Stephen the New of Mt. St. Auxentius

Stephen the New was born around 715 at Constantinople to pious parents who had vowed their child to God at his conception. He entered the monastery on Mount St. Auxentius across the Bosphorus from the city as a child and was tonsured a monk in his youth, becoming eventually the leader of a community of solitaries on the mountain.

During the iconoclasm of Constantine V Copronymus, Stephen was one of the most vocal monastic defenders of the icons. Constantine, exasperated at the steady resistance of the monks of Mt. Auxentius, attempted by every means to silence him — bribes, threats, the disbanding of his community, exile to remote islands. Stephen returned each time and resumed his teaching. In 766, finally, Constantine had him brought back to Constantinople in chains and held in prison while a mob was incited against him.

He was dragged from his cell, beaten in the street, and finally killed by a bystander who struck him on the head with a piece of wood. His relics were honored at his old monastery on Mount Auxentius after the restoration of the icons. His feast falls on November 28.