This article is an exploration of concept of monks as “soldiers of Christ” in Byzantine Anatolia during the late sixth and early seventh centuries CE. Through a case study of Theodore of Sykeon, this article will explore monks as agents of continuity in the Byzantine Anatolia of the late sixth and early seventh centuries through Theodore's conflicts with the emperors, imperial authorities, and the regional episcopal hierarchy. The conflicts Theodore had with various authority figures of his time were about helping them see the right path of supporting Catholic orthodoxy as the normative belief system of Byzantine society and integrating his rural community of Sykeon into the wider web of imperial and episcopal urban patronage. Thus, conflict in this context was a catalyst for social order and stability rather than a symptom of social collapse. This article also fits into the historiography of the holy man as local patron in Late Antiquity, suggesting an alternate interpretation of this phenomenon as first put forward in Peter Brown's seminal works on this subject.

中文翻译：

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拜占庭视角下的“基督的士兵”：早期拜占庭帝国的僧侣、皇帝和冲突

本文是对公元 6 世纪末和 7 世纪初拜占庭安纳托利亚的修道士作为“基督的士兵”的概念的探索。通过对 Sykeon 的 Theodore 的案例研究，本文将通过 Theodore 与皇帝、帝国当局和地区主教等级制度的冲突，探讨修道士作为 6 世纪末和 7 世纪初拜占庭安纳托利亚的延续。西奥多与他那个时代的各种权威人物之间的冲突是为了帮助他们看到支持天主教正统作为拜占庭社会规范信仰体系的正确道路，并将他的 Sykeon 农村社区融入更广泛的帝国和主教城市赞助网络。因此，这种背景下的冲突是社会秩序和稳定的催化剂，而不是社会崩溃的征兆。