The Church commemorates Apostle Hermas of the Seventy, Bishop in Philipopoulis, and Saint Theophylactus, Bishop of Nicomedia, who lived under Εmperor Leo IV. Thanks to his vast education, he gained a reputation as a sage and established friendly relations with senior government officials and officials, as well as with the later Patriarch Tarasios.
He was elected Bishop of Nicomedia and from this position, he excelled with prudence and discretion in church, social welfare, and benevolence work. He built churches, hospitals, nursing homes, poorhouses. He became the epitome of ministry by personally visiting and caring for his sick brothers.
During the reign of Leo V, when the struggle of the iconoclasts was rekindled and new persecution began against the Christians, Saint Theophylactus was sent to exile, and, together with other high priests and faithful Christians, he endured the sufferings, deprivations, and hardship.
Saint Theophylactus prayed unceasingly for the triumph of Orthodoxy during the time of iconoclasm, which he did not witness because he reposed in the Lord in AD 840.
Source: Church of Cyprus
