Commemoration of the Seventh Ecumenical Council

Life

This Council was held in the year 787 in Nicaea, during the reign of the pious Irene and her son Constantine, and during the time of Patriarch Tarasius. This Council definitively established the veneration of icons, having justified it by Holy Scripture, by the testimony of the Holy Fathers, and by reliable examples of miracles manifested through holy icons. Among other cited examples of miracles, Bishop Constantine of Cyprus offered this one: a certain shepherd from the city of Constantia, having driven out his flock to graze one day, saw an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, all adorned with flowers by the faithful. "Why render such honor to a stone?" said the shepherd (no doubt raised in iconoclasm), and he struck the icon with his iron staff and damaged the right eye on the image of the Mother of God. But no sooner had he left that place than he stumbled and with that same staff put out his own right eye. Returning to the city blind in one eye, he cried out weeping and declared that punishment had befallen him from the Theotokos. This Council also decreed that holy relics of martyrs must unfailingly be placed in the antimins. Three hundred sixty-seven Fathers participated in the Council. By their prayers may the Lord have mercy upon us and save us.