀπέστη τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως καὶ ὁμόφρων τῆς αἱρέσεως Κωνσταντίνῳ κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων εἰκόνων γέγονεν): Theoph. AM 6255. For this he was anathematised unanimously at Pentecost, 22 May 763, by the patriarchs of Antioch (Theodoros 10), Jerusalem (Theodoros 12) and Alexandria (Kosmas 3) and their bishops: Theoph. AM 6255.
Possibly identical with the bishop Kosmas who was an iconoclast and a supporter of the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) and who organised a council near the Tauros range to debate the question of icon veneration with the hermit Georgios 237: Nouthesia gerontos 8-38. Cf. Rochow, Konstantin V, p. 222.
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