STEPHEN THE YOUNGER, Saint, Martyr. - Born in Constantinople in 714-15 and died there on 28 November 764.

His wealthy parents, forced to flee during the iconoclastic persecution, left the young St. at the age of 15 in the monastery of St. Auxentius near Chalcedon. After his father's death, St. distributed his abundant patrimony to the poor. At the age of 30 he became hegumen of the monastery, which he governed with holy austerity. Later he renounced his office and led an eremitical life.

St. was arrested by order of Constantine Copronymus, who tried in vain to obtain his adherence to the iconoclastic Council (754). Later he was also denounced for having admitted a new novice (a spy) against the imperial decree. His monastery was set on fire and St. was condemned by a tribunal of iconoclastic bishops and confined to Chrysopolis near Constantinople. St. denied ecumenical authority to the Synod from which Rome and the other patriarchates were absent. He was therefore exiled to the island of Proconnesus, but 2 years later transferred to the prisons of Constantinople. Tried again before the same Emperor, he was dragged through the streets of the city and then finished off with a club.

The biography of St. written 42 years later by Stephen the Deacon (PG 100, 1069-1185) is the only reliable source and contains many details about the life of the monks, the most strenuous defenders of orthodoxy. The Latins at the Council of Florence cited words of St. in favor of the primacy of the Pope.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: I. Gill, The Life of St. the Younger by Stephen the Deacon, in Or. Chr. Per., 6 (1940), pp. 114-39; id., A Note on the Life of St. the Y., in Byzant. Zeitschr., 39 (1940), pp. 382-86; Martyr. Romanum, p. 553.

Giuseppe Gill

@incollection{ec11_stefano_il_giovane_santo_marti, author = {Gill, Giuseppe}, title = {Stefano Il Giovane, santo, martire}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1306--1307}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/stefano-il-giovane-santo-martire} }

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Stephen the Younger, Saint, Martyr

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