Theoktiste Phlorina was the spouse of Marinos, an officer in the
Byzantine army with the rank of
tourmarches or
droungarios. The family originally lived in, or hailed from, the town of Ebissa in
Paphlagonia. Some modern
genealogists, including
Cyril Toumanoff and
Nicholas Adontz, have suggested that Marinos hailed from the Armenian noble clan of the
Mamikonian. According to
Nina Garsoïan in the
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, however, "[a]ttractive though it is, this thesis cannot be proven for want of sources." With Marinos, Theoktiste had two sons,
Bardas and
Petronas, and four daughters,
Theodora, Sophia, Maria and Irene. In 821 or 830 (the date is disputed), Theodora married
Theophilos, who in 829 succeeded his father
Michael II the Amorian (ruled 820–829) as
emperor. With her daughter's coronation as empress, Theoktiste too was honoured with the exalted title of
zoste patrikia. At about the same time she bought a mansion in
Constantinople, in the quarter of
Psamathia, from the
patrikios Niketas, which became her residence. Unlike her son-in-law Theophilos, who was an ardent
iconoclast, Theoktiste was reportedly an
iconodule. Not only did she aid persecuted iconodules, but when Theodora's five daughters visited her in her house, she would instruct them in the veneration of the
icons, much to the anger of Theophilos, who forbade his daughters from visiting their grandmother too often. Her house was later—possibly still during Theophilos' reign (829–842)—transformed into the
Gastria Monastery. Theoktiste and Theodora, as well as other members of the family, were buried there. Of her other children, Bardas and Petronas would go on to become major figures in the reign of Theodora and Theophilos's son,
Michael III (), Sophia married the
magistros Constantine Baboutzikos, Maria, also known as Kalomaria ("Maria the Beautiful") married the
patrikios and later
magistros Arsaber, while Irene married the
patrikios Sergios, either the brother or the maternal uncle of the future
Patriarch of Constantinople Photios. ==References==