Память святого мученика Феоктириста, игумена Пеликитского

In the 8th century, under Constantine Copronymus in 1678, he suffered for icon veneration: his nose and hands were burned with resin. Saint Theoktirist was a participant in the sufferings of Saint Stephen the New. The reign of Constantine Copronymus (741–775) was the time of the highest development of the iconoclastic heresy in the Greek Church. The most courageous defenders of icon veneration at this time were the monks, for which the emperor subjected them to cruel executions. According to the historian Nicephorus, the heads of the monks were broken on the very icons they defended. In general, the persecution of the Orthodox under Copronymus was reminiscent of the times of the cruel tormentor of Christians, the pagan emperor Diocletian. You might be interested in: