Venerable George the Confessor, Bishop of Mytilene (IX)

The Venerable George the Confessor, Bishop of Mytilene (IX), lived as a monk from his youth. In the reign of Leo the Isaurian (716–741) he endured persecution from the iconoclasts and received the name of confessor.

In the years of the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (780–797) Saint George was consecrated bishop of the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Saint George’s life shone with purity and holiness and resembled the life of the angels. In 815, in the time of Leo the Armenian (813–820), the iconoclasts drove the aged bishop from his see and exiled him to Cherson, where he died after 820. At the time of his death a new star appeared in the sky over Mytilene.