Theodore of Amasea
Encyclopedia
See also Theodore Stratelates
Saint Theodore of Amasea (now Amasya, Turkey
) is one of the two saints called Theodore who are venerated as Warrior Saints
and Great Martyrs in the Eastern Orthodox Church
. He is also known as Theodore Tiro (or Tyro or Tiron or Teron). The other saint of the same name is Theodore Stratelates
also known as Theodore of Heraclea, but this second St Theodore may never have had a separate existence. When the epithet is omitted, the reference is usually to St Theodore of Amasea.
Tiro is a word from classical Latin meaning a recently enlisted soldier or recruit. The Latin word was transliterated into Greek with various spellings (τίρων or τήρων or τείρων).
) and the stories told about his life and martyrdom are all matters of myth and legend.
The legends of Theodore of Amasea recount that he was a recruit serving in the Roman army at Amasea, which is the modern Amasya in Northern Turkey, about 30 miles south of the Black Sea coast at Sinope and Samsun (Another version says that he was not a recruit but was called Tyro because he served in the Cohors Tyronum). When he refused to join his fellow soldiers in pagan rites of worship, he was arrested, but then (perhaps on account of his youth) set free after a warning. However he then set fire to the temple of Cybele (the local mother-goddess) at Amasea. He was then condemned to death and, after tortures, was executed by being thrown into a furnace.
His remains were said to have been obtained by a woman from Eusebia and interred at Euchaita where he had been born. This was a Byzantine city which no longer exists but is thought to correspond to the modern Avkhat, which is about 30 miles from Amasea. A shrine was erected there, which became an important place of pilgrimage.
Gregory of Nyssa preached in honour of St Theodore in his sanctuary in the late 4th century and this is the earliest source for any information about him. He said nothing about his life beyond the basic legend as given above, but he told how he could influence the lives of his hearers and specifically mentioned that he could intervene in battles. This became a particularly important attribute of St Theodore. He was adopted by crusaders as their patron.
The sanctuary of the saint was established at Euchaita, possibly his birthplace, and legends of his life and martyrdom were developed by hagiographers over the years. Later additions to the story between the 8th and 10th centuries told of a dragon who was terrorising the district round Amasea, which he was able to vanquish with the aid of a cross. Amasea was by then in a district liable to attacks by marauding barbarians, against whom the saint was said to have interceded. His sanctuary continued to be visited until around 1100, although the district was by then occupied by the Arabs.
In Western Christianity he is usually called 'of Amasea' from the ancient city in Pontus
where he suffered martyrdom. Sometimes he is Theodore Euchaita from the place where he was possibly born and to which his body had been carried and where his shrine was erected. In Eastern Christianity he is more often known as Theodore Teron, "Theodore the Recruit".
There is much confusion between him and St Theodore Stratelates
of Heraclea who is also sometimes said to have had a shrine at Euchaita, but the shrine of the latter was in fact at Euchaneia.
are dedicated to him.
In Italy he was shown in a mosaic in the apse of the church of SS. Cosmas & Damian in Rome (dated about 530) and by the next century he had his own church there at the foot of the Palatine, circular in shape.People brought their sick children to his temple, as to an asclepeion, or healing-temple. This church of San Teodoro was made a collegiate church by Pope Felix IV
and was made available to the orthodox church in Rome by the Pope John Paul II
in 2000. This was inaugurated in 2004.
He became the first patron of Venice and the chapel of the Doge was dedicated to him until in the 9th century Venice wished to free itself from the influence of Byzantium and he was succeeded by St Mark (See later section on St Theodore and Venice).
He was not popular in northern Europe beyond Italy. However the cathedral at Chartres in France has a stained glass window with a series of 38 panels celebrating St Theodore which date from the 13th century.
In the eastern church St Theodore of Amasea is celebrated on 8 February or on 17 February or on the 1st Saturday in Lent. In the western church his date was 9 November but after the Second Vatican Council and since 1969 he is no longer liturgically celebrated except in certain local calendars.
Relics of the saint were widely distributed. In the 12th century his body was said to have been transferred to Brindisi
, and he is there honored as patron; his head is said to be enshrined at Gaeta.
His encounter with a dragon
was transferred to the more widely venerated Saint George
.
of Heraclea.
There is much confusion between these two saints and each of them is sometimes said to have had a shrine at Euchaita in Pontus. In fact the shrine existed before any distinction was made between the saints. The separate shrine of Stratelates was at Euchaneia, a different place. They were distinguished at least by the 9th century. However it is now generally accepted, at least in the west, that there was in fact only one St Theodore. Delehaye wrote in 1909 that the existence of the second Theodore had not been historically established and Walter in 2003 wrote that "the Stratelates is surely a fiction".
There were several churches dedicated to both saints, Theodore Tiron and Theodore Stratelates. For instance at Dobarsko
and at Serres, at the monastery of Kuprianou at Constantinople and at Pergamon.
There is some doubt whether this first patron of Venice was St Theodore of Amasea or St Theodore Stratelates, but Otto Demus in 1960 in his authoritative book,'The Church of San Marco in Venice' stated positively that he was St Theodore Stratelates of Heraclea and is followed in this by Fenlon However in his later book on the Mosaics of San Marco (1984) Otto Demus points out that none of the 12th century mosaics which show St Theodore mentions more than his name and it is suggested that he may have become the patron of the city before the two saints were distinguished. In fact the Venetians never appear to have made any distinction between the different St Theodores. None of the mosaics in St Mark's church show him in military dress.
There were 15 churches in Constantinople dedicated to St Theodore. who was a Greek saint, specially venerated by the eastern church. Venice had originally been a subject city of the eastern Roman Empire and the Venetians saw St Theodore as a symbol of their subjection to Constantinople. The adoption of St Mark as their patron helped to establish their independence.
The new church of St Mark was built between the old chapel of St Theodore and the ducal palace. When this was enlarged and rebuilt in the late 11th century, the chapel of St Theodore disappeared in the rebuilding. There is today a small chapel dedicated to St Theodore behind St Mark's church, but this was not built until 1486 (It was later occupied by the Inquisition in Venice).
The two Byzantine columns in the Piazzetta in Venice were set up soon after 1172. The eastern column bears a strange animal representing the winged lion of St Mark. A statue representing St Theodore was placed on the western column in 1372, but this was not the statue now to be seen there, which is a composite of several fragments, some antique, including a crocodile to represent a dragon, and was placed there in the second half of the 15th century.
Reputed relics of St Theodore were taken from Mesembria by a Venetian admiral in 1257 and, after being first placed in a Venetian church in Constantinople, were brought to Venice in 1267. They were placed in the church of San Salvatore.
See also the article on Saint Theodore Stratelates
.
The Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic churches which follow the Byzantine Rite
, celebrate a miracle
attributed to St. Theodore Tyro on the First Saturday of Great Lent
. At the end of the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday evening (since, liturgically, the day begins at sunset) a special canon
to St. Theodore, composed by St. John of Damascus
, is chanted. Then the priest blesses kolyva (boiled wheat with honey and raisins) which is distributed to the faithful in commemoration of the following miracle worked by St. Theodore on the First Saturday of Great Lent:
Fifty years after the death of St Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate
(361-363), as a part of his general policy of persecution of Christians
, commanded the governor of Constantinople
during the first week of Great Lent to sprinkle all the food provisions in the marketplace with the blood offered to pagan idols, knowing that the people would be hungry after the strict fasting of the first week. Thus he would force the Christians to unknowingly eat food "polluted" (from the Christian perspective) with the blood of idolatry
. St Theodore appeared in a dream to the Archbishop of Constantinople, Eudoxius
, ordering him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything at the market, but rather to boil the wheat they had at home and eat it sweetened with honey.
After the service, the kolyva is distributed to all who are present and, after Holy Communion and the antidoron
, is the first food eaten after the strict fasting
of the first week.
Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates , also known as Theodore of Heraclea, is a martyr and Warrior Saint venerated with the title Great-martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches....
Saint Theodore of Amasea (now Amasya, Turkey
Amasya Province
Amasya Province is a province of Turkey, situated on the Yeşil River in the Black Sea Region to the north of the country. Area 5,520 km². Population 334,786....
) is one of the two saints called Theodore who are venerated as Warrior Saints
Military saint
The military saints or warrior saints of the Early Christian Church are prominent in the history of Christianity...
and Great Martyrs in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
. He is also known as Theodore Tiro (or Tyro or Tiron or Teron). The other saint of the same name is Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates , also known as Theodore of Heraclea, is a martyr and Warrior Saint venerated with the title Great-martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches....
also known as Theodore of Heraclea, but this second St Theodore may never have had a separate existence. When the epithet is omitted, the reference is usually to St Theodore of Amasea.
Tiro is a word from classical Latin meaning a recently enlisted soldier or recruit. The Latin word was transliterated into Greek with various spellings (τίρων or τήρων or τείρων).
Life and Martyrdom
Nothing reliable is known about St Theodore except that he was martyred in the 4th century (306 is the date quoted for Theodore of Amasea, but 319 for Theodore StratelatesTheodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates , also known as Theodore of Heraclea, is a martyr and Warrior Saint venerated with the title Great-martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches....
) and the stories told about his life and martyrdom are all matters of myth and legend.
The legends of Theodore of Amasea recount that he was a recruit serving in the Roman army at Amasea, which is the modern Amasya in Northern Turkey, about 30 miles south of the Black Sea coast at Sinope and Samsun (Another version says that he was not a recruit but was called Tyro because he served in the Cohors Tyronum). When he refused to join his fellow soldiers in pagan rites of worship, he was arrested, but then (perhaps on account of his youth) set free after a warning. However he then set fire to the temple of Cybele (the local mother-goddess) at Amasea. He was then condemned to death and, after tortures, was executed by being thrown into a furnace.
His remains were said to have been obtained by a woman from Eusebia and interred at Euchaita where he had been born. This was a Byzantine city which no longer exists but is thought to correspond to the modern Avkhat, which is about 30 miles from Amasea. A shrine was erected there, which became an important place of pilgrimage.
Gregory of Nyssa preached in honour of St Theodore in his sanctuary in the late 4th century and this is the earliest source for any information about him. He said nothing about his life beyond the basic legend as given above, but he told how he could influence the lives of his hearers and specifically mentioned that he could intervene in battles. This became a particularly important attribute of St Theodore. He was adopted by crusaders as their patron.
The sanctuary of the saint was established at Euchaita, possibly his birthplace, and legends of his life and martyrdom were developed by hagiographers over the years. Later additions to the story between the 8th and 10th centuries told of a dragon who was terrorising the district round Amasea, which he was able to vanquish with the aid of a cross. Amasea was by then in a district liable to attacks by marauding barbarians, against whom the saint was said to have interceded. His sanctuary continued to be visited until around 1100, although the district was by then occupied by the Arabs.
In Western Christianity he is usually called 'of Amasea' from the ancient city in Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
where he suffered martyrdom. Sometimes he is Theodore Euchaita from the place where he was possibly born and to which his body had been carried and where his shrine was erected. In Eastern Christianity he is more often known as Theodore Teron, "Theodore the Recruit".
There is much confusion between him and St Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates , also known as Theodore of Heraclea, is a martyr and Warrior Saint venerated with the title Great-martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches....
of Heraclea who is also sometimes said to have had a shrine at Euchaita, but the shrine of the latter was in fact at Euchaneia.
Veneration
St Theodore became especially important in the eastern church where his cult spread widely. The first church dedicated to him in Constantinople was built in 452 and eventually he had 15 churches in that city. He was famous in Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor and many churches of the Eastern Orthodox ChurchEastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
are dedicated to him.
In Italy he was shown in a mosaic in the apse of the church of SS. Cosmas & Damian in Rome (dated about 530) and by the next century he had his own church there at the foot of the Palatine, circular in shape.People brought their sick children to his temple, as to an asclepeion, or healing-temple. This church of San Teodoro was made a collegiate church by Pope Felix IV
Pope Felix IV
Pope Saint Felix IV was pope from 526 to 530.He came from Samnium, the son of one Castorius. Following the death of Pope John I at the hands of the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great, the papal voters gave in to the king's demands and chose Cardinal Felix as Pope...
and was made available to the orthodox church in Rome by the Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
in 2000. This was inaugurated in 2004.
He became the first patron of Venice and the chapel of the Doge was dedicated to him until in the 9th century Venice wished to free itself from the influence of Byzantium and he was succeeded by St Mark (See later section on St Theodore and Venice).
He was not popular in northern Europe beyond Italy. However the cathedral at Chartres in France has a stained glass window with a series of 38 panels celebrating St Theodore which date from the 13th century.
Iconography and Feast Days
In mosaics and icons he is most often shown in military dress from the 6th century, but sometimes in civilian or court dress. When on horseback, he is always in military dress, possibly spearing a dragon, and often accompanied by St George. Both he and St Theodore Stratelates are shown with thick black hair and pointed beards (usually one point for Theodore Tiron and two points for Stratelates).In the eastern church St Theodore of Amasea is celebrated on 8 February or on 17 February or on the 1st Saturday in Lent. In the western church his date was 9 November but after the Second Vatican Council and since 1969 he is no longer liturgically celebrated except in certain local calendars.
Relics of the saint were widely distributed. In the 12th century his body was said to have been transferred to Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
, and he is there honored as patron; his head is said to be enshrined at Gaeta.
His encounter with a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
was transferred to the more widely venerated Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
.
The two St Theodores
Numerous conflicting legends grew up about the life and martyrdom of St Theodore so that, in order to bring some consistency into the stories, it seems to have been assumed that there must have been two different saints, St Theodore Tiron of Amasea and St Theodore StratelatesTheodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates , also known as Theodore of Heraclea, is a martyr and Warrior Saint venerated with the title Great-martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches....
of Heraclea.
There is much confusion between these two saints and each of them is sometimes said to have had a shrine at Euchaita in Pontus. In fact the shrine existed before any distinction was made between the saints. The separate shrine of Stratelates was at Euchaneia, a different place. They were distinguished at least by the 9th century. However it is now generally accepted, at least in the west, that there was in fact only one St Theodore. Delehaye wrote in 1909 that the existence of the second Theodore had not been historically established and Walter in 2003 wrote that "the Stratelates is surely a fiction".
There were several churches dedicated to both saints, Theodore Tiron and Theodore Stratelates. For instance at Dobarsko
Dobarsko
Dobarsko is a village in southwestern Bulgaria, part of Razlog municipality, Blagoevgrad Province. It is set at 1,070 m above sea level on the southern slopes of Rila with the westernmost Rhodope Mountains to the east and Pirin to the south near the valley of the Mesta River. Dobarsko is...
and at Serres, at the monastery of Kuprianou at Constantinople and at Pergamon.
St Theodore and Venice
St Theodore was the patron saint of Venice before the relics of St Mark were (according to tradition) brought to the city in 828. The original chapel of the Doge was dedicated to St Theodore, though, after the translation of the relics of St Mark, it was superseded by the church of St Mark.There is some doubt whether this first patron of Venice was St Theodore of Amasea or St Theodore Stratelates, but Otto Demus in 1960 in his authoritative book,'The Church of San Marco in Venice' stated positively that he was St Theodore Stratelates of Heraclea and is followed in this by Fenlon However in his later book on the Mosaics of San Marco (1984) Otto Demus points out that none of the 12th century mosaics which show St Theodore mentions more than his name and it is suggested that he may have become the patron of the city before the two saints were distinguished. In fact the Venetians never appear to have made any distinction between the different St Theodores. None of the mosaics in St Mark's church show him in military dress.
There were 15 churches in Constantinople dedicated to St Theodore. who was a Greek saint, specially venerated by the eastern church. Venice had originally been a subject city of the eastern Roman Empire and the Venetians saw St Theodore as a symbol of their subjection to Constantinople. The adoption of St Mark as their patron helped to establish their independence.
The new church of St Mark was built between the old chapel of St Theodore and the ducal palace. When this was enlarged and rebuilt in the late 11th century, the chapel of St Theodore disappeared in the rebuilding. There is today a small chapel dedicated to St Theodore behind St Mark's church, but this was not built until 1486 (It was later occupied by the Inquisition in Venice).
The two Byzantine columns in the Piazzetta in Venice were set up soon after 1172. The eastern column bears a strange animal representing the winged lion of St Mark. A statue representing St Theodore was placed on the western column in 1372, but this was not the statue now to be seen there, which is a composite of several fragments, some antique, including a crocodile to represent a dragon, and was placed there in the second half of the 15th century.
Reputed relics of St Theodore were taken from Mesembria by a Venetian admiral in 1257 and, after being first placed in a Venetian church in Constantinople, were brought to Venice in 1267. They were placed in the church of San Salvatore.
See also the article on Saint Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates
Theodore Stratelates , also known as Theodore of Heraclea, is a martyr and Warrior Saint venerated with the title Great-martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches....
.
Saint Theodore Saturday
Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite is the liturgical rite used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches, by the Greek Catholic Churches , and by the Protestant Ukrainian Lutheran Church...
, celebrate a miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
attributed to St. Theodore Tyro on the First Saturday of Great Lent
Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season in the church year in Eastern Christianity, which prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha . In many ways Great Lent is similar to Lent in Western Christianity...
. At the end of the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday evening (since, liturgically, the day begins at sunset) a special canon
Canon (hymnography)
A canon is a structured hymn used in a number of Eastern Orthodox services. It consists of nine odes, sometimes called canticles or songs depending on the translation, based on the Biblical canticles. Most of these are found in the Old Testament, but the final ode is taken from the Magnificat and...
to St. Theodore, composed by St. John of Damascus
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
, is chanted. Then the priest blesses kolyva (boiled wheat with honey and raisins) which is distributed to the faithful in commemoration of the following miracle worked by St. Theodore on the First Saturday of Great Lent:
Fifty years after the death of St Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
(361-363), as a part of his general policy of persecution of Christians
Persecution of Christians
Persecution of Christians as a consequence of professing their faith can be traced both historically and in the current era. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith, at the hands of both Jews from whose religion Christianity arose, and the Roman Empire which controlled much of the land...
, commanded the governor of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
during the first week of Great Lent to sprinkle all the food provisions in the marketplace with the blood offered to pagan idols, knowing that the people would be hungry after the strict fasting of the first week. Thus he would force the Christians to unknowingly eat food "polluted" (from the Christian perspective) with the blood of idolatry
Idolatry
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...
. St Theodore appeared in a dream to the Archbishop of Constantinople, Eudoxius
Eudoxius of Antioch
Eudoxius was the eighth bishop of Constantinople from January 27, 360 to 370, previously bishop of Germanicia and of Antioch, and was one of the most influential Arians.-Biography:...
, ordering him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything at the market, but rather to boil the wheat they had at home and eat it sweetened with honey.
After the service, the kolyva is distributed to all who are present and, after Holy Communion and the antidoron
Antidoron
The Antidoron is ordinary leavened bread which is blessed but not consecrated and distributed in Eastern Orthodox Churches and less often in Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite...
, is the first food eaten after the strict fasting
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
of the first week.
See also
- MoreškaMoreškaMoreška is a traditional sword dance from the town of Korčula, on the Croatian island of the same name in the Adriatic. Dating back hundreds of years, the Moreška is an elaborate production involving two groups of dancers, engaging in a mock battle over the fate of a veiled young woman...
, dance performed on Sveti Todor (Saint Theodore's) day on the Croatian island of Korčula