THE LIFE OF ST. THEODORE OF SYKEON

[An asterisk * indicates a note, keyed by chapter, at the end of the life.]

51

When the Saint reached Jerusalem and had adored the life-bestowing Cross and worshipped in the Church of Christ's Holy Resurrection and had gone round to all the sacred places in the city and to the monasteries, the monks, who had already proclaimed his miracleworking way of life, when they had seen him, now talked about his presence both in the City and the monasteries. And so priests sent by the Patriarch as well as monks and the most illustrious citizens came to him and besought him to propitiate God on their behalf by his prayers, that He might send them rain. However, he asked to be excused, pleading that he was unworthy of so great an honour, but they declared that they believed that, if only he would join in prayer with the other fathers, they would certainly be deemed worthy of the gift of rain. And he said to them 'Now, t as you say you believe, so shall it be for you'. :

And he bade them order a procession with prayer and he said to those taking part in the procession who had changed into their best clothes,* 'Take off these garments, children, that they may not get drenched through and you be vexed in spirit thereat; for I say unto you that according to your faith God will speedily show his mercy on your behalf'. So they went in procession and halted for prayer at a certain spot by the Saint's command, and there he spread out his hands to heaven and prayed to the Lord for a long time. Whilst he prayed a small rainbearing cloud appeared coming up from the West; and when he had finished his prayer and had bidden them turn homewards, the sky grew black with clouds and the rain began to come down in torrents so that they returned at a run and their clothes were soaked, and thus the procession ended with hymns of praise to God. So through the virtue of the prayer offered to God by His servant the rains spread over the country like a river, and all the pits and cisterns were filled.

But in order to avoid being troubled by the crowd when this miracle became noised abroad, he quickly left the City and returned to his monastery.

52

Similar wonders to this he performed during a time of great drought in other places also which were not far from the monastery.

In a village called Reake a threatening cloud would periodically appear suddenly over the countryside and pour down hailstones upon the vineyards, when the fruit was ripe; and 'the men of the village were in great distress as they had not been able to enjoy the fruits of their husbandry for several years. Accordingly they came to the monastery and entreated the blessed man and brought him back with them to their village. He formed a procession of supplication and they went round the vineyard and the fields and, after offering prayer, he placed four wooden crosses at the four angles of the boundary line and after doing this returned to the monastery and through his holy prayer that threatening cloud never overshadowed that village again. In return for this benefit the men of the village from that time to the present day yearly bring to the monastery a fixed measure of wine and grapes of various kinds.

53

Omitted as being similar to ch. 45.-Here the river Kopas is forbidden to encroach on the village of Karuas.

54

At that time Tiberius of pious memory was ruling over the empire, and after appointing Maurice, the Chartularius, as general he sent him to the East to the Persian war to fight against them. And after Maurice had defeated them he was , ordered by the Emperor to return to the capital. As he was passing through the districts of Galatia he heard talk about the servant of Christi (These were the days of the blessed man's abstinence and' he was in seclusion in his cave.)

Maurice went up with his brother Peter and his attendants and fell at the Saint's feet and begged him to pray for them that their journey to the Emperor might have a happy issue. The blessed and glorious man bade him stand up and prayed to God for him, as if by divine revelation he said to Maurice, 'My son, if you bear in mind to pray to the holy martyr George, you will shortly learn to what glorious post in the Empire you are called; only, when you reach those heights be sure to remember the needs of the poor'. When Maurice asked to know precisely what dignity he meant to which he should be called, the Saint led him apart from his companions and told him plainly that he would become emperor.

After Maurice and all the men with him had received the Saint's blessing he left with joy and reached Constantinople.

And according to the Saint's prophecy Maurice succeeded to the imperial throne on the death of Tiberius, and remembering Theodore's words he sent him a letter asking him to pray for him and for his Empire that it might be preserved in T peace and untroubled by enemies and bade him make any request he liked.

The blessed man sent the most blessed Philoumenus, the abbot, to the Emperor and also wrote a letter in order to secure some small gift of food for the monastery to meet the needs of the poor who looked to them for support. On receiving the letter the Emperor made a grant to the monastery of 200 modii of corn annually, and sent it to him together with a chalice and a paten.

55

(The fame of Theodore spreads ever more widely and the monastery continuously gains new recruits.)

When the blessed man saw the vast crowds that assembled and realized that the chapel of St. George was too small, he gave the rest of the money he had inherited to build a church worthy of the holy martyr George with three apses and an oratory on the right dedicated to the holy martyr Plato.*

A trench was being dug for the foundations of the building which was to be set apart for the catechumens and dedicated to the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus.* This lay higher up the hill. The workmen had blasted several rocks with fire and vinegar and then rolled them down (the land being uncultivated and rocky), when they happened to come across one enormous rock which they got out and tried to roll down into the garden behind the apse: but it stuck in one place and could not be moved in any way. After a large number of workmen had tried hard for a long time and yet could not move it, the servant of God hearing about it came to the place, touched the rock and said, 'Blessed Lord, move it away from here further down, for we need this space', and at once at his words it moved and began rolling down at a violent pace. Now right in its course stood an apple tree, and as it was likely to be caught by the rock the blessed man was grieved at heart and cried out, 'Go to one side of the tree and do not do it any harm !' And immediately, like an intelligent person, the rock bent aside from its attack on the tree, and passed it by without hurting it.

56

Again, at the place called Arkea, which we have spoken of before (ch. 16), the men of the village of Euarzia, eight miles from the monastery, had burnt unslaked lime for the building of the church; then they loaded the lime on their own wagons and on many others that had come to help from the neighbouring villages, and the saintly Godinspired man was also present. They had started and were making for the holy monastery; when they were about half way, they were overshadowed by a large cloud. From it there fell a heavy shower of rain. The farmers were terrified and desperate, thinking that their wagons and oxen would be burnt by the lime because of the downpour of rain. As the Saint was walking behind them they began to shout to him at the top of their voices saying, 'Quick, master, we and our beasts are threatened with death', and they began with all haste to unharness the beasts from the wagons. But the Saint caught them up and prevented their unyoking the oxen from the wagons. Standing and stretching up his hands to God he prayed; then he mounted on the leading wagon and sat down and went on his way singing psalms. And immediately the cloud was split in two, and it rained to the left and to the right of their road, so that the water from both sides ran underneath the wagons, but above them not even a single drop of rain fell; in this wise they were saved and reached the holy monastery glorifying God Who works marvels through His servant.

57

(Summary) The church is completed and Theodore foretells that a bishop of that same place* will dedicate it, God intending to grant to Theodore a yet further sign of his favour by making him a bishop.

58

After the death of Timotheug the Bishop of Anastasioupolis, the clergy and the landowners living in that town went to the metropolis Ancyra to the most blessed Archbishop, Paul, and asked him to appoint the great servant of God, Theodore, the archimandrite of the monastery of Sykeon, as bishop of their most Holy Church. Paul was greatly pleased at their excellent choice and gave them permission to fetch the Saint. (Now it was the time when he gave himself to prayer and he was shut up in seclusion in his cave.) So when the clergy and landowners of Anastasioupolis reached the monastery they went up to the cave and begged him to give himself to them as their shepherd; however, he absolutely refused to listen to their request and would not yield himself to their wish; so they resorted to more forcible means and fetched him out of his cave and placed him in a litter and carried him off. The monks of the monastery and all those who were staying there grieved and lamented at his being separated from them, so the Saint sent them a message by a brother saying, 'Do not be in any way cast down, children, for believe me I shall certainly never forsake you; for nothing on earth shall separate me from my life with you'. When he reached the metropolis, Ancyra, the most blessed Archbishop Paul received him with joy and ordained him bishop and gave him much encouragement, telling him how someone in Anastasioupolis at that time had seen in a vision a very large and radiant star coming from heaven and standing above their church, shining and casting its light over the town and all the surrounding countryside. On leaving the metropolis of Ancyra holy Theodore went to Anastasioupolis with the most holy bishop of the town of Kinna by whom he was enthroned.

Like the star that had been seen he continued to cast his light over the city through his divine gifts of healings, his continual fastings, his hymns of praise to God, and his generosity to those in want; in a word, through all his virtues and good deeds he exalted the renown of the city which had welcomed him, inspiring in the citizens such a virtuous activity that their city became the envy and the admiration of other towns and thus it really proved its right to its name of 'Resurrection' (Anastasis). It was fittingly entitled the city of Anastasius (Anastasioupolis); it rose to fame not from its fortifications and the embellishment of imperial gifts: not from the size of its population or from the exceeding wealth and power of its prosperous inhabitants, but rather because it was enriched by such deeds of the inspired man as we have described and on account of these deeds it was fortified not by men alone-it was its fortune to be ruled and inhabited also by angels, and to be always under the oversight and guardianship of the heavenly King Christ. It was upon these that its courage and its victories were based.

59

(Summary) Theodore consecrates the church which he had built to the holy martyr George amid scenes of great rejoicing. He then returned to Anastasioupolis where he worked many miracles, the sick would be brought on beds for him to touch them; and such was the grace bestowed on the Saint by our Lord Jesus Christ that if he merely rebuked evil spirits, or often even if he only sent his rebuke through a messenger* they would immediately hasten to leave their victims.

60

(Summary) Another time when the Saint was in seclusion in the chapel of St. Plato and had given orders that no woman should be admitted, a man came to the church with his wife who was afflicted by a demon and quite beyond control. She broke the candelabra in the church. A servant came and told the Saint about the woman. He had laid down as a rule for himself that standing or sitting he should not leave a narrow platform.* He gave to his servant some consecrated oil with which to anoint the forehead, hands and ears and bade him command the demon to depart and it did so. The woman was never after possessed by the demon.