Holy Great-martyr Theodore the Recruit

Thou grantest the God-given grace of miracles to all the faithful who flee to thee with faith, O courageous martyr of Christ Theodore; therefore in praise we cry out to thee thus: Thou freest captives and healest the sick, thou enrichest the poor and deliverest from trials; thou bridlest the vain flight of slaves and undoest their cunning, thou revealest what was stolen and hinderest thieves, and holdest soldiers back from plunder; thou grantest children their petitions, and fervently strivest and liftest up thy hands for those who sing thine all-holy memory. With them, O holy martyr, ask for us also, who praise thee and glorify thy sufferings, great mercy from Christ God, and deliver us from enemies visible and invisible, and grant peace to the world and steadfastness to the churches.

Great are the accomplishments of faith! In the fountain of flame, as by the water of rest, the holy martyr Theodore rejoiced; for having been made a whole-burnt offering in the fire, he was offered as sweet bread unto the Trinity. By his prayers, O Christ God, save our souls.

Having put on the faith of Christ within thy heart as a breastplate, O much-suffering Theodore, thou didst trample upon the opposing powers and cast down the altars, and as an invincible soldier thou wast adorned for ever with a crown from on high.

The lawless emperors Maximian and Maximinus issued a decree in their realm: if a Christian ate food offered to idols he would not be punished, but if he refused he would be handed over to the court. At that time St Theodore the Recruit, lately enlisted as a soldier, was assigned to the regiment of the Marmaritae, commanded by a praepositus named Brincas. This regiment was stationed in the city of Amasea in Pontus. When St Theodore was brought to the regiment, the lawless demanded that he offer sacrifice to the gods. Then the true soldier of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, said in the hearing of all:

“I am a Christian, and it is not fitting for me to offer sacrifice to loathsome pagan gods, for I worship Jesus Christ, the true God and heavenly King.”

The praepositus Brincas tried to persuade the saint:

“Listen, Theodore: take up your arms and, as befits a soldier, offer sacrifice to the gods.”

St Theodore answered:

“I am the soldier of my King, Christ, and I cannot be the soldier of another king!”

To this Brincas said:

“All these soldiers are Christians, but they are also soldiers of the Roman emperor.”

“Each knows for himself whom to serve,” answered the saint, “but I serve my heavenly Lord and King — God and His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.”

The centurion Posidonius, who stood close by, asked him:

“Has your God a son as well, Theodore?”

“He truly has a Son, the Word of truth, through whom God made all things.”

The praepositus asked:

“And can we too come to know Him?”

The saint answered:

“With all my heart and soul I would wish God to grant you too the power to know Him.”

Posidonius asked:

“If we come to know your God, will we be able to leave our emperors and go over to Him?”

The saint answered:

“Nothing hinders you from leaving the darkness and the passing earthly kings, following the living God, the eternal Lord and King, and becoming His soldiers, as I am.”

Then the praepositus Brincas said to the centurion:

“Let us leave him alone for a few days; let him think it over and decide for himself what to do.”

All the time given him to think Theodore spent in prayer, while the lawless meanwhile grew angry with several other Christians, seized them and led them off to prison. St Theodore followed them and urged them to stand firm in the faith and to endure, and counselled them not to deny their heavenly King, Christ. On the night when they were thrown into prison, St Theodore burned the temple of Cybele, “the mother of the gods”. Some of the townspeople saw it and denounced Theodore to the authorities. The head of the city, Cronides, fearing that he would be made to answer for Theodore, seized him, brought him to the hegemon Publius and said:

“My lord, this man, whom you lately enlisted as a soldier, is a harmful man: he came into our city with evil intent, burned the temple of the mother of our gods and insulted the gods themselves. I have seized him and brought him to your excellency, that by the command of the rulers of the world he may receive fitting punishment for his insolence.”

The hegemon summoned the praepositus Brincas and asked him:

“Did you give the soldier Theodore leave to burn the great temple of our gods?”

Brincas answered:

“I tried hard to bring him to his senses, and at last I gave him time to think it over and offer sacrifice to the gods. And if he has done such a thing, it means that he has wholly turned away from our gods and despised the word of the emperors. Therefore do you, as judge, carry out their command.”

Then the hegemon convened the court, summoned the blessed Theodore and asked him:

“Why did you set fire to the goddess instead of offering sacrifice and incense?”

St Theodore answered:

“I will not hide it from you; I will tell you why I did this deed. I lit the fire so that the flame might take hold of the stone. Is your goddess really so feeble that fire can touch her and even burn her?”

These words enraged the hegemon; he ordered Theodore to be beaten and said to him:

“My mildness makes you insolent. But I advise you to leave off your eloquence, for if you do not carry out the emperors' command of your own will, we will force you to do it with cruel torments.”

The saint answered:

“I fear neither you nor the torments you inflict, however cruel they may be. Do what you will. I set my hope on my Lord Jesus Christ, from Him I await my reward in the Kingdom, and for Him I am ready to endure even martyrdom.”

“Offer sacrifice to the gods,” said the judge, “and you will escape the torment to come; if not, a terrible death awaits you.”

St Theodore answered firmly:

“Your torment does not frighten me, for before me is my Lord and King Jesus Christ: He will deliver me from your hands, but you cannot see Him, for your spiritual eye is blinded.”

Then a savage fury seized the judge. He ordered Theodore to be thrown into prison, the door to be locked, and him to be starved to death. But the Holy Spirit helped the saint with His grace. Once, at night, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to him and said:

“Take courage, Theodore, I am with you; do not take earthly food and drink, for eternal life in heaven is prepared for you.”

After this the Lord vanished from sight. Comforted by the vision, the blessed Theodore rejoiced in spirit and began to sing psalms, and a great choir of holy angels listened to him. The prison guards, hearing this sweet singing, came to the door of the cell. When they had made sure that the door was locked and the seal untouched, they looked in through the window and saw a multitude of men clothed in white singing together with St Theodore. The frightened guards told everything to the hegemon Publius, and he hurried at once to the prison. When he saw that the lock and the seal were whole and that the sound of singers came from within, he ordered the soldiers to surround the prison on every side, for he thought there must be other Christians inside with Theodore. But when he went into the cell he found no one there except St Theodore, bound hand and foot; fear and trembling seized the hegemon and all who were there. When they came out, they locked the door again. The judge ordered that St Theodore be given a little bread and water each day. But, as Holy Scripture says, “The just shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 16:27). And St Theodore would not take the food, but said: “My Lord and King Jesus Christ feeds me.”

In the morning the judge ordered the saint to be brought out to the court and said to him:

“Listen to my advice and do not force me to order that you be tortured and tormented; offer sacrifice to the great gods. Then I will write to my emperors, the rulers of the world, and they will make you chief priest. So you will become worthy of honour equal to ours.”

St Theodore lifted his eyes to heaven and made the sign of the cross, and then answered the tormentor:

“You may brand my body with fire, give me over to a thousand torments, cut me limb from limb with the sword, throw me to the beasts to be eaten — still I will not depart from Christ until my last breath!”

Then the judge took counsel with the praepositus and ordered Theodore to be tied to a tree and his body torn with iron claws. So they tormented the saint until his bones were laid bare. All this while the blessed Theodore said nothing to the tormentor, but only sang: “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. 33:1).

The tormentor, amazed at such endurance in St Theodore, asked him:

“Are you, most wretched of men, not ashamed to set all your hope on a man called Christ, who was himself punished with a shameful death? Is it for this man's sake that you suffer so senselessly?”

The martyr of Christ answered:

“Would that I and all who confess the name of Jesus Christ might be given such shame as His!”

At these words the people began to shout, demanding that the saint's punishment be hastened. Through a herald the judge asked Theodore once more:

“Will you offer sacrifice to the immortal gods, or do you mean to endure still greater torments?”

The martyr of Christ answered firmly:

“O lawless one, full of every stain and guile, servant of the devil, do you yourself not fear God, who gave you such power and authority? Does not the Lord say: ‘By me kings reign… and monarchs by me rule over the earth’ (Prov. 8:15–16)? And how would you force me to forsake the living God and worship lifeless stone?”

The judge thought and at last asked Theodore:

“What do you choose: will you be with us, or with your Christ?”

The saint answered with joy:

“I have been, I am and I will be with my Lord Jesus Christ; and you — do what you will!”

When the judge saw that he could not break Theodore's steadfastness, he pronounced the sentence of death:

“I order that Theodore be given to the fire, because he does not submit to the authority of the emperors, does not acknowledge the gods, and believes in Jesus Christ, who was crucified, as the Jews say, under Pontius Pilate.”

The holy relics of St Theodore the Recruit

The tormentor's command was quickly carried out: the servants brought much firewood from the nearby houses and baths, kindled a pyre and led St Theodore to it. The fire, fanned from every side, at once blazed up. Entering the fire, St Theodore made the sign of the cross. Suddenly the Holy Spirit came down and spread coolness over the saint standing in the midst of the fire, and he joyfully praised and sang to the Lord, and in peace gave his soul into His hands.

“And we saw how his holy and precious soul soared up to heaven,” writes one of the witnesses of the great-martyr's blessed end.

A devout woman named Eusebia asked for the holy great-martyr's body. When the saint's relics were given to her, Eusebia anointed them with fragrant myrrh, wrapped them in clean linen and buried them in her own house in the city of Euchaita, where every day she kept the saint's memory. The holy great-martyr Theodore suffered in 306, on 17 February, in the reign of the emperor Maximian.

After Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great, Julian the Apostate came to the throne; he denied Christ, turned to the worship of idols and began to persecute Christians. Julian persecuted Christians not so much openly as in secret: he did not dare to torture every Christian without exception, for he feared that many pagans, seeing the Christians' endurance, would themselves turn to the faith of Christ. So this lawless emperor resolved to defile the Christians in secret: knowing that in the first week of Great Lent the faithful keep the fast with particular purity and repent of their sins, he summoned the governor of the city and ordered him to defile the food sold in the market every day for the whole week with the blood of sacrificial animals (Christians are forbidden to eat food offered to idols).

The emperor's command was carried out, and in every market food defiled by the lawless was on sale. But the all-seeing Lord put the pagans to shame and took care of His true children: to Eudoxius, Archbishop of Constantinople, He sent His martyr Theodore, who had suffered for Christ many years before and now rested in glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. St Theodore appeared to Eudoxius not in a dream but openly, and said:

“Gather the flock of Christ at once and command all the Orthodox that no one buy food in the markets, for there, by the lawless emperor's command, everything is defiled with the blood of sacrificial animals!”

The astonished archbishop asked what the poor were to do, who had no stores at home. The saint answered:

“Give them kollyva and deliver them from this need!”

But Eudoxius did not know what kollyva was, and looked at the saint in wonder.

Then St Theodore said to him:

“Kollyva is wheat boiled with honey — that is what this dish is called in Euchaita.”

The bishop asked:

“Who are you, and why do you care so for the Orthodox Christians?”

The saint answered:

“I am Theodore, the martyr of Christ, and God has sent me to help you.”

Having said this, the saint vanished from sight. Eudoxius at once gathered all the Christians and told them what he had seen and heard; then he had kollyva prepared and delivered his flock from the enemy's guile. When the lawless emperor understood that his scheme had failed, he was ashamed and ordered undefiled food to be brought to the markets again. And the Christians gave thanks to God for His unspeakable mercy and sang the praises of Christ's great-martyr, St Theodore. On the Saturday of the first week of Great Lent they celebrated the memory of St Theodore and blessed kollyva for the faithful in his honour. From that time until today, on the first Saturday of Great Lent, the Church blesses kollyva in remembrance of the miracle in the days of Archbishop Eudoxius and glorifies St Theodore, so that Christians may always remember God's merciful providence for His servants and the help of the holy great-martyr Theodore.