Theophylactus of Nicomedia was a ninth-century bishop and confessor, remembered for his charity toward the poor and the sick and for his defense of the veneration of icons during the second period of Byzantine iconoclasm. A native of Constantinople, he was a disciple of Saint Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had convened the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787 to restore the honoring of the holy images. He is commemorated on March 8.
With the blessing of Patriarch Tarasius, Theophylactus withdrew to a monastery on the coast of the Black Sea together with Saint Michael, later bishop of Synnada. The two became known for their ascetic life, and the tradition relates that their prayers brought forth water during a drought. After his years in monastic struggle, Theophylactus was consecrated bishop of Nicomedia in Asia Minor by Tarasius.
As bishop he was distinguished by extensive works of mercy: he built churches and hospices, provided for orphans, widows, and the sick, distributed alms, and personally cared for those afflicted with leprosy, washing their wounds himself. When the iconoclast emperor Leo V the Armenian (813-820) renewed the persecution of icons, Theophylactus openly denounced the heresy and foretold the emperor's swift destruction. For this he was deposed and exiled to the fortress of Strobilos in Asia Minor.
Theophylactus endured roughly thirty years in banishment, dying in exile around the year 845. After the restoration of the veneration of icons in 843, and with the broader settlement under the empress Theodora and her son Michael, his relics were returned to Nicomedia.
