Stephen the New |Line 57:||Line 57:| Latest revision as of
08:30, October 24, 2012 The Monk Martyr and Confessor Saint
Stephen the New of Mt. St. Auxentius, also Stephen the Younger
(Greek: Ὁ Ὅσιος Στέφανος ὁ Ὁμολογητής ὁ Νέος), 715-767 AD, was a
Byzantine monk from Constantinople who became one of the leading
opponents of the iconoclastic policies of Emperor Constantine V
(741–775). He was martyred in 767 AD, becoming the most
prominent iconodule martyr. His feast day is celebrated annually
on November 28. Saint Stephen the New was born in 715 at
Constantinople into a pious Christian family. His parents,
having two daughters, prayed the Lord for a son. The mother of
the new-born Stephen took him to the Blachernae church of the
Most Holy Theotokos and dedicated him to God. During the reign
of the emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741) there was a
persecution against the holy icons and against those venerating
them. With the support of the emperor, the adherents of the
Iconoclast heresy seized control of the supre