Saint of the Day Online - St. Methodius I

Saint of the Day for Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Saint Name: St. Methodios I
Place: Syracuse, Sicily
Birth: xxx
Death: 847
Feast: 14 June

St. Methodios I was born in in Syracuse and was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 4, 843 to June 14, 847. He His feast day is celebrated on June 14 in both the East and the West.

After some time in Constantinople, he was sent to Rome in 815 as the 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. Methodius returned in 821 and was himself scourged and imprisoned for seven years.

Throughout his short patriarchate, Methodios tried to pursue a moderate line of accommodation with members of the clergy who were formerly Iconoclasts. This policy was opposed by extremists, primarily the monks of the Stoudios monastery, who demanded that the former Iconoclasts be punished severely as heretics. To rein in the extremists, Methodios was forced to excommunicate and arrest some of the more persevering monks.

Methodios was indeed well-educated; engaged in both copying and writing of manuscripts. His individual works included polemica, hagiographical and liturgical works, sermons and poetry.