9th century; reposed around 850
Bishop of Plousias in Bithynia who defended the veneration of holy icons from Scripture during the iconoclast persecution and suffered for his confession of the faith.
Our Father among the Saints Paul the Confessor, Bishop of Plousias in Bithynia
Saint Paul the Confessor was bishop of the city of Plousias in the province of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, during the ninth century. He served at a time when the iconoclast controversy was again convulsing the Church.
Paul became known for his zealous defense of the veneration of the holy icons, grounding his arguments in Holy Scripture against the iconoclasts. For this confession of the faith he faced harassment and persecution, was sent into exile, and is reckoned among the confessors of the Church. He reposed around the year 850.
According to the synaxarion, Paul's defense of the veneration of icons rested upon Holy Scripture, from which he drew his arguments against the iconoclasts who at that time raged against the Church of Christ.
He endured harassment and persecution together with Saint Theophylactus, who is commemorated the following day, March 8. Paul was sent into exile for his stand and is therefore numbered among the confessors rather than the martyrs.
Paul lived during the second period of Byzantine iconoclasm, which was renewed under the Emperor Leo V the Armenian and lasted from 813 to 843. Orthodox bishops who publicly defended the veneration of icons during this period were subject to exile, imprisonment, and physical persecution.
The controversy ended in 843 with the Triumph of Orthodoxy, commemorated on the first Sunday of Great Lent, after which confessor bishops who had survived exile were restored. Since Paul is recorded as having reposed around 850, he likely lived to see the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843 before dying a few years later.
The troparion appointed for Saint Paul, in Tone 8, hails him as a champion of Orthodoxy, a teacher of purity and true worship, and an adornment of hierarchs. This troparion is one normally reserved for the great hierarchs of the Church, reflecting his high standing as a defender of Orthodox teaching during the iconoclast persecution.
Paul of Plousias is a genuinely obscure figure with minimal documentation outside the synaxarion entry. He is listed among the saints commemorated on March 7, and no dedicated article on him exists in standard online reference works such as OrthodoxWiki.