Born
in the Roman Galatian town of Sykeon in Asia Minor, Theodore was the
son of a woman of ill repute, who kept an inn along the imperial
highway.
As a child, he was so given to prayer that he would
often give up a meal to spend time in church. From an early age he shut
himself up first in the cellar of his mother’s house and then in a cave
beneath a disused chapel. Later, for a time, seeking to further escape
the world, he sought solitude on a mountain.
On a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem Theodore assumed a monk’s habit, and though only eighteen
years of age, was ordained a priest by his own bishop. His life was most
austere, wearing an iron girdle about his body and only sparingly
partaking of vegetables.
Endowed with the gift of prophecy and
miracles, on a second pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he obtained abundant
rain after a severe drought.
Theodore founded several
monasteries, and ruled as abbot in Sykeon. He was consecrated Bishop of
Anastasiopolis, though he deemed himself totally unfitted. After ten
years he succeeded in relinquishing his post and retired to Sykeon.
From
Sykeon he was recalled to Constantinople to bless the emperor and the
senate and there healed one of the Emperor’s sons of a skin disease,
reputedly leprosy.
Theodore had a great devotion to St. George and did much to propagate devotion to him.
He died in Sykeon on April 22, 613.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
St. Theodore of Sykeon
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