The Monk Prokopios Dekapolites
Commemorated on February 27
The Monk Prokopios
Dekapolites lived during the VIII Century in the region of Dekapolis (Mk.
7: 31), to the east of Lake Galilee. And there also he devoted himself to
salvation, occupied with monastic deeds.
Saint Prokopios,
together with his co-ascetic Saint Basil (Comm. 28 February) and others zealous
for holy Orthodoxy, rose up against the Iconoclast heresy that had arisen in
those times. By order of the emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741), the Monk
Prokopios was arrested, subjected to a fierce scourging and thrown into prison.
Here he languished together with the Monk Basil until the very death of the
oppressive emperor, after which the holy confessors were set free. The Monk
Prokopios spent the rest of his life peacefully at monastic deeds, guiding many
on the way of virtue and salvation. He died in old age, in about the year 750.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.