Auxentius of Chalcedon

Holy Venerable Auxentius of Chalcedon was a monk and a fellow ascetic of the Holy Hierarch Cosmas, bishop of Chalcedon. They lived in the ninth century, at the time when the iconoclasts persecuted the faithful of Orthodoxy. They are commemorated on 1 May.

Saint Cosmas, born in Constantinople, entered a monastery in his youth and became a monk. Later he was ordained bishop of Chalcedon and zealously defended the Orthodox faith against the iconoclast heretics. Venerable Auxentius was his helper in this struggle.

The iconoclasts tried many times to draw the saint to their side, but he remained faithful to Orthodoxy to the end. Saint Cosmas did not submit to the decree of Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820) to remove the holy icons from the churches. For this he was driven from his see and sent into exile. When he was brought back from banishment, he continued to defend, together with Venerable Auxentius, the veneration of the holy icons. Because of the unending persecutions Saint Cosmas grew weak in body, but remained strong in spirit. Saint Cosmas departed to the Lord around the years 815-820, and he and Venerable Auxentius kept the Orthodox faith unshaken until death.