Theophilus

Holy Hierarch Theophilus was archbishop of Ephesus and a confessor of the faith. Spyridon Eustratiades says that he was wholly unknown to the printed synaxaria. His memory appears, together with his service, the work of Theophanes the Inscribed, in Paris codex 1619, folio 62. The service shows that he was first a monk in the desert, and then, for his holiness and virtue, was raised to the metropolis of Ephesus, which he governed in a way pleasing to God, rebuking through his teachings those who madly dishonoured the icon of Christ. From this it is clear that he lived in the time of the struggle against the holy icons, perhaps at the same time as the poet Theophanes the Inscribed, who composed his service.

Delehaye's Synaxarium has him on this day as "Venerable Theophilus, archbishop of Ephesus, the confessor". The Synodikon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy mentions an archbishop Theophilus, without naming his see, together with the archbishop Nicholas. He is also mentioned in Patmos codex 266. He is commemorated on 25 September, in the calendar of the Church of Greece (new style).