Bishop of Synnada in Phrygia, an able defender of the holy icons who was sent on embassies for the Church and, refusing to yield to the iconoclast Leo the Armenian, ended his days in exile.
Feast Day
May 23
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Our Father among the Saints Michael the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada
Life
Michael the Confessor was bishop of Synnada in Phrygia in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, an able churchman who served the Byzantine state on diplomatic embassies and a steadfast defender of the holy icons. Refusing to yield to the renewed iconoclasm of the emperor Leo V the Armenian, he was banished and died in exile. He is commemorated on May 23.
Drawn to monastic life in his youth, Michael was tonsured by the patriarch Tarasius and consecrated by him to the see of Synnada. He took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787 and was held in regard by the emperors Nicephorus I and Michael I Rangabe before his confrontation with the iconoclast Leo.
Timeline 5 moments
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late 8th c.Monastic formation under TarasiusSeeking the monastic life, Michael was sent by the patriarch Tarasius to a monastery the patriarch had founded near the Bosporus, where, the synaxarion relates, the future bishop Theophylact of Nicomedia entered with him.
c. 784-787Consecration as bishop of SynnadaTarasius consecrated Michael bishop (metropolitan) of Synnada in Phrygia; he is recorded as a participant in the sessions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 787.
802-812Embassies for the empireMichael was sent on diplomatic missions, including embassies to Charlemagne under Nicephorus I and a later mission concerning a marriage alliance, during which he delivered the synodical letter of Tarasius' successor to Rome.
815Resistance to renewed iconoclasmWhen Leo V the Armenian revived the iconoclast persecution, Michael refused to surrender the icons, professing that he venerated the images of Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints.
c. 821-826Exile and deathLeo banished Michael to Eudokias (Eudokiada), where the confessor died, by the accounts, between about 821 and 826.
Contributions & Legacy
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Bishop, diplomat, and confessor
Michael's career joined ecclesiastical office to imperial service. Consecrated to Synnada by Tarasius and present at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, he was repeatedly entrusted with embassies for the Byzantine court: by tradition he led a mission to Charlemagne under Nicephorus I, served as an envoy during Harun al-Rashid's campaign, and headed a later legation to the Frankish court that also carried the enthronement letter of a new patriarch to Pope Leo III in Rome.
The defense of the icons
When Leo V the Armenian restored iconoclasm in 815, Michael was among the hierarchs who refused to comply. Pressed to abandon the veneration of images, he held firm, declaring that he venerated the holy icons of Christ, the All-Pure Virgin, and the saints. For this he was arrested and exiled to Eudokias, where he ended his days, earning the title of Confessor.
By tradition his head is preserved in the Great Lavra of Saint Athanasius on Mount Athos, with a portion of his relics at the Iveron monastery. In the Western tradition he is invoked for the protection of crops from pests.
