Venerable Procopius the Confessor, of Decapolis (+c. 750)

The Venerable Procopius of Decapolis laboured east of the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Decapolis, or the Ten Cities (Mark 7:31). Saint Procopius, together with his fellow struggler Saint Basil (commemorated 28 February) and other faithful defenders of Orthodoxy, courageously opposed the newly arisen heresy of the iconoclasts. By order of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian (716–741) he was seized, cruelly tortured, and then thrown into prison, where he remained with Saint Basil until the death of the tormenting king. After this the venerable confessors were set free. The holy father spent the rest of his life in peace; he reposed in deep old age in 750.