Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Reading Notes: Saint Theodora, Part B

Saint Theodora Story source: The Golden Legend edited by F. S. Ellis (1900).


  • Theodora has it all: beauty, piety, noble title, rich husband
  • A devil is jealous, entices man to pursue her
  • Man pursues her relentlessly, but she doesn't give into temptation, though she almost does
  • Man hires a witch to convince her
    • witch says that God can't see what happens at night. For some reason Theodora believes this. 
  • Theodora invites man over, has sex with him, and he leaves her alone and heartbroken
    • She is distraught by the sin she has committed against God and her husband
    • Husband asks what is wrong, she won't say
  • She runs away to a nunnery and ask if God knows what happens at night
    • The nuns say "duh". She asks for a Bible and it falls to Quod scripsi scripsi
  • Theodora disguises herself as a man (Theodorus) and becomes a monk
  • The husband laments her absence. God tells him he will meet his wife on the road
    • the husband sees her, but doesn't recognize her, and goes on.
  • A woman in the village accuses her of fathering her child
    • the monastary expels Theodorus and Theodorus cares for the child for 7 years
      • During the seven years she is continually tempted by the devil, but doesn't give in. She prays or signs the cross and the devil vanishes
  • The abbott rewards her patience by welcoming her back. 
  • She takes the child into her cell.
    • the monks overhear her and hears her say she will die, and that the child should take God as his father
  • After receiving a vision that tells him the truth, the abbott discovers her dead body, and knows she is a woman
  • The abbott is told by God to go find a man on the road
    • Finds his husband who is on his way to see Theodora
  • They go to the monastery and weep over her

Image result for saint theodora as monk
Orthodox Icon Source: Mystagogy Rsource Center

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