Venerable Theodore the Sanctified in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Venerable Theodore the Sanctified, who flourished during the times of the emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363 A.D.), was from Egypt and was born to wealthy parents. At a young age he followed Venerable Pachomios in the Thebaid of Egypt and entered under his spiritual guidance, while he became one of his most beloved disciples. A faithful imitator of his teacher in the monastic life, he succeeded him after his repose in the abbacy of the Monastery. For the purity of his life and his holiness he was endowed by God with the grace of wonderworking. And because of his perfect purity of soul and body he received the title "Sanctified." Venerable Theodore reposed in peace in 367 A.D.

2. The origin of Venerable Theodore from Egypt becomes the first occasion for the ecclesiastical poet in order to bring forth the change that the Lord Jesus Christ brought into the world. Already he notes that the great Saint of today, as also all the saints of God before and after him in Egypt, were predestined by Christ to become saints, after long ago He descended into Egypt and, foreseeing as God their response to His calling, He called them and saved them and glorified them, according to the word of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 8). “Making the clouds His ascent as Master, having before descended into Egypt on a light cloud, He predestined the elect who shone forth, those being caught up in clouds as God-minded ones, among whom is Theodore the Sanctified, our Father” (Vespers Sticheron).

Saint Theodore the Sanctified Resource Page

Venerable Theodore the Sanctified (Feast Day - May 16)

Verses

You are shown forth as a divine gift, Theodore,A

Among the Saints, O sanctified Saint.
On the sixteenth Theodore flew away from the earth.

 

Saint Theodore the Sanctified, Disciple of Pachomios the Great

 

May: Day 16: Venerable Theodore the Sanctified

 

Prologue in Sermons: May 16 

 

Venerable Theodore the Sanctified in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church 
 

The Manner By Which Saint Theodore the Sanctified Embraced Monasticism

 

Abba Pachomios and the Phantom

 

The Only Two Churches Dedicated to Saint Theodore the Sanctified in Greece

 

Saint Pachomios the Great Resource Page 

 

Synaxarion of our Venerable Father Baras

 

Synaxarion

By Haralambos M. Bousias

On the 16th day of this same month (May), we commemorate our Venerable Father Baras, who lived in asceticism in Constantinople.*

Verses

Baras strangely offered incense to an earthly ruler;
Now he offers incense to the King of All in the heavenly city.

He was originally from Egypt, and lived a God-loving ascetic life in the regions of the Queen of Cities together with his companions Raboulas and Patapios, with whom he came to the capital of Byzantium during the reign of Emperor Zeno. These three Fathers loved silence and solitude, yet they also avoided complete isolation as something blameworthy. Therefore they established small dwellings for their ascetic struggles: Patapios settled in the more northern area, near the seaside wall of Blachernae; Raboulas in the more southern part; and Baras midway between them. Finding an old church dedicated to the Forerunner, and being a zealous imitator of his labors, Baras made his dwelling there.

In time, many monks gathered around him, and he built a renowned monastery dedicated to the Baptist, called the Monastery of Petra. As Emperor Anastasios approached the monastery on a hunting expedition, he marveled at the Venerable one, who came out to meet him while censing, carrying burning coals in the fold of his poor and worn cloak. The emperor therefore granted him extensive lands. After living peacefully and in a God-pleasing manner, and being counted worthy of extraordinary miracles, he departed to the Lord.

Commemoration of the Consecration of Saint Euphemia near the Neorion of Constantinople

 

Fragment of a marble relief depicting Saint Euphemia, Constantinople, 14th century, today in the Archaeological Museum.

At the tip of the 6th Region (district) of Constantinople, on the northern side along the Golden Horn (the Keratios), there was the Neorion harbor and the shipyards. This was the city’s oldest harbor, built by Constantine the Great. From the harbor one could pass outside the walls through the Gate of the Neorion (Bahçekapi).

There appear to have been at least four churches there: Saint Irene at Perama, Saint Mark, Hagia Dynamis, and Saint Euphemia. There was also the Monastery of Kyr Antonios, built by Patriarch Anthony Kauleas, also known as Kaulea Monastery, after the founder. 

Prologue in Sermons: May 16

Good Instruction Should Be Heard From Anyone Who Offers It

May 16

(Commemoration of our Venerable Father Theodore the Sanctified, disciple of Saint Pachomios.) 
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some people do not like to hear good advice from those who are younger than they are, or from those whom they consider in some way inferior to themselves. “He is still young,” they say of such people, “and he wants to teach us!” Such reasoning is not praiseworthy.

You are hungry, and food is offered to you — eat. It makes no difference who offers it, otherwise you may die of hunger.

You are thirsty, and drink is offered to you — drink, without asking whether the vessel is gold or iron, so long as the water in it is pure; otherwise you may die of thirst.

Precious pearls are scattered about; gather them wherever they may lie, otherwise you will lose the treasure. Later you will regret not gathering them, but it will be too late.

Saint Achillios of Larissa: Pastoral Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

By Demetrios Pagitsas, 
PhD Candidate in Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki  

Larissa, both as a city and as a Metropolis, possesses a significant hagiographical history and experience. A multitude of Saints attained holiness in Larissa and the surrounding region. Among them, the patron Saint of Larissa, Saint Achillios the Myrrhstreaming Wonderworker, holds a central place.[1] He was born in Cappadocia around 270 A.D. and lived during the time of Saint Constantine the Great.[2] Often the people of God leave their homeland and depart for new places of witness. Divine Providence chose the land of Thessaly as the missionary field of Saint Achillios.

Orthodox spiritual life is a synthesis of Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy. According to Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: “For the way of godliness consists of these two things: pious dogmas and good works.”[3] Saint Achillios, in both his life and pastoral ministry, preserved both dogma and ethos.

Venerable Pachomios the Great in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

If Saint Anthony the Great is rightly regarded as the father of eremitic monasticism, then Saint Pachomios the Great is regarded as the father of cenobitic monasticism. He was the one who, for the first time in the early Christian centuries, founded a cenobitic monastery — not because he merely had such a brilliant idea on his own, but because the Lord Himself, through His angel, enlightened him to undertake this work, even guiding him concerning the outward form the monks should wear. “You were shown to be the leader of the flock of the Chief Shepherd, leading the flocks of monks, Father Pachomios, to the heavenly fold, and having been initiated from there into the proper habit for ascetics, you also initiated others into it” (Apolytikion). “You became the lawgiver and leader of ascetics, Pachomios, bringing them to Christ, all-praised one” (Ode 3). “For through a vision, all-wise Father, you were divinely instructed to build training grounds of virtue” (Ode 4). “By divine command, O wise one, you were initiated by the Angel into the wise ordinances of the ascetics” (Ode 8).

Pachomios the Great, Father and Founder of Cenobitic Monasticism

By Protopresbyter George Christodoulou

Saint Pachomios was born around 292 AD in the Egyptian Thebaid, in the region of present-day Luxor. His parents were pagans.

Egyptian tradition presents him from childhood as a pure and disciplined person, clean in heart and inwardly estranged from pagan worship.

At one point his parents took him to a pagan ceremony, but he felt no inner connection to the idols.

The official website of the Coptic Church, in the life of Saint Pachomios connected with the present Monastery of Saint Pachomios in Luxor, specifically says that the young Pachomios was “a lover of purity and chastity” and did not take part in pagan festivals.

At a young age he was conscripted into the Roman army. He enlisted at about twenty years old, during the conflicts between Constantine the Great and Licinius.

During his military service or imprisonment, he encountered Christians who showed love, compassion, and care toward the soldiers. This became the first great blow of divine grace upon his soul.

Prologue in Sermons: May 15

On the Vision of God

May 15

(On the Commemoration of our Venerable Father Pachomios the Great.) 
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

In the Life of our Venerable Father Pachomios the Great, among other things, it is said that he attained such a high degree of perfection that through his dispassion he was raised even to the vision of God. Is this possible?

The Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen, before his suffering and death, gazing into heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55).

When Venerable Sisoes the Great sensed the approach of death, he said to the monks surrounding him, with his face shining brightly: “Abba Anthony has come!” After a little silence he cried out: “The choir of the prophets is appearing!” At that moment his face shone even more brightly, and he began speaking with someone invisible. “With whom are you speaking, Father?” the monks asked. “The Angels of the Lord,” answered the elder, “have come to take me, but I beg them to leave me here a little longer so that I may repent.” “But you have no need of repentance at all,” they replied. “No, brethren,” said the Venerable one, “I do not even know whether I have made a beginning of my salvation!” The monks marveled at the humility of the righteous man, while at that moment his face already shone like the sun. “Look!” he finally cried out. “The Lord Himself has come!” Everyone was struck with awe, and shortly afterward the elder departed this life; then there flashed something like lightning, and the cell was filled with fragrance (Prologue, July 6).