June 14
St. Methodius I (d. 847)
Patriarch of Constantinople, modem Istanbul. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily, and builta monastery on the island of Chios. 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. Finally, in 842, Empress Theodora arranged for his elevation as patriarch of Constantinople. In this office, he convened a council and promoted orthodoxy and the veneration of icons after the long years of iconoclasticism. Methodius was a prolific writer, being the author of a life of St. Theopanes.
