05 Works, Today, March 20th, is Saint Cuthbert's Day, With Footnotes - #79

Holy Father James the Confessor, bishop, of the Studion

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Confessor refers to a saint who has witnessed to the faith and suffered for it; usually torture, but not to the point of death, and thus is distinguished from a martyr. More on Confessor

11th-century Byzantine miniature representing the Studion Monastery

The Monastery of Stoudios was a Greek Orthodox monastery in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The residents of the monastery were referred to as Stoudites. Although the monastery has been derelict for half a millennium, the laws and customs of the Stoudion were taken as models by the monks of Mount Athos and of many other monasteries of the Orthodox world; even today they have influence. 

The Stoudites gave the first proof of their devotion to the Orthodox Faith during the schism of Acacius; they also remained loyal during the storms of iconoclastic controversy, in the eighth and ninth centuries. They were driven from the monastery and the city by Emperor Constantine V after his death however, some of them returned. More on The Monastery of Stoudios

Chludov Psalter

A miniature of a chalcedon by Huldoff (9th century) with an iconography scene

Chludov Psalter is an illuminated marginal Psalter made in the middle of the 9th Century. It is a unique monument of Byzantine art at the time of the Iconoclasm, one of only three illuminated Byzantine Psalters to survive from the 9th century. More on Chludov Psalter

Miniature 48 from the Constantine Manasses Chronicle, 14 century

Destruction of a church under the orders of the iconoclast emperor Constantine V Copronymus.

Iconoclastic Controversy was a dispute over the use of religious images (icons) in the Byzantine Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries. The Iconoclasts, those who rejected images, objected to icon veneration for several reasons, including the Old Testament prohibition against images in the Ten Commandments and the possibility of idolatry. The defenders of the use of icons insisted on the symbolic nature of images and on the dignity of created matter. This opened a persecution of icon venerators that was severe in the reign of  Constantine V. More on the Iconoclastic Controversy

Saint James, Bishop and Confessor, was inclined toward the ascetic life from his early years. Saint James left the world and entered the Studite monastery, where he was tonsured. He led a strict life, full of works, fasting and prayer. Pious and well-versed in Holy Scripture, Saint James was elevated to the bishop’s throne of Catania (Sicily).

During the reign of the iconoclast emperor Constantine V Copronymos (741-775), As a bishop he was severely persecuted by the iconoclasts in the time of the Emperor Constantine Copronymus, enduring hunger, imprisonment and mocking, thus earning the title "Confessor." Saint Theodore wrote a homily in honor of him. He died of his grievous injuries there in the monastery. More on Saint James

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