Emilianos the Confessor & Bishop of Cyzikos (8 August)
Saint Emilian, the Bishop of Kyzikos, lived during the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). He and other bishops were summoned to the Emperor’s tribunal, and Leo told the bishops to refrain from venerating the Holy Icons. Saint Emilian was the first to tell the Emperor firmly that the question of venerating icons ought to be discussed and decided only within the Church by its spiritual leaders, and not at the imperial court.
This Saint was one of the illustrious Orthodox Bishops called to Constantinople by the holy Patriarch Nicephorus to defend the veneration of the holy icons against Leo the Armenian (see Mar. 8). Saint Emilian was sent into exile by Leo about the year 815, and gave up his soul to the Lord amidst many afflictions and sufferings for the sake of his confession.
Emilian served as bishop in Cyzicus, during the reign of the nefarious Emperor Leo the Armenian, the iconoclast. Since he did not want to submit to the decrees of the emperor,which demanded the removal of icons from the churches, Emilian and other Orthodox bishops were sent into exile. He spent five years in exile, enduring much pain and humiliation for the sake of Christ. Emilian died in the year 820 A.D. and took up his habitation among the citizens of heaven.
Source: oca.org / goarch.org / westserbdio.org
