Venerable Plato the Confessor of Studion

Venerable Plato the Confessor of Studion was born in 735 in Constantinople. Orphaned early in life, he distributed his inheritance to the poor and withdrew to Mount Olympus in Bithynia, where he took monastic vows and later became abbot of the monastery of Symboloi. In 782, together with his nephews — among them the future great teacher of monasticism, St. Theodore the Studite — he founded the monastery of Sakkoudion. In 787 he took part in the Seventh Ecumenical Council, which restored the veneration of icons. He fearlessly denounced Emperor Constantine VI for his unlawful second marriage, for which he was imprisoned. After Nikephoros I came to power, he moved with Theodore to the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. In 807 he again suffered persecution and imprisonment for defending the Church's canons and icon veneration, earning him the title of confessor. He spent his final years in labor and prayer, reposing on April 5, 813, at about 78 years of age.