Saint Stephen the Confessor, Archbishop of Surozh

Stephen was born about 700 in Cappadocia and studied in Constantinople, where Patriarch Germanus kept him at the patriarchate. He withdrew to a monastery and then into solitude, but, according to his Life, Germanus sought him out and consecrated him bishop of Sougdaia, today’s Sudak in Crimea. The Life tells that he was imprisoned and tortured under the Iconoclast emperors for defending icons, then returned to his see, where he died in the late 8th century.

His Life survives in Greek, Slavonic and Armenian versions. The Slavonic one tells that soon after his death a Rus’ prince named Bravlin raided Crimea and plundered his church, was struck down, returned what he had taken and was baptized.