A husband and wife of Constantinople who, with their children, refused to give up the veneration of the holy icons under the emperor Theophilus and shared together in exile and suffering for the faith.
The Holy Confessors George and Irene of Constantinople, with their Children
Saints George and Irene were a husband and wife of Constantinople who, with their children, suffered for the veneration of the holy icons during the second period of iconoclasm in the first half of the ninth century. When the emperor Theophilus demanded that George renounce the honor given to the icons, he refused, defending the practice as veneration directed to the eternal Prototype rather than to the wood and paint themselves.
For his disobedience George's property was confiscated, and he was dragged through the streets of Constantinople with a rope about his neck and cast into prison. He was then sent into exile together with his wife Irene and their children, who shared his confession and his sufferings. He died after many afflictions in exile. As a lay family of confessors they are distinct from the Great-Martyr George, and the Church commemorates them together on May 13.
The commemoration honors not George alone but Irene and their children as well, who chose exile rather than abandon the veneration of the holy images. Their memory belongs to the company of confessors who upheld the Orthodox teaching on the icons that was finally vindicated at the restoration of the icons (the Triumph of Orthodoxy).
A lay family of confessors; distinct from the Great Martyr George.