06/15/2026
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Today the Church remembers St. Methodius of Constantinople, a courageous patriarch who suffered greatly defending Christian teaching that icons can be venerated for spiritual enrichment.
Methodius was born around 790 in Sicily, then a part of the Byzantine Empire. He was sent to the imperial capital of Constantinople by his well to do family where he pursued the monastic life. In 815, the emperor restarted the "iconoclast" controversy which had plagued the Eastern Churches in the previous century. Iconoclasts believed that the veneration of holy icons or images offended the second commandment while "iconodules" (servants of icons) defended the consistent Catholic teaching that so long as individuals did not worship icons as though they were themselves divine, veneration of icons was perfectly compatible the Scriptures.
Methodius defended Catholic teaching and was subsequently imprisoned and exiled for eight years under Emperor Michael II. Following his death, Methodius returned to the city only to be arrested, scourged and imprisoned by the next emperor, Theophilius. Methodius would not waver though and continually advocated that the persecutions of iconodules should be lessened.
After Theophilius died, his wife, Theodora, took control of the throne and restored icon veneration in its entirety in the empire. She named Methodius as the new Patriarch of Constantinople and he led the faithful in a "Triumph of Orthodoxy" celebration in 843, ending the iconoclasm controversy once and for all.
St. Methodius, pray for us!
