Venerable Stephen the Confessor (+815)

The Venerable Stephen the Confessor (+815) suffered in the time of the iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian (813–820). The Venerable Stephen dedicated himself to the Lord from his youth and was tonsured a monk, and later became superior of the monastery of Triglia near Constantinople. When the persecution of the holy icons began, the holy abbot was required to revile the icons. The Venerable Stephen refused to betray Orthodoxy and fearlessly denounced the emperor. The saint was cruelly tortured and then exiled.

The holy Confessor Stephen died in prison.