The commemoration of the prophet Elisha.
In Wales, around 500, St. Dogmael. Little is known about him, though he seems to have been active in south Wales and later in Brittany. His name was perpetuated at St. Dogmael's abbey, of which Caldey was a cell.
In Constantinople, in 847, St. Methodius, patriarch. He was born and educated in Sicily and went to Constantinople to secure a government job. Influenced by a monk whom he met there, he joined a monastery, then built his own monastery on the island of Chios. He went to Rome to secure the support of Pope Paschal for those who defended the use of holy images against the revived iconoclasm of Emperor Leo V, the Armenian. When he returned to Constantinople he was thrown into prison for seven years and treated very badly. When the empress Theodora reversed the iconoclastic policies of her predecessors, Methodius was released from prison and appointed patriarch. He instituted the annual Festival of Orthodoxy, still observed on the first Sunday of Lent, and wrote the creedal Synodicon, which is read during the Festival.
Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.