Leontios

Leontios was bishop of Neapolis (today Limassol) in Cyprus in the seventh century, and is known chiefly for his writings. He was born around 590 in Neapolis and reposed around 668. Little is known of his life, and not all of it is certain.

He wrote the Life of Saint John the Merciful, at the command of Archbishop Arkadios of Constantia. Some believe he knew John the Merciful (died 619) personally in Alexandria in his youth. In any case, he gathered the details of the life when he went on pilgrimage to Alexandria, to the relics of Saints Cyrus and John. At Emesa in Syria he learned from the deacon John the life of Saint Symeon the Fool for Christ and wrote it down. He also wrote a Life of Saint Spyridon, a discourse on Symeon who received the Lord in his arms and one on Mid-⁠Pentecost, as well as an apology against the Jews and one in defence of icons. The apology for icons was read by Bishop Constantine of Constantia at the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. His works are among the few that show the spoken Greek of the early Byzantine centuries.

The Cypriot Menaion commemorates him on 18 June, the day of Saint Leontios the Martyr.