Stephen the Confessor

Saint Stephen the Confessor died in the year 815, in the time of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). From his youth he gave himself to the Lord, was tonsured a monk and became abbot of the Triglia monastery near Constantinople. When the persecution of the holy icons began, the abbot was asked to blaspheme the icons. Venerable Stephen refused to betray Orthodoxy and fearlessly rebuked the emperor. The saint was cruelly tortured, then exiled, and died in prison. The Church of Georgia commemorates him on 28 March (old style; 10 April new style).