Saint
Theodosia of Constantinople
(
Greek
:
?γ?α Θεοδοσ?α ? Κωνσταντινουπολ?τισσα
,
romanized
:
Hagia Theodosia h? K?nstantinoupolitissa
) is a
Christian
nun
and
martyr
who lived through and opposed the
Byzantine Iconoclasm
of the seventh and eight centuries.
Life
[
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]
According to a biography published by the
Orthodox Church in America
, Theodosia "was born in answer to the fervent prayers of her parents." When they died, she was sent to be raised at the women's Monastery of Holy Martyr Anastasia in Constantinople. She "distributed to the poor of what remained of her parental inheritance" after which she became a nun.
[1]
Martyrdom
[
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]
On January 19, 729, at the beginning of the
iconoclastic
persecutions
, the
Emperor
Leo III the Isaurian
demanded that an
icon
of
Christ
which stood over the grand
Chalke Gate
of the
imperial palace
be removed.
[2]
[3]
Anastasius of Constantinople
ordered that the church comply.
[1]
While an officer was executing the order, a group of women gathered to prevent the operation. Among them was Theodosia, who shook the ladder strongly until the officer fell from it. The man died from his injuries, and Theodosia was arrested and brought to the
Forum Bovis
. There, she was executed by having a ram's horn hammered through her neck.
[4]
Sainthood
[
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]
Following the
Triumph of Orthodoxy
over iconoclasm, she was recognized as a martyr and saint, and her body was kept and venerated in the church of
Hagia Euphemia en to Petrio
, in the quarter named
Dexiokratianai
, named after the houses owned here by one
Dexiokrates
.
[5]
After the beginning of the fourteenth century, the church was renamed for her, and may correspond to the
mosque
of
Gul
. A gate in the sea
walls of Constantinople
, the
Gate of Hagia Theodosia
(
Turkish
:
Ayakapı
) was named after her church. It corresponds to the modern neighborhood of
Ayakapı
, along the
Golden Horn
.
Theodosia became one among the most venerated saints in Constantinople. She is invoked particularly by the infirm, her fame increased by the recovery of a deaf-mute in 1306.
[5]
The Catholic Church celebrates her memorial on its original date of 18 July, while the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches transferred her commemoration to 29 May.
References
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- Van Millingen, Alexander (1912).
Byzantine Churches of Constantinople
. London: MacMillan & Co.
- Mamboury, Ernest (1953).
The Tourists' Istanbul
. Istanbul: Cituri Biraderler Basımevi.
- Janin, Raymond
(1953).
La Geographie ecclesiastique de l'Empire byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siege de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecumenique. 3rd Vol. : Les Eglises et les monasteres
. Paris: Institut francais d'etudes byzantines.
- Schafer, Hartmut (1973).
Die Gul Camii in Istanbul
. Tubingen: Wasmuth.
- Brubaker, Leslie; Haldon, John (2011).
Byzantium in the Iconoclast era (ca 680-850)
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-521-43093-7
.
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