Theodosios 3

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitE/M VIII
Dates706 (taq) / 762 (tpq)
PmbZ No.7845
Variant NamesTheodosius
ReligionChristian;
Iconoclast
LocationsEphesos (officeplace);
Ephesos;
Hieria (Constantinople);
Chrysopolis (Bithynia)
OccupationBishop
TitlesArchbishop, Ephesos (office)
Textual SourcesNicephorus, Breviarium Historiae, ed. C. Mango, Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople: Short History; prev. ed. C. de Boor Nicephori ArchiepiscopiConstantinopolitani Opuscula Historica Leipzig 1880 (history);
Nikaia, Second Council of (Seventh Ecumenical Council, a. 787) (Mansi XII-XIII) (conciliar);
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);
Vita Stephani Iunioris, by Stephanus Diaconus (BHG 1666), ed. M.-F. Auzépy, La Vie d'Etienne le Jeune par Étienne le diacre. Introduction, édition et traduction (Aldershot, 1997); PG 100. 1069-1186 (hagiography);
Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history)
Seal SourcesLaurent, V., Le corpus des sceaux de l'empire byzatin, V, 1-3, L'église (Paris, 1963-72); II, L'administration centrale (Paris, 1981);
Schlumberger, G. Sigillographie de l'empire byzantin (Paris, 1884)

Theodosios 3 was the son of the emperor Tiberios Apsimar (Tiberios 2): Theoph. AM 6245 (Θεοδόσιος ὁ Ἐφέσου, υἱὸς Ἀψιμάρου).

Possibly identical with the emperor Theodosios III (see Theodosios 2).

Bishop of Ephesus (ὁ τῆς Ἐφεσίων πόλεως ἀρχιεπίσκοπος: Nic. Brev. de Boor 65, Mango 72:7-8; ὁ Ἐφέσου, sc. επίσκοπος: Theoph. AM 6245); in 754 he presided over the iconoclast council of 338 bishops at Hieria: Mansi XII 1010 (ῆς ἐξῆρχε Θεοδόσιος ὁ ψευδώνυμος Ἐφέσου), Nic. Brev. de Boor 65-66, Mango 72, Theoph. AM 6245, Zon. XV 6. 8. Together with Sisinnios 27 and Basilios 29, he is said to have led astray the patriarch of Constantinople, Konstantinos 4: Mansi XII 1010. The bishop of Ephesos, he was one of the iconoclast leaders sent by the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) to interview Stephanos 2 (St Stephen the Younger) at Chrysopolis: Vita Steph. Iun. 142, 7-8 (1140B) (Θεοδόσιον τὸν ψευδώνυμον ἐπίσκοπον Ἐφέσου), 143, 4 (1141A) (εἶτα Θεοδόσιος Ἐφέσου πρὸς αὐτόν φησιν). The date was probably 762. He was anathematised at the Second Council of Nikaia (the Seventh Ecumenical Council) in 787: Mansi XIII 400 (Θεοδοσίῳ τῷ ψευδωνύμῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Ἐφέσου ἀνάθεμα), 416.

Perhaps identical with Theodosios archbishop of Ephesos of whom seals survive dateable to the eighth century: Laurent, Corpus V 1, no. 255 (obv.: invocative monogram of Θεοτόκε βοήθει with the legend τω - σω - δου - λω; rev.:[+Θε]οδος - [ίῷ ἀ]ρχιε - [πισ]κόπῳ - [Ἐφ]έσου) and Schlumberger, Sig., p. 258, no. 2 (obv.: invocative monogram interpreted by Schlumberger as Κύριε βοήθει with the legend τω - σω - δου - λω; rev.: [Θε]οδό[ρῳ] ἀρχιε[πισ]κόπῳ [Ἐφέ]σου; this is perhaps another specimen of the seal in Laurent).

See Gero, Iconoclasm II, p. 55, n. 10, Rochow, Theophanes 169.

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