The name of Aphrates 1, normally spelt Aphrates, occurs once (in Ep. 128) as Aphratios. Aphrates 1 and Orestes 2 are mentioned together by Theodore the Stoudite (Theodoros 15) in five letters, all written in early summer 816 to Stoudite monks, as having deserted the iconophile cause and joined the iconoclasts (ἐξέπεσεν ἐξ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐλεεινὸς Ὀρέστης καὶ Ἀφράτης, or similar: Epp. 122, 124); they are alluded to as "sons of darkness" (υἱοὶ σκότους: Epp. 125, 126) and Theodoros 15 hints that they had previously shown signs of unreliability (ὧν ὁ πρότερος βίος ἄπιστος εἰς ὑποταγήν: Ep. 122, cf. 124 ἀρχαῖοι ἄπιστοι ἀμφότεροι); Theodoros 15 describes them as denying Christ (ἔξαρνοι Χριστοῦ, or similar: Epp. 124, 126, 128): Theod. Stud., Epp. 122, 124, 125, 126, 128. They were both Stoudite monks who defected to the iconoclasts in 816. Cf. Fatouros, pp. 238*-241*.

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