Leontios 29

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitE IX
Dates808 (taq) / 819 (tpq)
PmbZ No.4589
ReligionChristian
LocationsSakkoudion (Monastery of, Bithynia);
Sakkoudion (Monastery of, Bithynia) (officeplace);
Stoudios (Monastery of, Constantinople);
Stoudios (Monastery of, Constantinople) (officeplace)
OccupationHegoumenos;
Monk
TitlesHegoumenos, Stoudios (Constantinople) (office)
Textual SourcesTheodorus Studita, Catechesis Parva, ed. E. Auvray (Paris, 1891) (homiletics);
Theodorus Studita, Epistulae, ed. G. Fatouros, CFHB 31.1-2 (Berlin/New York, 1992) (letters)

Leontios 29 was a monk and hegoumenos; he is mentioned in fifteen letters of Theodore the Stoudite (Theodoros 15), written between 808 and 819: Theod. Stud., Epp. 26, pp. 71-72; 43, pp. 124-128; 51, pp. 151-153; 263, pp. 391-392; 302, pp. 444-445; 326, pp. 467-468; 333, pp. 474-475; 341, p. 481; 355, pp. 489-490; 358, pp. 491-493; 368, p. 500; 381, pp. 521-525; 402, pp. 557-558; 407, pp. 564-566; 410, pp. 570-572.

Formerly a disciple of Theodoros 15, in 810/811 he held the position of abbas but is condemned by Theodoros 15 as a "denier" (Λεόντιος ὁ ποτὲ μαθητής, νῦν δὲ ἀρνητής: p. 153, line 59) (presumably his stance in the Moechian schism was opposite to that of Theodoros 15): Theod. Stud., Ep. 51, pp. 151-153 (a. 810/811). In 817 he had again lapsed (no longer supporting the veneration of icons): Theod. Stud., Ep. 263, p. 391, line 7. During the persecution under Leo V (Leo 15) he, together with Klemens 1 and Maximos 2, had yielded to pressure from the iconoclasts and lapsed; they were nevertheless to be regarded, according to Theodoros 15, as his disciples (τέκνα καὶ μέλη): Theod. Stud., Ep. 302 (a. 818), cf. Ep. 326 (a. 817/818; Leontios 29 and two other monks had lapsed). In 818/819 he was the hegoumenos of the Stoudite monks: Theod. Stud., Ep. 381, p. 525, line 122 (head of the Stoudite monks), Ep. 333, p. 475, line 44 (head of the monasteries of Stoudios and Sakkoudion). He had been made head of the monasteries as a reward for abandoning his support for icon veneration: Theod. Stud., Catech. Parva 101 (p. 347 Auvray). He was accused of torturing the monks remaining under his care (presumably to force them into uttering iconoclast sentiments): Theod. Stud., Ep. 402, p. 557, line 5. In 819 however he repented and gave his support again to the iconophile cause: Theod. Stud., Epp. 407, pp. 564-566; 410, pp. 570-572. In an early letter, Ep. 26, Theodoros 15 refers to him as ἀββᾶς (p. 72, line 49). This suggests that he was an older man than Theodoros 15.

Possibly to be identified with the unnamed πρῶτος ἀδελφὸς (p. 286, line 10) referred to in Theod. Stud., Ep. 165, pp. 286-287.

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