This saint, having loved the ascetic life from his youth, became a monk. He purified his soul with fasting, vigils and prayer. He invested much effort in studying the holy books. Having thus purified his heart and soul through great feats and labors, he was honored with the rank of bishop. During the time of Emperor Constantine Copronymus, the most zealous iconoclast, the iconoclasts forced him to renounce the prayerful veneration of holy icons, but he did not want to agree to this. Therefore, he suffered great torments from them, persecutions, imprisonments, hunger, thirst and other evils. In these torments and bitter sufferings, he gave up his soul to the Lord God, for whose sake he labored until death and from whom he received the Kingdom of Heaven to rejoice forever. He lived and suffered in the 8th century.

Venerable Cyril, Bishop of Catania. Saint Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople. Venerable Serapion. Easter Lent.