Venerable Theodore the Sanctified (368)

The Venerable Theodore the Sanctified (+368) was an Egyptian by origin and grew up in the family of rich and well-known Christian parents. An inclination to the monastic life awoke in him early. At fourteen he ran away from home and settled in a monastery. When the venerable father learned of the labours of Pachomius the Great, he left the monastery and went to him. The Venerable Pachomius, to whom the Lord had revealed beforehand the youth’s coming, received him with love. Staying in the monastery, Theodore soon grew used to the way of life of the desert-dwellers. The saint’s mother learned that her son was in the monastery of Tabennisi; she came to Pachomius the Great with a letter from the bishop and asked to see her son. Theodore refused to see his mother, fearing that he would break his vow of renouncing the world.

The Venerable Pachomius saw Saint Theodore’s God-given understanding and charged him with explaining Holy Scripture to the brethren. Saint Theodore was then only twenty. He obeyed his elder’s blessing without a word, but some older monks were offended at being taught by a young monk and withdrew from him. The Venerable Pachomius said to them: “You have obeyed the devil and by your self-conceit have made your labours vain. It is not Theodore you have rejected, but the word of God, and you have lost the grace of the Holy Spirit.” Saint Theodore cared for his elder with a son’s love, nursed him when he lay bound to his deathbed, and when he died closed his eyes with his own hands.

After the death of the Venerable Pachomius Saint Theodore governed the monastery of Tabennisi, and later he headed all the monasteries of the Thebaid. The venerable father was granted the gift of wonderworking. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria knew him well. Saint Theodore died in deep old age, in 368.