On this day, June 14 according to the Julian Calendar (June 27 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Methodios I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Confessor and Restorer of the Holy Icons, who reposed in 847 AD.
Saint Methodios was born in Syracuse, Sicily, and came to Constantinople where he embraced the monastic life. He was a man of great learning, theological acuity, and fervent piety. During the second wave of Byzantine iconoclasm, he became one of the most steadfast defenders of the veneration of holy icons.
Patriarch Nikephoros of Constantinople, who was in exile for his defense of icons, sent Methodios to Rome to inform Pope Paschal I of the situation in the East and to seek the Pope’s support for the Orthodox cause. On his return to Constantinople, Methodios was arrested by the iconoclast authorities and subjected to severe imprisonment and physical abuse. He was beaten and confined in a tomb with two criminals for seven years, enduring these sufferings with heroic patience.
After the death of Emperor Theophilos in 842, his widow, the Empress Theodora, who was devoted to Orthodoxy, acted as regent for her young son. She convened a council which restored the veneration of icons in 843 — an event celebrated to this day as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” on the first Sunday of Great Lent. Methodios was released from imprisonment and consecrated Patriarch of Constantinople.
As patriarch, Methodios convened the council that definitively condemned iconoclasm and restored the icons throughout the empire. He served as patriarch for four years, working tirelessly to heal the wounds of the long iconoclast controversy and to restore the Church to peace and unity. He reposed in 847 AD.
May the intercessions of Saint Methodios I, Patriarch of Constantinople, be with us all.