Michael 51 is the grammarian and saint Michael Synkellos: BHG 1296-1297. His Lives are edited by Schmit, IRAIK 11 (1906), pp. 227-279 (one anonymous, the later by Nikephoros Gregoras), and by Mary Cunningham, in Belfast Byzantine Texts (the anonymous Life, edition cited below). He was the author of a work on grammar, and of homilies, enkomia on saints (but probably not of the Forty Two Saints of Amorion, see Michael 50), hymns, an anacreontic poem, and, perhaps, a polemical account of the origins of Islam. See further ODB II, pp. 1369-70.

Priest and synkellos of Jerusalem, whose Life survives written by an unknown author (Anonymus 626) (Βίος καὶ πολιτεία καὶ ἀγῶνες τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ ὁμολογητοῦ Μιχαὴλ πρεσβυτέρου καὶ συγκέλλου γεγονότος πόλεως Ἱεροσολύμων): Vita Mich. Sync., title , cf. Vita Mich. Sync. 17 (synkellos of the patriarch of Jerusalem; and see below). A native of Jerusalem: Vita Mich. Sync., praef. He died as a confessor in Constantinople, where he was the archimandrite of the monastery of the Chora (ἀρχιμανδρίτην μονῆς τῆς Χώρας): Vita Mich. Sync., praef. He was the author of letters, available to the author of the Life, which do not survive: Vita Mich. Sync. 1. He was of Persian ancestry, according to Michael 51 himself in his letters: Vita Mich. Sync. 1 (Περσογενὴς δὲ ὑπῆρχεν ἐκ προγόνων). His parents, whose names are unknown (cf. Anonyma 84), had several daughters, before their sole son, Michael 51, was born: Vita Mich. Sync. 1. He was apparently born in 761 (see below; he died in 846 aged 85). At the age of three he was offered to God, as his mother had promised; he was taken to the Church of the Anastasis and offered to the patriarch (Theodoros 12), who tonsured him and enrolled him among the readers of the Church (ἐν τῷ τῶν ἀναγνωστῶν βαθμῷ κατέταξεν); afterwards he was sent by his parents to a teacher from whom he received his elementary education; then he was sent by the patriarch for further instruction in grammar, rhetoric and philosophy, and he studied poetry and astronomy also; he made great progress and attracted attention for his piety; when his father died, he persuaded his mother and sisters to become nuns in one of the monasteries in Jerusalem: Vita Mich. Sync. 2. He himself tonsured her and her two daughters in the monastery near Holy Sion, to which he consecrated many possessions; he then disposed of most of his remaining property and with a small amount of money withdrew to the laura of St Sabas, where the hegoumenos (Anonymus 627) agreed to receive him; he gave the remaining money to the hegoumenos to use as he wished; he was then aged twenty five; after receiving instruction he received the tonsure and entered the community; he followed an ascetic diet of vegetables and little bread for eighteen years, celebrating all night prayers and performing the physical labours of the monastery: Vita Mich. Sync. 3. After twelve years the hegoumenos deemed him worthy of the priesthood and took him to Jerusalem to the patriarch Thomas 60, who ordained him in the Church of the Anastasis; he then returned to the laura where he continued his austerities with increased effort; two years later he asked the hegoumenos for a solitary cell for contemplation; he was given a cell and small cave (κελλίον καὶ σπήλαιον μικρόν) and lived alone there, with no possessions but a cloak, a mat and a jug: Vita Mich. Sync. 4. While he was there he received Theodoros 68 and Theophanes 6, whom he was given permission to teach by the hegoumenos; he tonsured them, according to the command of the hegoumenos, and taught them grammar and philosophy and some works of poetry; later, when Michael was fifty, he was appointed by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Thomas 60, as his synkellos (σύγκελλον ἑαυτοῦ); he, with Theodoros 68 and Theophanes 6, were taken from the laura and settled in the monastery of the Spoudaioi at Jerusalem near to the Church of the Anastasis: Vita Mich. Sync. 5. He long wanted to visit Rome, and was despatched there by decision of a council called by Thomas 60 following a letter from the bishop of Rome (Leo 11), who wanted advice on dealing with heretical Franks who were adding a reference to the Son to the statement in the Creed about the procession of the Holy Spirit; he was also to inform the bishop of Rome about a fine imposed on the churches of Jerusalem by the Muslims, which they needed help to pay; Michael 51 was to travel via Constantinople, and was also given letters to the patriarch of Constantinople Theodotos 2 and to the emperor Leo V (Leo 15), to persuade them to stop persecuting the veneration of icons: Vita Mich. Sync. 6, cf. 17. He set out from Jerusalem accompanied by Theodoros 68 and Theophanes 6 and the monk Iob 2; they were escorted as far as Diospolis/Lydda by the patriarch and chief priests; en route, at Seleukeia and elsewhere he found monks who did not accept the doctrines of the Seventh Ecumenical Council; after persuading them to accept the Council, he continued on his way: Vita Mich. Sync. 8. He and his followers entered Constantinople in May of a seventh indiction (= May 814) (sic), and explained their business to Leo V (Leo 15) and the patriarch (Theodotos 2, who was not yet in office on this date); they were directed to the monastery of the Chora for lodgings, and were funded out of imperial resources: Vita Mich. Sync. 9, cf. 28 (the Chora monastery). A few days later they were summoned to an audience with the emperor, in the Chrysotriklinos, and Michael 51 stated that the purpose of their visit was to ask the emperor to allow the display and veneration of icons: Vita Mich. Sync. 10. The patriarchal letter, addressed to Leo V (Leo 15) and Theodotos 2, was read aloud: Vita Mich. Sync. 11. Afterwards they were imprisoned in the prison of Phiale, where they refused to eat the food sent to them because it came from heretics: Vita Mich. Sync. 12. They were visited by a man of learning (unnamed, probably Ioannes 5) sent by the emperor to change their mind but they remained obstinate: Vita Mich. Sync. 13. They were now separated; Michael 51 and Iob 2 remained in prison in the Phiale while Theodoros 68 and Theophanes 6 were exiled to the island of Aphousia (which they allegedly reached in August of the seventh indiction, i.e. August 814, wrongly): Vita Mich. Sync. 14, cf. 17. Six years later, after the death of Leo V (Leo 15) and the accession of Michael II (Michael 10), Michael 51 and Iob 2 were removed from the Phiale prison in Constantinople and sent to one of the monasteries of Mt Olympus, in Parousias (perhaps Prousias) (ἔν τινι τῶν τοῦ Ὀλύμπου μοναστηρίων τῆς πόλεως Παρουσιάδος); there Michael continued an active correspondence on behalf of the iconophile cause: Vita Mich. Sync. 15. Michael 51 remained in this monastery until the fifth year of the emperor Theophilos (Theophilos 5) (probably 834), when he was taken back to Constantinople and confined in an unhealthy cell in the prison of the Praitorion in solitary confinement; his attendant, the monk Iob 2, was not allowed to see him or talk to him; now an old man, Michael 51 suffered greatly and was seriously ill for two years; his sight was poor and he had a bent back; after two years he was moved from that cell to another in the same prison, less severe, and he recovered through the attentions of Iob 2 and of Euphrosyne 1, who provided him with food, drink and clothing through the means of Iob 2; however his neck was bound with chains and his feet secured in stocks; Euphrosyne 1 continued to care for him all the years that he spent in the second cell: Vita Mich. Sync. 16. Through his letters to them, he strengthened the belief in the iconophile cause of two officials under Theophilos, Stephanos 140 and Kallonas 1: Vita Mich. Sync. 17. Theophilos 5 ordered that Michael 51 and Iob 2 have their necks fastened with chains and their feet made fast in wooden stocks, although they were both old and worn out by their sufferings, half-blind and bent with age; he also ordered that no-one be allowed contact with them, lest they influence them: Vita Mich. Sync. 18. When Theodoros 68 and Theophanes 6 were imprisoned in the same prison as Michael 51 and Iob 2, after having verses engraved on their foreheads, Michael 51 was able to sent a letter of encouragement and appreciation to them, applauding their steadfastness; he associated both Iob 2 and Methodios 1, also in the same prison, with his good wishes; they all remained in the prison for seven years before an end came to their sufferings: Vita Mich. Sync. 24.

After the deposition of John VII (Ioannes 5) as patriarch of Constantinople at the council under Theodora 2 at which the restoration of icons was announced, Michael 51, as a synkellos of the Church of Jerusalem, a man of learning, and one who had suffered much persecution, was a prime candidate: Vita Mich. Sync. 25. Michael 51 was unwilling to accept and advised that Ioannikios 2 should be consulted as to the most appropriate person for the post: Vita Mich. Sync. 26. When Methodios 1 became patriarch of Constantinople, on orders from the emperors he appointed Michael 51 as his synkellos and made him hegoumenos of the monastery of the Chora (τότε δὴ τότε καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνιστὴν πατέρα καὶ θεοφόρον Μιχαὴλ κελεύσει τῶν ὀρθοδόξων βασιλέων σύγκελλον ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἡγούμενον τῆς μεγάλης μονῆς τῆς Χώρας κεχειροτόνηκεν): Vita Mich. Sync. 27, cf. 28 (appointed to the Chora). When Theodoros 68 died he was buried by his brother Theophanes 6 and by Michael 51, his teacher (τῷ αὐτοῦ καθηγητῇ): Vita Mich. Sync. 30. Theophanes 6 also died soon after paying a visit to Michael 51 and was buried by him at the monastery of the Chora: Vita Mich. Sync. 31. Once he was hegoumenos of the monastery, Michael 51 began to restore it and he recalled the surviving monks who, after the damage caused by the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7), had settled nearby in the Church of the martyr Tryphon, in a field belonging to the monastery, at a place called Kastorion; under his guidance the number of monks in the monastery rapidly grew to over one hundred; the resources of the monastery were few, owing to confiscations carried out by Constantine V (Konstantinos 7), and Michael 51 therefore persuaded Methodios 1 to intercede with the emperor Michael III and his mother Theodora 2 for the return of the buildings and fields once owned by the monastery; this was done and the community prospered: Vita Mich. Sync. 32. When he was about eighty-five years old (μέχρι που τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν) he had a vision warning him of his approaching death: Vita Mich. Sync. 33. He informed his monks of his impending death and spoke words of exhortation to them: Vita Mich. Sync. 34. He also went to inform Methodios 1 that his death was near; allegedly his face, usually pale from his ascetic life, was radiant: Vita Mich. Sync. 35. They went to see the emperor and empress and made their last farewells; then Michael 51 stayed for some days with Methodios 1 in his cell in the patriarchal palace, but as the day of his death approached he obtained permission to return to his monastery: Vita Mich. Sync. 36. He was escorted by clergy from the Great Church; with them he visited the Church of the martyr Anthimos in the monastery and the shrine of Babylas, and then dismissed them; with his own disciples he then visited the Church of the Forty Holy Martyrs before dismissing them; finally he visited the place of the tombs and pointed to where he himself wished to lie, before returning to his cell: Vita Mich. Sync. 37. On Saturday, 19 December, on the eve of the feast of St Ignatios (19 December 845) he ordered an all night vigil and then after morning hymns he said farewell to his monks; he then died on the fourth of January (i.e. 4 January 846): Vita Mich. Sync. 38.

Synkellos at Jerusalem, addressee of a letter from Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite) written during a time of persecution, under Leo V (Leo 15) or Michael II (Michael 10), encouraging him to remain steadfast; he is styled τῇ τιμιότητί σου (p. 827, line 2) and addressed as ὦ σεβάσμιε (p. 828, line 34) and ὦ τριπόθητε (p. 828, line 35): Theod. Stud., Ep. 547, pp. 827-829 (addressed Μιχαὴλ συγκέλλῳ Ἁγιοπολίτῃ).

Synkellos of the Church of Jerusalem (Μιχαὴλ τὸν σύγκελλον τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν ἐκκλησίας); he was one of many ascetics arrested as iconophiles by the emperor Theophilos (Theophilos 5) and held in prison for long periods to persuade them to change their views: Theoph. Cont. III 15 (p. 106).

Michael the synkellos of Jerusalem (τὸν σύγκελλον Μιχαὴλ τῆς Ἱεροσολυμίτιδος ὁμηγύρεως) was arrested and imprisoned by the emperor Theophilos 5: Genesius III 19, cf. Scyl., p. 63, 91-93 (τὸν μακαρίτην Μιχαήλ, τὸν σύγκελλον τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν ἐκκλησίας; one of the monks arrested by Theophilos 5).

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