Blessed Empress Theophano (+893–894)

The noble parents of the blessed Empress Theophano were for a long time not granted a child, and fervently besought the Theotokos for help. At last they had a daughter, whom they named Theophano (“clothed with God”).

From childhood Theophano was distinguished by understanding and the fear of God, and so the Emperor Basil the Macedonian (867–886) chose her as wife for his heir, Leo (later called the Wise) (886–912).

Not long after the wedding, evil tongues told Basil that his son intended to kill him and seize the throne. The trusting king believed the scheming slanderers and at once threw his son and his wife into prison. Leo and Theophano suffered in prison for more than three years, but, trusting in the Lord’s mercy, they spent whole days in fasting and prayer. Meanwhile the enraged emperor calmed down, realised his mistake, and set the prisoners free.

After Basil’s death Leo ascended the throne, but even after this the blessed empress was not captivated by worldly glory and honour: she prayed as before, ate only bread and dried greens, wore prickly sackcloth under her rich royal robes, and slept on a rough bed under which she strewed the sharp bones of animals. Saint Theophano distributed all her property and jewels to widows, orphans and the poor, and treated her servants as beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Emperor Leo the Wise, seeing Theophano’s holiness, honoured her even in her lifetime not only as his wife and empress, but as his intercessor before the Lord.

After a grave illness the holy empress committed her soul to the Lord in peace.