Paul the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople

Reading from the Synaxarion:

Saint Paul was from Thessalonica. He became the secretary of Alexander,
Patriarch of Constantinople (see Aug. 30), a deacon, and then the successor
of Saint Alexander in about 337. Because of his virtue, his
eloquence in teaching, and his zeal for Orthodoxy, the Arians hated and
feared him. When the Arian Emperor Constantius, who was in Antioch,
learned of Paul's election, he exiled Paul and proclaimed the Arian
Eusebius Patriarch. Saint Paul went to Rome, where he found Saint
Athanasius the Great also in exile. Provided with letters by Pope Julius,
Paul returned to Constantinople, and after the death of Eusebius in
342, ascended again his rightful throne; the Arians meanwhile elected
Macedonius, because he rejected the Son's con-substantiality with the Father
(and the divinity of the Holy Spirit besides). When Constantius, yet
at Antioch, learned of Paul's return, he sent troops to
Constantinople to drive Paul out. The Saint returned to Rome, where Saint
Athanasius also was again in exile. Constans, Emperor of the West,
Constantius' brother, but Orthodox, wrote to Constantius that if Athanasius
and Paul were not allowed to return to their sees, he would come with
troops to restore them him-self. So Paul again returned to his throne.
After the death of Constans, however, Constantius had Paul deposed.
Because of the love of the people for Saint Paul, Philip the Prefect, who
was sent for him, was compelled to arrest him secretly to avoid a
sedition. Paul was banished to Cucusus, on the borders of Cilicia and
Armenia; a town through which his most illustrious successor, Saint John
Chrysostom would also pass on his way to Comana in his last exile. In
Cucusus, about the year 350, as Saint Paul was celebrating the Divine
Liturgy in the little house where he was a prisoner, the Arians strangled
him with his own omophorion, so much did they fear him even in exile.
His holy relics were brought back to Constantinople with honour by
the Emperor Theodosius the Great.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
Thy confession of the one divine Faith showed thee to the Church to
be a new Paul and a zealot among priests, O holy one. The righteous
blood both of Abel and Zachary with thee doth cry out together unto the
Lord. Righteous Father, intercede with Christ God in our behalf that
His great mercy may be granted unto us.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Thou shonest on earth, a star bright with celestial light, and now
thou dost shine enlightenment on all the Church, in behalf of which
thou didst struggle, laying down thine own life, O Paul, and like Abel
and Zachary, thy blood doth cry out most clearly to the Lord.