St. Eustathios, Bishop of Kio-in-Bithynia

Eustathios, Bishop of Kio-in-Bithynia threw off from himself the heavy load of the world and whatever is in the world. He became a monk and bore the yoke of Christ on his shoulders applying His commandments and taking care of his soul. When he had been convinced by the many entreaties of the people, he became a priest. He always thanked God, in Whom he had an unhesitating faith. He felt sincere love for everybody and he was instructive, humble, sympathetic, charitable, a zealot of good works. So, because of these virtues of his, he became bishop of Kio-in-Bithynia (which is commonly called Kio and called Coblek in Turkish; in days of old it was called Kieros, then it was called Prousias and it formerly had an episcopal see under the Metropolitan of Nicea). This was the diocese that the saint governed for quite some years according to the canons and the traditions of the holy Apostles. When the heresy of the iconoclasts appeared in the Church of Christ, this blessed man armed himself with the study of the Holy Scriptures and with it, as if it was a sling, he fought the iconoclasts, who boasted against the Churches of God. So, some of them slandered the saint to the king who was an iconoclast at that time. Finally, the iconoclasts beat him up with thick sticks and banished him from his diocese because he venerated and honoured the holy icons.