Emperors Orphics
There is also historical evidence that six of the early Christian emperors of Byzantium, who were Thracian Orphics, like Emperor Julian (referred to above- who is also of Thracian origin!), combined these ancient practices with those of the Christian liturgy, which speaks loudly and clearly in favor of the view that a big part of the Orphic “trakiystvaniya” (mystery practices – Ed. note.) were widely incorporated into the early Christian mystery-dedication ceremonies, and also subsequently into the sacraments of the Christian Church.
In witness whereof we find in the following excerpts from the book “Emperors – Orphics” by Roman Tomov from the Institute of Thracology BAS:
Thus we can outline six reigning Thracian emperors in Constantinople: Marcian (450-457 AD), Pope Leo I Bess (457-474 AD), Justin I (518-527 AD), Justinian I the Great (527-565 AD), Justin II (565-578 AD) and Tiberius I Constantine (578-582 AD). These facts speak for almost 150 years of domination of the Thracians in Constantinople, from 450 to 582 AD, with a break from 474 to 518 AD. It should be brought to mind that during this interruption, that the power was in fact transmitted from the daughter of Pope Leo I Bess, which is of Bessic origin, so the interruption was virtually non-existent, and the emperor following Tiberius Constantine I (578-582 AD) – Maurice (582-602 AD)- married a daughter of Tiberius. Therefore the sons of Maurice, beheaded by Phocas in the year 602 AD, should be regarded as the last Thracians in the late antiquity period of the Constantinople Empire … This Thracian domination gives an answer to the question about the place of the Thracians in the Christianized Empire. It definitely proves that the Thracians were precisely the ethnic group, which dominated the empire in the 5th and 6th centuries and built the administrative structure of the state-church … It turns out that the emperors who led this process were of Thracian origin.
(Imperatorite-orfitsi: Orfizum i ranno Khristiianstvo IV-VI vek (Bulgarian Edition), Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, Sofia 1998 г.)