John of Byzantium

Holy Martyr John of Byzantium is commemorated beside other martyrs of the time of the emperor Constantine Copronymus (741-776). In those days many Orthodox soldiers left their rank and received monasticism, and the lawless emperor put many of them to death after torments. One, named Basil, he first blinded. When Saint Basil, even after the blinding, went on venerating the holy icons, the tyrant thrust a sword into his belly, so that all his entrails were seen. At that time Saint Stephen too received the crown of martyrdom for the holy icons, at Constantinople. Two Gregorys and some others were sent into exile, where they also died. And Saint John was driven out to Daphne, a suburb of Constantinople, where, by order of the emperor, he was often beaten and died of it.

The Azbyka page adds in a note that Constantine Copronymus was one of the cruellest iconoclast emperors, that he ordered monasteries burned and that the heads of Orthodox monks were broken with the very icons they defended. The soldiers who carried out his will, seeing the steadfastness of the Orthodox and the many signs from the mocked icons, often passed from persecutors to the Orthodox and became zealous venerators of the icons. The Church commemorates Saint John the Martyr on 11 December, in the new style.