In earlier chapters of my dissertation, I have already prepared new critical editions of the texts on John Vatatzes, and I will use them as a basis to rethink the more general topic of Byzantine imperial sainthood, which still lacks a comprehensive and up-to-date study. My research project will offer new interpretations of this larger phenomenon through close comparisons of representations of Vatatzes as a saint with key sources on Constantine I and Byzantine holy empresses, such as the Constantinopolitan Synaxarium, hagiographical Lives, and the post-Byzantine legend of the marble emperor.

A full-length study is available here.