Theoktistos 3 was one of those allowed to visit Michael 10 when the latter was under arrest at Christmas 820; he was also one of Michael 10's fellow-conspirators and was entrusted by Michael 10 with a message to the other conspirators that if they did not rescue him he would disclose all their identities to the emperor Leo V (Leo 15); Theoktistos 3 carried out his instructions and was later appointed kanikleios by Michael 10 after he became emperor (Michael II) in his turn: Theoph. Cont. I 25 (p. 38) (διὰ Θεοκτίστου, ὃν καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τῷ τοῦ κανικλείου τετίμηκεν ἀξιώματι), Genesius I 19 (one of Michael 10's most loyal followers who later became patrikios and epi tou kanikleiou - τινος τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων αὐτῷ πιστοτάτου Θεοκτίστου, ὃς μετὰ ταῦτα τῷ τοῦ πατρικίου περιβλέπτῳ τετίμητο ἀξιώματι καὶ τῆν ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ καλάμου ἐγκεχείριστο πρόνοιαν, δι' οὗ κανίκλειος ἐδοξάζετο).

Theoktistos 3 was a eunuch: Theoph. Cont. IV 1 (p. 148). He was logothetes during the reign of the emperor Theophilos (Theophilos 5): Genesius III 15. While he was in office he was given a letter by Leo the Philosopher (Leo 19) from the caliph al-Ma'mun 1 in which the caliph asked Leo 19 to come to teach him all he knew: Theoktistos 3 then informed the emperor: Theoph. Cont. IV 27 (p. 189) (τῷ λογοθέτῃ πρόσεισι) (Θεόκτιστος οὗτος ἦν ὁ παρανάλωμα τῷ Βάρδᾳ γενόμενος), Zon. XVI 4. 23 (unnamed logothetes of the dromos). If this is correct, Theoktistos 3 was logothetes by 833, when al-Ma'mun 1 died. He is identical with the unnamed logothetes who assisted Petronas 5 in the murder of Theophobos 1 shortly before the death of the emperor Theophilos 5 (in 842): Leo Gramm. 227-228, Georg. Mon. Cont. 810. At the end of the reign of Theophilos 5 he combined the posts of kanikleios and logothetes of the dromos (ὅ τε Θεόκτιστος ὁ εὐνοῦχος, τηνικαῦτα κανίκλειος καὶ λογοθέτης τοῦ δρόμου τυγχάνων); he was left by Theophilos 5, together with Bardas 5 and Manuel 6, to oversee the management of affairs for Theophilos 5's successor, the infant Michael III (Michael 11) and his mother Theodora 2 (τῶν δὲ πραγμάτων ὑπῆρχον φροντισταὶ καὶ ἐπίτροποι οὓς ὁ Θεόφιλος κατέλιπεν): Theoph. Cont. IV 1 (p. 148), cf. Zon. XVI 1. 1 (τὸν πατρίκιον Θεόκτιστον). He not only served under these two successive emperors but evidently concealed his iconophile sympathies under Theophilos 5. Following supposed prophecies that the veneration of icons would be restored and the patriarch Ioannes 5 expelled from his see, the emperor Theophilos 5 bound his wife Theodora 2 and the logothetes Theoktistos 3 (λογοθέτῃ Θεοκτίστῳ) by oaths to prevent either from occurring: Theoph. Cont. III 27 (p. 122), Scyl., p. 72 (τὸν τοῦ δρόμου λογοθέτην Θεόκτιστον), Zon. XV 29. 26 (τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ κανικλείου Θεόκτιστον παραδυναστεύοντα τότε).

Early in the reign of Michael III (Michael 11) Theoktistos 3 still combined the posts of kanikleios and logothetes; he was an iconophile, and it was at his prompting and on his advice that the empress Theodora 2 had the iconoclast patriarch Ioannes grammatikos (Ioannes 5) expelled from his see and exiled from Constantinople, and replaced by the iconophile Methodios 1: Leo Gramm. 228 (ὑποθήκῃ δὲ καὶ παραινέσει Θεοκτίστου κανικλείου καὶ λογοθέτου), Georg. Mon. Cont. 811, Ps.-Symeon 647. The logothetes, he allegedly was one of those who tried to persuade Symeon the stylite (Symeon 13) not to condemn the emperor Theophilos 5 after his death: Acta Davidis, Symeonis et Georgii 245, 31. He is to be identified with the unnamed logothetes who led into the presence of the emperor Michael 11 in the Chrysotriklinos a number of Slavs, some from Soubdelitia (in the Peloponnese) who had rebelled and then surrendered (cf. Const. Porph., DAI 50, 6-25), others from the regions around Thessalonike: Const. Porph., De Cer. II 37 (Reiske 634-635). In 843, after the Triumph of Orthodoxy (March 843; see Grumel, Regestes. 416, 425), he was sent by Theodora 2 as commander of an expedition to Crete (Pseudo-Symeon dates the event in the second year of the empress Theodora 2; Georgius Monachus Continuatus gives the Sunday of Lent (i.e. the first Sunday), after the Triumph of Orthodoxy; Leo Grammaticus mentions the first Sunday of Lent and places it immediately after the Triumph of Orthodoxy); Theoktistos 3 was still logothetes (Θεόκτιστον λογοθέτην); he apparently had overwhelming forces, but allowed himself to be misled by a rumour, started by the Arabs and supported by men under him who had taken bribes, that the empress Theodora 2 had appointed another emperor; he therefore left the expedition and returned to Constantinople; his army in Crete fell an easy prey to the Arabs (cf. also below); in the following year (Pseudo-Symeon puts it in the third year of Theodora), as the most loyal and trusted supporter of the emperor and empress, he was again sent on an expedition against the Arabs, who were attacking Anatolia under the command of Amr 2; he met Amr 2 in battle at Mauropotamos, but suffered a defeat and was routed with heavy losses; some of his men allegedly deserted to the Arabs (cf. Theophanes 7) because of Theoktistos 3's domineering attitude; he returned to Constantinople, where he continued his close association with the empress Theodora 2; he placed responsibility for the expedition and its defeat on the advice and policy of the empress's brother Bardas 5, and secured the exile of Bardas 5 from the city, with Theodora 2's consent: Georg. Mon. Cont. 814-815, Leo Gramm. 229, Ps.-Symeon 654.

Theoktistos 3's military career is described in Theophanes Continuatus as one of unrelieved disaster, and the reason, it is suggested, was a punishment for his failure to restrain the young emperor Michael 11's pursuit of pleasure; he commanded in many campaigns (πολλῶν στρατιῶν πολλάκις προκριθεὶς ἡγεμών) against many different enemies, in the reign of Michael 11 and before (νῦν τε καὶ πρὸ τούτου), either winning a partial victory at best or suffering a complete defeat; he led a campaign against the Abasgi (κατὰ τῶν Ἀβασγῶν οὗτος προκριθεὶς στρατηγὸς) and lost all his men, some by shipwreck and the rest on dry land; soon afterwards he lost an army of over forty thousand men through his rashness (this is perhaps the battle of Mauropotamos; cf. above); subsequently he mounted an expedition against the Arabs in Crete (see above) (κατὰ τῶν ἐν Κρήτῃ Ἀράβων στρατεύσας) but took to flight and withdrew from the island leaving many of his men behind: Theoph. Cont. IV 39 (pp. 202-203).

Theoktistos 3 was closely associated with the empress Theodora 2 in the government (παραδυναστεύων ὤν τῇ Αὐγούστῃ); in order to be near to the palace, he built himself dwellings with baths and a garden in the area later called Apsis and for his security he had an iron gate constructed at the Daphne entrance and stationed a concierge (papias) to keep guard there: Georg. Mon. Cont. 815-816. In office as logothetes, he helped the empress Theodora 2 to arrange the marriage of the emperor Michael 11 with Eudokia 3 (daughter of Dekapolites 1) rather than with Eudokia 2 (daughter of Inger 1), whom he and the empress both hated as too flighty: Leo Gramm. 229-230, Georg. Mon. Cont. 816 (μετὰ Θεοκτίστου λογοθέτου or similar), Ps.-Symeon 655 (unnamed logothetes). Subsequently he and Manuel 1 supposedly disagreed and Manuel 1 withdrew from the palace, leaving Theoktistos 3 and Bardas 5 in control (so allegedly furthering Bardas 5's ambitions): Theoph. Cont. IV 18 (p. 168), Zon. XVI 2. 23 (τὸν λογοθέτην τοῦ δρόμου Θεόκτιστον). Bardas 5 then plotted to dispose of Theoktistos 3; he turned the emperor Michael 11 against him after Theoktistos 3 refused to allow extravagant honours to be conferred on an unworthy tutor of Michael 11 (Anonymus 203); getting wind of the plot, Theoktistos 3 fled to the residence of the secretariate, which was at the hippodrome, but was stopped and sent to the Skula to be imprisoned; while there he was assassinated (by Anonymus 204), as Bardas 5 feared that the empress might order his release: Theoph. Cont. IV 18-20 (pp. 169-171), cf. IV 27 (p. 189) (a victim of Bardas 5; cited above), IV 44 (p. 210) (murdered), Zon. XVI 2. 24-31.

The chronicle tradition derived from Symeon the logothete gives another account of Theoktistos 3's overthrow and death. His murder was planned by Bardas 5, Damianos 2 and Theophanes 7 and Damianos 2 obtained the support of the emperor Michael III (Michael 11); they maintained that so long as Theoktistos 3 remained at the empress's side the emperor Michael 11 would never be able to exercise power; after one of his usual visits to the Baths of Areobindas and to the secretariat (Ta Asekretia) he returned to the Lausiakon palace with his papers where he was alarmed by the sight of Bardas 5; at the Horologion he was prevented by the emperor and Damianos 2 from entering to see the empress Theodora 2 and forced by them to open and read out his papers; on his return to the Lausiakon he was beaten and his hair pulled by Bardas 5 in spite of protests from Maniakes (Konstantinos 41) and then, when the emperor arrived, he was taken away to the Skytha (sic) and murdered; at the time he was still kanikleios and logothetes: Leo Gramm. 235-236 (τὸν κανίκλην; τὸν λογοθέτην), Georg. Mon. Cont. 821-822 (τὸν οὕτω συνηθῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ κανικλείου λεγόμενον; τὸν λογοθέτην), Ps.-Symeon 657. At his death Theoktistos 3 was apparently still κανικλειος: Theoph. Cont. IV 20 (p. 171) (the post was assumed by Bardas 5 after the murder of Theoktistos 3), cf. IV 39 (p. 202) (he preceded Bardas 5 as kanikleios). His death was bitterly lamented by the empress Theodora 2: Theoph. Cont. IV 20 (p. 171), Scyl., p. 95, Zon. XVI 2. 32.

Logothetes; Theoktistos 3 and Theodora 2 were made to swear by the emperor Theophilos 5 at the end of his life (in 842) that they would neither change his policy on icons nor allow Ioannes 5 to be removed as patriarch of Constantinople: Genesius III 15 (τὸν λογοθέτην Θεόκτιστον). Patrikios (ὅ τε πατρίκιος Θεόκτιστος); Theoktistos 3 and Manuel 1 were the advisers to Michael III (Michael 11) and his mother Theodora 2: Genesius IV 1. He intended to end the ban on icons: Genesius IV 2. He was one of the delegation of high ranking senators who visited the patriarch Methodios 1 to question him about allegations that he was the father of a son, Metrophanes 1; he was patrikios, epi tou kanikleiou and logothetes of the dromos (ὁ πατρίκιος καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κανικλείου καὶ λογοθέτης τοῦ δρόμου Θεόκτιστος): Genesius IV 5.

The empire was well managed under Michael 11 and Theodora 2, thanks to the advice of Manuel 1 and Theoktistos 3 (μεσιτευόντων τῶν προδηλωθέντων ἀνδρῶν): Genesius IV 7. They lived together in the imperial palace and conducted public affairs in harmony, until Theoktistos 3 turned against Manuel 1 and secretly began accusing him of treachery; when Manuel 1 learned of this he left the palace and henceforth commuted there from his own home: Genesius IV 8. Theoktistos 3 was himself the victim of a plot by Bardas 5; he was accused of planning the marriage of either Theodora 2 or one of her daughters, with a view to displacing Michael 11; while going about his business as logothetes of the dromos he was ambushed and seized by Bardas 5 and on the orders of the emperor taken to the Skyla; an attempt by Theodora 2 to save him failed: Genesius IV 9. He asked for protection from Konstantinos 41 the Armenian until a decision was made about his exile, but it was not sufficient and troops sent by the emperor broke in and murdered him: Genesius IV 10.

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