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| St. Stephen the Confessor and Wonderworker (Feast Day - March 26) |
Verses
Divine Stephen worker of the vineyard,
You stand before God receiving the wages for your toil.
Saint Stephen the Confessor was Abbot of Triglia Monastery in Bithynia during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). From a young age, the holy ascetic dedicated his life to God and received monastic tonsure. He later became abbot of the Triglia Monastery in Bithynia.
When persecution was restored against holy icons under Emperor Leo, Saint Stephen was summoned for questioning, and they tried to force him to sign a document rejecting the veneration of icons. Saint Stephen steadfastly refused to betray Orthodoxy and he boldly denounced the emperor for his impiety. They subjected the Saint to cruel torments, after which they sent him to prison in the year 815. Weakened and sick, the Holy Confessor Stephen soon died in prison from his sufferings.