Michael Synkellos

He was involved in disputes over the filioque clause and over Byzantine iconoclasm, which landed him in prison for the period 815–843.

[5] His mother dedicated him at the age of three to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where he was given the rank of anagnostes (reader).

[6] The period following the death of the Abbasid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (809) until the accession of al-Maʾmūn (813) was one of unrest that greatly affected the churches of Palestine.

[3] In 812 or 813, Patriarch Thomas I of Jerusalem sent Michael on a mission to Constantinople and Rome, accompanied by his disciples Theodore, Theophanes and Job.

[6] The purpose of Michael's mission was to bring letters from Thomas to Pope Leo III referring to him the controversy over the filioque that had erupted in Jerusalem in 809 and to request financial assistance in the West for the churches in Palestine following the imposition of fines by the Islamic authorities.

[12] They stayed at the Chora monastery and became involved in disputes over the re-introduction of iconoclasm by the Emperor Leo V in 815.

Following the accession of Michael II in 820, the two were exiled to the monastery of Prousias (or Prousa) near Mount Olympus.