shrine. The new roof
was a remarkable piece of work; large sums were spent upon the proper
accommodation of the monks, and the grounds were enclosed within strong
walls.[51]

Like other monastic institutions, the Studion suffered greatly at the
hands of the iconoclast emperors. Under Constantine Copronymus, indeed,
the fraternity was scattered to the winds and practically suppressed, so
that only twelve old members of the House were able to take advantage of
the permission to return to their former home, upon the first
restoration of eikons in 787 by the Empress Irene. Under these
circumstances a company of monks, with the famous abbot Theodore at
their head, were eventually brought from the monastery of Saccudio to
repeople the Studion, and with their advent in 799 the great era in the
history of the House began, the number of the monks rising to seven
hundred, if not one thousand.[52]

Theodore had already established a great reputation for sanctity and
moral courage. For when Constantine VI. repudiated the Empress Maria
and married Theodote, one of her maids of honour, Theodore, though the
new empress was his relative, denounced the marriage and the priest
who had celebrated it, insisting that moral principles should govern
the highest and lowest alike, and for this action he had gladly
endured scourging and exile. The Studion had, therefore, a master who
feared the face of no man, and who counted the most terrible
sufferings as the small dust of the balance when weighed against
righteousness, and under him the House became illustrious for its
resistance to the tyranny of the civil power in matters affecting
faith and morals. When the Emperor Nicephorus ordered the restoration
of the priest who had celebrated the marriage of Constantine VI. with
Theodote, not only did Theodore and his brother Joseph, bishop of
Thessalonica, and their venerable uncle Plato, endure imprisonment and
exile, but every monk in the Studion defied the emperor. Summoning the
fraternity into his presence, Nicephorus bade all who would obey his
order go to the right, and all who dared to disobey him go to the
left. Not a single man went to the right. Under the very eyes of the
despot all went to the left, and in his wrath Nicephorus broke up the
community and distributed the monks among various monasteries. Upon
the accession of Michael I. the exiled monks and Theodore were allowed
indeed to return to the Studion, peace being restored by the