Theodore Stratelates (Ancient Greek: Ἅγιος Θεόδωρος ὁ Στρατηλάτης, transl. 'the General' or 'Military Commander'; Coptic: ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲑⲉⲟⲇⲱⲣⲟⲥ), also known as Theodore of Heraclea (Ancient Greek: Θεόδωρος Ἡρακλείας; AD 281–319), was a martyr and warrior saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Churches.
There is much confusion as to whether he and St. Theodore of Amasea were the same person, as the stories about their lives later diverged into two separate traditions.
The Golden Age of Bulgaria is the period of the Bulgarian cultural prosperity during the reign of emperor Simeon I the Great (889—927). The term was coined by Spiridon Palauzov in the mid 19th century. During this period there was an increase of literature, writing, arts, architecture and liturgical reforms.
Simeon I achieved spectacular military and political successes, expanding Bulgarian territory and forcing the Byzantine Empire to recognise the imperial title of the Bulgarian monarchs. The capital Preslav was built in Byzantine fashion to rival Constantinople. Among the city's most remarkable edifices were the Round Church, also known as the Golden Church, and the imperial palace. At that time was created and painted Preslavian pottery, which followed the most prestigious Byzantine models. A chronicle of the 11th century testified that Simeon I had built Preslav for 28 years.
A great martyr (also spelled greatmartyr or great-martyr) or megalomartyr (from Byzantine Greek μεγαλομάρτυς, megalomártus, from μέγας, mégas 'great' + μάρτυς, mártus 'martyr'; Church Slavonic: великомꙋ́ченикъ; Romanian: mare mucenic; Georgian: დიდმოწამე) is a classification of saints who are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Rite of Constantinople. The term is also used in Malta especially by parishes dedicated to Saint George in reference to him (San Ġorġ Megalomartri).
Generally speaking, a greatmartyr is a martyr who has undergone excruciating tortures—often performing miracles and converting unbelievers to Christianity in the process—and who has attained widespread veneration throughout the Church. These saints are often from the first centuries of the Church, before the Edict of Milan. This term is normally not applied to saints who could be better described as hieromartyrs (martyred clergy) or protomartyrs (the first martyr in a given region).
The military saints, warrior saints and soldier saints are patron saints, martyrs and other saints associated with the military. They were originally composed of the early Christians who were soldiers in the Roman army during the persecution of Christians, especially the Diocletianic Persecution of AD 303–313.
Most of the early Christian military saints were soldiers of the Roman Empire who had become Christian and, after refusing to participate in Imperial cult rituals of loyalty to the Roman Emperor, were subjected to corporal punishment including torture and martyrdom.
Saint Theodore (Άγιος Θεοδώρος), distinguished as Theodore of Amasea, Theodore the Recruit (Θεοδώρος ό Τήρων), and by other names, is a Christian saint and Great Martyr, particularly revered in the Eastern Orthodox Churches but also honored in Roman Catholicism and Oriental Orthodoxy. According to legend, he was a legionary in the Roman army who suffered martyrdom by immolation at Amasea in Galatian Pontus (modern Amasya, Turkey) during the Great Persecution under Diocletian in the early 4th century. Venerated by the late 4th century, he became a prominent warrior saint during the Middle Ages, attracted a great deal of additional legends including accounts of battle against dragons, and was often confused with (or was the original source of) the similar Theodore Stratelates of Heraclea.
Stratēlatēs (Greek: στρατηλάτης, "driver/leader of the army") was a Greek term designating a general, which also became an honorary dignity in the Byzantine Empire. In the former sense, it was often applied to military saints, such as Theodore Stratelates.
In the late Roman/early Byzantine Empire, the title was used, along with the old-established stratēgos, to translate into Greek the office of magister militum ("master of the soldiers"). In the 6th century, however, Novel 90 of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) attests the existence of a middle-ranking honorific title of stratēlatēs, which ranked alongside the apo eparchōn ("former prefect"). A prōtostratēlatēs ("first stratēlatēs") Theopemptos is attested in a 7th-century seal, likely indicating the senior-most dignitary among the entire class of the stratēlatai. This stratēlasia was a purely honorary dignity, attached to no office, and declined measurably in prestige during the 7th and 8th centuries: sigillographic evidence shows that it came to be held by the lower rung of the imperial bureaucracy, such as kommerkiarioi (customs supervisors), kouratores (supervisors of imperial establishments) and notarioi (imperial secretaries). By the late 9th century, it ranked at the bottom of the hierarchy of imperial dignities (along with the apo eparchōn), as attested in the 899 Klētorologion of Philotheos. The Klētorologion also records that the dignity was conferred by the award of a codicil or diploma (Greek: χάρτης), retaining 6th-century practice. In the 10th-11th centuries, the term returned to its original military meaning, being used for senior generals, including the commanders-in-chief (the Domestics of the Schools) of East and West.