Theodore I Calliopas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodore Calliopas (Greek: Θεόδωρος Καλλιοπάς) was an Exarch of Ravenna twice (643–c. 645, 653–before 666).

Nothing is known of Theodore's first term, except that he succeeded Isaac 643, and was replaced by Plato c. 645.

Following the death of the Exarch Olympius in 652, however, he was returned to his former position. Theodore subsequently carried out the orders given to his predecessor, to arrest Pope Martin I. The exarch entered Rome in 653, whereupon he and a detachment of soldiers dragged the pope from the Lateran, and then sent him on a ship to Naxos. Theodore then attempted, without success, to convince the Romans to elect a new pope; only in the next year was Eugene I made pope. Before 666 he was succeeded as exarch by Gregory.