(ABOUT A.D. 827.)
[Roman Martyrology. By the Greeks on Dec. 11th. Authorities:--The
Greek Menæa, and the Acts of the second council of Nicæa, also the
Chronography of Leo the Grammarian, Cedrenus, Zonaras, &c.]
S. Euthymius, bishop of Sardis, was one of the most zealous defenders
of images against the Iconoclastic emperors. He flourished under the
empress Irene, and her son, Constantine VI., as abbot, but was then
created bishop, and took a prominent part in the second council of
Nicæa. Under the emperor Nicephorus he was sent into exile, together
with other bishops, to Patalarea, for having admitted a virgin to the
religious life. For the next nine-and-twenty years he did not see
his diocese. When Leo the Armenian assumed the purple, he recalled
Euthymius, but before restoring him to his see, he demanded of him
whether he venerated images. The saint boldly replied, "O emperor, it
belongs not to thee to meddle with the affairs of the Church. To thee
is given the care of the State and the government of the army. Attend
to them, and suffer the Church to remain faithful." This answer so
angered Leo, that he ordered him to be banished to Assos. On the death
of Leo by assassination, his successor, Michael the Stammerer, recalled
Euthymius, and again demanded whether he reverenced sacred images.
And when Euthymius protested that he reverenced whatever represented
or recalled Christ, the tyrant banished him to Acrita, where he was
cast into a noisome dungeon, and afterwards, by the emperor's orders,
was brought out and stretched on the ground, with his hands and feet
attached to posts, at the utmost distention possible, and then was cut
and lashed with cow-hide scourges, till he died.