Venerable Theophanes the Confessor

Life

He was surnamed Sigrian after the place of Sigriane, where he was born. A kinsman of Emperor Leo the Isaurian and his son Copronymus. He possessed enormous wealth and splendor. But all this lost its value for Theophanes when Christ the Lord became king in his soul. He then resisted his own marriage, and when he was nonetheless compelled to marry, he succeeded in persuading his bride to live chastely as brother and sister. And as soon as his parents died, his wife went to one monastery while he went to another. His monastery was in the Sigrianean hills in the region of Cyzicus. Once glorious and wealthy, Theophanes lived in the monastery as the lowliest pauper. And all marveled at such a transformation in him. Having become renowned for his great faith, self-restraint, and wisdom, he was called to the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, at which the veneration of icons was confirmed. On account of his great purity and chastity, God granted him the gift of wonderworking, so that he healed all manner of illness — especially madness and insanity. For all the sick and afflicted he prayed to God and aided them through his prayer. Only when he himself fell ill and suffered for a long time did he refuse to pray to God for his own recovery, but endured with thanksgiving. When the persecution of icons arose again from the wicked Leo the Armenian, Saint Theophanes was brought to Constantinople and cast into prison, where he spent two years in hardship, torment, and humiliation. The emperor then sent him into exile on the island of Samothrace — which he had foreseen beforehand in his spirit and told the jailers. But when he arrived on Samothrace, he lived only twenty-three more days and presented himself to his Lord and Creator, to receive the crown of glory he had earned.

From the Hymn of Praise

### VENERABLE THEOPHANES THE CONFESSOR