Saint Stephen the Younger

Stephen (715–764) was born in Constantinople and became a monk, and later abbot, on Mount Auxentius near Chalcedon. When Emperor Constantine V tried to forbid the veneration of icons of Christ, Mary and the saints, Stephen refused to accept the decrees of the emperor's council of 754. He was exiled, imprisoned and pressured to give in, but he taught that honoring an image honors the one it represents. In 764 he was dragged through the streets of Constantinople by a mob and killed.

He is called "the Younger" to distinguish him from Saint Stephen, the first martyr. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 confirmed the teaching he died for: holy images may be venerated.