died in exile, 9th century
A meek and virtuous monk of Bithynia, esteemed for his faith and charity, who was raised to the episcopate of Kios. He suffered persecution as a confessor and reposed in peace.
Our Father among the Saints Eustathius the Confessor, Bishop of Kios
Eustathius the Confessor was a 9th-century bishop of Kios, an ancient city in the Roman province of Bithynia in northwest Asia Minor, located at present-day Gemlik, Turkey, on the Sea of Marmara. The Orthodox Church in America's synaxarion also identifies him under the broader title 'Bishop of Bithynia.'
Before his episcopate he was a monk, remembered as meek, wise, and pious, filled with great faith and love for his neighbor. He was raised to the episcopal throne on account of his virtuous conduct, and for many years guided his flock by his example of virtuous life.
During the period of Byzantine Iconoclasm he openly opposed the heretics and defended the veneration of holy icons. Reported to the emperor, he was imprisoned, severely beaten, removed from his see, and sent into exile, where he died after three years of insults, deprivation, hunger, and want. His feast day is March 29.
Eustathius began his spiritual labors as a monk, and the sources describe him as meek and wise, filled with faith and charity toward his neighbor. His virtuous conduct led to his elevation to the episcopate, where he was appointed bishop of Bithynia, the see being identified with Kios.
As bishop he served for many years, guiding his flock and offering them an example of virtuous life and perfection.
The veneration of icons was the central conflict of Eustathius's episcopate. When the Iconoclast heresy held sway, he boldly came out against the heretics and defended the holy icons. The Iconoclasts reported him to the emperor, and he was imprisoned and fiercely beaten. The authorities ultimately deposed him from his episcopal position and sent him into exile, where he died in the 9th century after three years of suffering insults, deprivation, hunger, and want.
Because he suffered persecution for the defense of the icons but was not killed, the Church honors him with the title 'Confessor' — the distinction given to those who endured for the faith without dying a martyr's death.
The second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm (814-843) provides the setting for Eustathius's suffering. Emperor Leo V the Armenian reinitiated iconoclasm in 815 through a synod at Hagia Sophia, and his successors Michael II (820-829) and Theophilus (829-842) continued the iconoclast policy. Orthodox bishops who defended icon veneration faced exile, imprisonment, beatings, and deprivation of their sees; the iconophile Bishop Euthymius of Sardeis, for example, was tortured and martyred under Michael II in 824. Eustathius's three-year exile and death in exile place him within this wider cohort of 9th-century iconophile confessors.
Icon veneration was finally restored in 843 by Empress Theodora as regent, at the Council of Constantinople — an event commemorated as the Triumph of Orthodoxy, celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent.
Kios (also Cius, and later renamed Prusias after King Prusias I of Bithynia) was an ancient Greek city on the Propontis (Sea of Marmara) in Bithynia, at modern Gemlik, Turkey. It became an important early Christian center: its bishop Cyrillus took part in the First Council of Nicaea in 325, and bishop Theosebius attended the Council of Ephesus. At first a suffragan of Nicomedia, by the 7th century the city had become an autocephalous archdiocese, and many of its first-millennium bishops are known from surviving documents. Eustathius thus held an established and historically significant Bithynian see.