Память преподобного отца нашего Георгия Исповедника, митрополита Митиленского

Having loved Christ from a young age, our venerable father George became a monk, led an ascetic virtuous life and, like no one else, improved in humility. During the reign of Leo the Isaurian 2447, he became a confessor for Christ, having suffered persecution and oppression from the iconoclasts. Then, during the reign of the Orthodox Constantine and Irene 2448, he was elevated to the episcopal see in the city of Mytilene 2449, metropolis of the island of Lesbos 2450. Saint George was very merciful, feeding the hungry with generous alms. For his great abstinence, he became a friend of the Angels and, driving away unclean spirits and healing incurable ailments, he showed himself to be a miracle worker. Having lived until the reign of Emperor Leo the Armenian, who resumed iconoclasm in 2451, he again, already a very old man, suffered persecution for holy icons. Even before the reign of Emperor Leo the Armenian, the resumption of iconoclasm and the expulsion of St. George, there were some signs in Mytilene that predicted the imminent appearance of unrest and disasters in the Church of Christ. Once in the church of the Holy Great Martyr Theodora, which is near the pier, during vespers during the popular singing of “Kyrie, eleison” - Lord, have mercy - the holy cross standing on the throne was suddenly and with a strong noise by some invisible force taken from its place and ascended up to the ceiling, and then, bending its upper end to the bottom, fell to the ground. The people who saw this were seized with great fear and horror; raising their eyes and hands up, they all loudly cried out for a long time: “Kyrie, eleison” and did not want to leave the church, as they expected that some sudden death would visit the island of Lesbos. At that time, the Monk Simeon was in the church along with his younger brother George, who later, in due time, inherited the throne of the first George 2452. Simeon, being a seer, spoke to the people with tears: -Brothers, it will not be as you expect. God will not completely destroy this country, but one of these days a God-hating and godless king will ascend the throne, who, having cast down the holy icons to the ground, will take away its beauty from the church. After several days, a huge and terrible boar, whose ears and tail were cut off, entered the church and the altar - the church door was not locked by chance - and lay down here on a high place. Noticing this, the church watchmen immediately began to drive away the boar, but to no avail, since he was ferocious and rushed at everyone who tried to drive him out of the altar, thereby putting them to flight. After this, having brought a huge stake, they began to beat the animal until it bled for a long time and, having become exhausted, were with difficulty able to drive it away. Having learned about this, the same blessed Simeon said: “Children, believe that this boar signifies that, by God’s permission, there will be a bishop here, who in life and disposition will be like a pig.” All this soon came true. The aforementioned Emperor Leo the Armenian, having ascended the royal throne, undertook persecution against the Church of God and at the same time summoned many bishops to Constantinople, persuading them to accept the iconoclastic heresy. Our venerable father George, Metropolitan of Mytilene, being also called with other bishops, showed himself to be a fearless warrior of Christ. While many approved of the king's unbelief, he, with his true wisdom, shamed the king, the false patriarch Theodotus, nicknamed Cassiter 2453, and other heretics of like minds with them, and brought some of them to the consciousness of their own error. The tsar and patriarch, unable to bear his denunciations, sent him into exile to Kherson 2454, and in his place they installed a certain heretic as metropolitan in Mytilene, who, like a meadow boar (boar), devastated and desecrated the vineyard of Christ: he trampled holy icons, senselessly confusing the verbal sheep. Saint George, having lived the remaining days of his life in exile, by the grace of Christ performed many miracles. When the time of his repose came, a bright star shone in the sky, the herald of his blessed death, which was also visible on Lesvos. By this star in Mytilene the verbal sheep knew the departure to the Lord of their shepherd, Saint George. The life of a saint with his good deeds was a light for the world. God glorified his blessed death with a bright star and after his death, for the glorification of His saint, miraculous healing springs flowed from his relics. Leo the Isaurian reigned from 717 to 741. He came from the class of wealthy peasants and was so distinguished by his military service under Justinian II that in 717, with general approval, he was elevated to the imperial throne. Paying attention to church affairs and, by the way, to superstition in icon veneration, he decided to destroy the latter by police measures. At first (726) he issued an edict only against the worship of icons, for which he ordered them to be placed higher in churches so that the people would not kiss them. In 730, an edict was issued ordering the removal of icons from churches. Leo the Isaurian achieved that icons were temporarily withdrawn from church use. Emperor Constantine V Copronymus (741–775) persecuted icon veneration with even greater cruelty than his father Leo the Isaurian. He wanted to solemnly destroy the veneration of icons as a heresy, and for this purpose in 754 he compiled a council in Constantinople, which was called ecumenical. There were 338 bishops, but not a single patriarch. It was assumed here that icon veneration is idolatry, that the only image of Christ the Savior is the Eucharist. The cathedral anathematized all defenders of icon veneration and icon worshipers, especially St. John of Damascus. St. Irene ruled from 780 to 790 and from 797 to 802 during the childhood of her son Constantine the Porphyrogenitus. She declared herself for icon veneration. In 787, Irina convened the second Nicene and seventh Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, chaired by Patriarch Tarasius of Constantinople. At the council, which consisted of 367 fathers, icon veneration was restored. Mytilene, a city on the island of Lesbos - (the largest in the Aegean Sea), near ancient Troy and Mysia (Asia Minor), has up to 36,000 inhabitants; The island is mountainous, fertile, rich in forests, bread, and wine. Annexed to Turkey in 1462, under Mohammed In ancient times, the cities of this island, Cresos, Pyrrha, and Mytilene, especially flourished Leo the Armenian reigned from 813–820. In the city of Mytilene, on the island of Lesvos, two Georges were metropolitans. The first of them, about whom this life is written, suffered exile during the reign of Leo the Armenian in 816, while the second, George, is the brother of Simeon the seer. He was ordained a presbyter by the first George, during the reign of Constantine and Irene (in 762), and ascended the throne during the reign of Emperor Michael the Tongue-Tie (820–829), who upon his accession granted freedom to the Orthodox. This second George was expelled for Orthodoxy by the iconoclastic emperor Theophilus (829–848); after the death of Theophilus, the blessed Queen Theodora (842-865), with His Holiness Patriarch Methodius of Constantinople, established Orthodoxy and in 842 returned the second George from exile; after a godly life, he died peacefully on his throne. Theodotus I Cassiter ruled the patriarchate from 815–821. Kherson or Korsun - Greek. colony, the most important of the cities of Chersonese Tauride, near present-day Sevastopol - the place of baptism of Grand Duke Vladimir. You might be interested in: