(d.847) Saint Methodius was born in Syracuse, Sicily, started a monastery, and assisted the Patriarch of Constantinople before becoming embroiled in the Iconoclast controversy between the Latin Church and the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. Imprisoned, scourged, and exiled for seven years, Methodius was unwavering in the rightness of the veneration and use of icons as worship aids. With his help, Iconoclasm, the belief in the necessity of the destruction of icons and images, was eventually recognized as a heresy. Saint Methodius served the last years of his life as the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Icons are depictions of sacred events or holy people and are used as a means of instruction or to venerate the thing depicted. They are not idols or worshipped in themselves. When we mistake the created thing for the Greatest Good, the order of our world is upended, and our lives become a mess. The Twelve Steps and a sponsor help us put things back in the right perspective.

Saint Methodius, Defender of Icons, pray for us. Help us to see in our own being the Image of God. Inspire in us a reverence for that Image, that we treat ourselves right. Amen.

Reflection by Brad Farmer