Born in Jerusalem, Blessed Michael received a fine education and dedicated himself to monastic life from a young age. After the death of his father, his mother and sisters took monastic vows. Michael was ordained as a presbyter and, at the invitation of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, became a synkellos. He was sent to Rome to combat the iconoclastic heresy but was subjected to torture and imprisonment by Emperor Leo the Armenian.
During the persecutions against Orthodoxy, Michael and his companions, Theodore and Theophanes, steadfastly defended the faith despite suffering and persecution. Michael was imprisoned and exiled to a monastery, where his health suffered, but his spirit remained unyielding. After the death of Theophilus, under Empress Theodora, the veneration of icons was restored, and Michael had the opportunity to take the chair of the Patriarch of Constantinople, but he declined this.
He continued to serve as a synkellos and lived to the age of 85, peacefully departing to the Lord. His relics are located in the Monastery of Pantokrator in Constantinople. Blessed Michael left several writings, among which the best is the "Confession of Faith."
