THE LIFE OF ST. THEODORE OF SYKEON

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

141

(Summary) In the village of Skoudris near the monastery of the Archangel there is a heavy hailstorm, the neighbouring stream is in flood and destroys houses and crops, carrying men, women, children and little babies in their cradles down into the river Sagaris. The householders of the half of the village which had not been ruined appeal to the Saint who comes to the place, prays and sets up a cross, and thereafter even when there were storms of snow and rain the stream was not flooded and no one suffered damage.

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About that time the inhuman consul Bonosus* was travelling to the eastern parts of the Empire and as he passed near the monastery he heard tell of the inspired man's holiness and felt a reverence for it, violent and cruel though he was. So he sent a messenger in advance to him beseeching him, if he could endure the fatigue, to come down to the oratory of the holy martyr Gemellus near the postingstation in order that he might do reverence to him there and be deemed worthy of his prayers, saying that he himself was unable to go up to the monastery owing to the pressure of urgent affairs; so the Saint went down and received him and whilst he was praying for him the consul stood but did not bend his neck, so the Saint took hold of the hair of his forehead and pulled it and in this way bent his head down (virtue is wont to act thus with courage and not fear human authority 'For the righteous', it is said, 'is bold as a liont'[ Prov 28:1]) We who were present were thunderstruck and terrified at the just man's daring and imagined that the consul would turn insolent and furious, for we knew well by report that his savagery was like that of a wild beast. But he readily accepted the prayer and the rebuke and showed honour to the Saint by kissing his hands, and then putting his hand on his own chest because of a pain which oppressed him he begged the Saint to pray that he might be freed from it. But the Saint gently tapped with his fingers on the consul's chest and said to him, 'You must first pray that your inward man may be reformed and grow healthy; for when that is healed, the outward man, too, will be restored to health; therefore I will pray for you and do you devote yourself to the good and fear God in order that my prayers may be effective. But if I pray and you neglect to amend your ways, my prayers will be unavailing. Be merciful then and pitiful to all Christian people and do not use harshly the authority entrusted to you, but while examining your own consciousness of sins, sympathize with those that go astray and never shed innocent blood. For if there is to be punishment for the mere insult of a spoken word-for calling another a "fool"-how much more will blood, shed unjustly, be avenged by God?' These counsels the Saint gave him like a man sowing seed in unfruitful ground, and the consul fetched out a few coins and offered them to him in token of gratitude. But as the Saint did not deign to accept them, he drew back his hand and took out some 'trimisia'* begging the Saint at least to accept those and to give one to every brother in the monastery. But before looking at them Theodore said, 'There are only fifty and not sufficient for giving one to each, however, they can be changed into smaller money and then distributed equally'. But the consul marvelled at his discerning words, as being Godinspired and answered, 'Yes, reverend father, by thy holy prayers, there are only fifty as your holy mouth has said; however, I will send as many more at once as are needed to make up the number'. This he did, for after being dismissed by the Saint he went to his baggage and sent what he had promised.

Thus the virtue of the righteous knows how to correct the violent and the savage, and by persuasion makes them yield to those who practise it.

143

The community of the village of Apoukoumis slaughtered an ox and were eating its flesh. But it happened that all those who partook of it fell down like dead men and the meat that was over turned black and gave forth a horrible stench. Some of the villagers who had not eaten of the meat went to the Saint to report the disaster which had occurred in their village. And he to]d them that the meat had been rendered so harmful by a troop of demons that had passed through the pot, and as he could not go with them himself because of the visit of a high official, he blessed some water and sent it by one of the brothers for sprinkling the sick and giving it to them to drink. When this was done, they all arose as if from sleep and one only died. For the headman John had not waited for the Saint's prayer to help his brother, but ran to a woman who used enchantments and, taking an amulet from her, hung it on to his brother, who immediately died.

144

(Summary) A heavy hail storm does great damage in Apoukoumis at the time of the vintage. The Saint played and erected a cross and thereafter storm clouds passed over the village and no such damage occurred again. In gratitude the villagers presented a vineyard to the monastery.

145

In other villages, too, he worked similar wonders in the case of beetles or locusts or worms or dormice which were devouring the crops or the vines. Wherever anything of the kind occurred the people at once ran to the Saint and either took him back with them or carried away water blessed by his hand for sprinkling over the places which had been damaged, and immediately they gained their desire.

Or again, if a cloudburst had taken place in any village, or the rivers overflowed their ordinary bed and caused devastation, the sufferers from these calamities went to the holy man in all haste and carried him off to the spot or received a cross at his hands which he had blessed and after fixing it in the spot which had been devastated they never experienced a similar catastrophe again.

And in any case of mortality among oxen or other domesticated animals-I mean mares or any kind of beasts-or birds, or even men, they would in the same way fetch the Saint, or would ask his prayers and carry away with them some water which he had blessed, or the halters and bells of their cattle over which he had pronounced his benediction, and a cure would be sure to follow.

Or when a spell was cast on people by evil spirits, the sufferers were freed from injury if they gained his prayers.

Did husband and wife come to hate each other, they would go to him and he would pray over them and the hatred was dispelled.

If a couple had been childless from youth up to middle age, and he prayed over them and blessed their girdles, then in that same year they would have a child.

In the case of sick persons who were lying in their own homes their relations would bring back oil or water that had been blessed by him and received them back restored to health. Those who were afflicted with wounds or maladies of any kind obtained healing through his prayers.

Again if any required medical treatment for certain illnesses or surgery or a purging draught or hotsprings, this God-inspired man would prescribe the best thing for each for even in technical matters he had become an experienced doctor. He might recommend one to have recourse to surgery and he would always state clearly which doctor they should employ.

146

In other cases he would persuade those who wished to undergo an operation or take some other medical treatment and would recommend them rather to go to hotsprings, and would name the springs to which they should go.

Or he would prevent those who wished to go to the hotsprings at Dablioi or to take the waters, say, at Apsoda, and would advise them rather to drink a purging draught instead under a doctor whom he would name.

Others again he would not allow to do that but sent them away to drink hot waters or to some other hotsprings. Others who had been wounded or had abscesses and might perhaps wish for an operation he would send to hot springs or b.e would advise them to use plasters of which he himself gave them the name. In a word, as the very best of physicians and as a disciple of the true masterphysician, Christ our God, to each one of those who came for treatment he gave exactly the suitable advise that each man's case demanded, and of those who carried out his instructions not one failed to regain his health; and thus in him was fulfilled the thanksgiving sung by David to God, 'Oh, Lord, Thou shalt preserve men and beasts' [Ps. 36:6] However, if perchance one of those who had been advised by him neglected, or made a change in, his orders, either by consulting another doctor, not the one the Saint had named, or by using other plasters, or different treatment, or other hot-springs that person's illness became incurable until he reverted to the treatment the Saint had prescribed and to the hotsprings he had named and to the doctor chosen by him.

147

And to those who exposed to him the doubts and the hidden diseases of their heart he gave appropriate and healing counsel; and to those who had transgressed in various ways he ordained a certain period for repentance, and cleansed them by fastings, prayers and acts of charity. Whereas if any concealed from him the wounds of their souls, he would tell them openly some of the things they had done, and advise and warn them to accept discipline. And those who were convicted of much swearing and blasphemy he would regard sternly and adjure them earnestly to abstain from such a habit and to propitiate God for such transgression of the law by many tears and supplications and good works and would cite the testimony of the psalmist: 'If the Lord shall destroy those that only speak falsehoods [Ps 5:6] how much rather shall He visit with His sharp wrath and condemn to perpetual punishment those that add thereto oaths and pile up perjury?' The divine voice testifies 'thou shalt perform to the Lord thine oaths' [Matt 5:33]: and again 'Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment' [Matt 12:36]; and if we shall render account for an idle word, how shall we endure God's threat against our many oaths and evil deeds?

When men were at enmity with each other or had a grievance one against another he reconciled them, and those who were engaged in lawsuits he sought to bring to a better mind counselling them not to wrong each other and to think nothing of temporal things but to prefer before all wealth the commandment of God which says: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' [Matt 19:19] for love, said he, worketh no ill to its neighbour and whosoever loveth his brother, loveth God. He exhorted all to be hospitable and to give alms for by such works they would gain redemption from their sins and lay up a store beforehand for the future.

The blessed Saint was very sympathetic and pitiful to all; if anyone was oppressed by an official or a taxcollector or by anybody else he came to the Saint and laid the matter before him. And the blessed man acted according to the Scripture which says 'Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand of the wicked' [Ps. 82:4]. He further desired to imitate the just dealing of Job, who said, 'I delivered the poor out of the hand of the mighty' [Job 29:12] [here there is a lacuna in the MS.]....

148

All these things I have set forth by God's help, I His sinful and unworthy servant, Eleusius, who was also called George by the Saint, and I to a greater degree than others had a full share of his kindly deeds. For my parents who were natives of the village of Adigermarae had been married several years yet had had no children, so they came to the Saint who prayed over them and blessed their girdles, and through that prayer I was conceived and born. As a child I was brought to him and reared in his holy monastery and was taught letters so far as was necessary by the abbot beloved of God and through the Saint's prayer my parents received another son, as a substitute for me, whom they named after the Saint. For twelve years I was a disciple of this saint and servant of Christ and during these years I was deemed worthy to be an eyewitness of many of his wondrous works. As for the events which occurred in his earliest years and those of his middle life I have diligently sought them out and learned of them from those who ministered to him during those years and were eyewitnesses, and also from others who had actually been healed by him.

Of their many tales I have selected a few-some I forgot and others I shrank from recounting through my faintheartedness. But if anyone wished to relate them all, I fancy the writer would not be strong enough for the task, and time, too, would fail him to tell the story.

This holy, thriceblessed and saintly servant and faithful follower of Christ, Theodore, died in the third year [613 CE] of the reign of our pious and Christloving Emperor, Heraclius [610-641 CE], and in the first year of the reign of his divinelyprotected and divinelycrowned son Heraclius, the new Constantine, the eternal Augusti and Emperors, in the first indiction in the month of April at dawn of the twentysecond day, a Sunday, it being the first Sunday after Easter. [eis ta apolousia]

May we find mercy at the judgmentseat of Christ our God through the prayers and intercession of this Saint, and may we be deemed worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven together with him and with all those who cherish his memory, to the glory of our Saviour Jesus Christ; with Whom to the Father and to the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for ever and world without end, Amen !