Saint John Bishop of Polybotum

Saint John, Bishop of Polybotum, was a hierarch of the Church in Phrygia, in west-central Asia Minor, during the early eighth century. He is remembered chiefly as a confessor who opposed the iconoclast policy of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, denouncing the emperor's impiety and teaching his flock the Orthodox doctrine of the veneration of the holy icons. He is commemorated on December 4.

Polybotum, the see over which Saint John presided, was a city of Phrygia situated near Synnada. The synaxarion remembers him as a denouncer of the heresy and impiety of Leo the Isaurian, who in 726 inaugurated the imperial campaign against the icons. At a time when many bishops were pressed to conform, John taught the faithful that the honor paid to the holy images passes to those whom they depict, upholding their veneration against the imperial prohibition.

By tradition, the Lord granted Saint John the gift of healing the sick and casting out evil spirits, and his renown as a wonderworker is woven through his life. According to one account preserved in the synaxarion, when Saracen forces had taken Christian captives at Amorium in Phrygia, the saint miraculously intervened to punish the raiders and compel the release of the prisoners. He died at the beginning of the eighth century; his relics are venerated as incorrupt.