Like John of Damascus, Theodore Studite was an important literary figure and one of the main people involved in the writing of the Canons. Theodore Studite lived from 759 to 826 AD and served as abbot of the Studius monastery in Constantinople from 798 AD until his death. Like John, Theodore was a defender of icons and believed that iconoclasm was heresy. Theodore's arguments against iconoclasm can be found in his three formal treatises and his letter which opposed iconoclasm based on the human side of Christ's nature and Theodore's belief that symbolism was necessary in religious worship. Although Theodore admitted that God could not and should not be depicted in art, he still believed that the denial of the legitimacy of the Icons of Christ meant the denial of the Incarnation. He argued that it was false to believe, as the iconoclasts did, that the symbol was the very essence it symbolized. If this were true, he believed that defenders of the images would agree that the legitimate icon of Christ was the sacred elements of prayer and conscience. Along with his writings and stances against iconoclasm, Theodore also created two important funeral orations, one for his mother Theoktista, whom he depicted as a pious but practical Byzantine lady, and another for his uncle Plato, abbot of Sacudion monastery, whose rules had provided Theodore with a model that would aid him in his monastic reforms. These works, by Theodore, provide arguments from the periods of iconoclasm and also from his personal history that offer scholars insight into that period of Byzantine history. Another influential scholar was Maximus the Confessor. In his early years, he studied philosophy, g...... middle of paper ......s FX The Western Humanities Volume I: Beginnings Through the Renaissance. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2010.Newman, Garfield. Echoes from world history past the 16th century. Whitby, Ont: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 2001. Nicol, Donald MacGillivray, Teall, John L. “Byzantine Empire.” Britannica OnlineEncyclopaedia academic edition. Accessed January 27, 2014. Retrieved from http://0-www.britannica.com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire“St Maximus the Confessor.” Orthodox Church of America. Last modified: January 21, 2014. Accessed February 20, 2014. Retrieved from http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/01/21/100249-st-maximus-the-confessor“Who is Saint Maximus?” Orthodox Mission of Saint Maximus the Confessor. Accessed February 20, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.stmaximus.org/who_is_st_maximus.html