St Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (+740)

Saint Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (+740), was born in Constantinople in the seventh century. His father, one of the leading senators of Byzantium, was killed by order of the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus (668–685). The boy Germanus grew up in the Church. There he studied Holy Scripture deeply. For his holy life Germanus was consecrated Bishop of Cyzicus. The bishop stood firm in defence of Orthodoxy against the iconoclasts. Later he was chosen Patriarch of Constantinople. The saint continued to denounce the iconoclasts, who were led by the Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717–741). The forces were unequal. Saint Germanus was forced to lay his omophorion on the altar and leave the hierarchal see. The enraged emperor sent soldiers to Saint Germanus. They drove the saint out of the patriarchal residence. Saint Germanus spent his remaining days in a monastery. He died in 740 at the age of ninety-five and was buried in Constantinople, in the Chora monastery. Later his relics were translated to France.

The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) entered the name of the holy Patriarch Germanus in the diptychs of the saints.