Saint Methodius of Constantinople

Feast June 14

Bishop and Patriarch of Constantinople

Born in Sicily in the eighth century, Methodius, well educated and wealthy, hoped to receive a place in the Court of Constantinople. However, influenced by a holy monk, he decided to abandon materialism and become a religious, and built a monastery on the island of Chios.

In 815, during the second outbreak of the iconoclastic persecution, the movement against the veneration of icons, Methodius was sent to Rome as a representative of Patriarch Nicephorus, who was exiled by Emperor Leo V the Armenian for refusing to yield to the imperial decrees on the destruction of icons. The holy man spoke in favor of the reverence for holy images, seeking acceptance and approval for the icons, but he returned to Constantinople unsuccessful.

Methodius returned to Rome in 821 when a new emperor, Theophilius, sat on the throne, hoping to convince him to allow the veneration of icons. Instead, he was scourged and imprisoned for seven years.

In 843 he was consecrated as Patriarch of Constantinople with the backing of the Empress Theodora, Theophilius’ widow, and convened a council. Theodora was an ardent supporter of the veneration of icons and was the reason icons were restored to Catholic churches.

Methodius died in Constantinople in 847 of dropsy, or what is now called edema.