Following his parents' death, George donated his inheritance to the poor and, at age eighteen, became a monk at a local monastery, where he resided for two years.
George gained renown for his piety and after the death of the bishop of the island, was chosen by the people of Lesbos to succeed him, and was ordained Archbishop of Mytilene in 804.
At the onset of his reign, Leo V, Michael's successor, restored iconoclasm and began to persecute iconodules (supporters of religious images).
Forthright in his criticism of the Emperor, George was flogged with a hundred lashes and exiled to a barren island in the Sea of Marmara.
[2] In 846–847, after the end of iconoclasm, George's remains were brought to Lesbos and buried at a location known as the Tria Kyparissia, near the Chapel of St John the Baptist.