THEODORE, “BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA”

Saint Theodore suffered for Christ from the pagans in Alexandria. Unfortunately, no exact information about the time of his martyrdom has been preserved. But the brief account of his mode of suffering is rich in precious detail.

The fact is that before Constantine the Great signed the Edict of Milan in 313, Christianity within the Roman Empire was considered a new, and therefore illegal, religion, and was severely persecuted. At the same time, not all emperors carried out systematic persecution. Therefore, most often Christians suffered from the spontaneous anger of the pagan crowd and were judged by the denunciations of envious people and false, absurd accusations. Driven by envy, selfishness, and malice, educated pagans often incited the ignorant pagan masses to mockery and ridicule. A similar thing happened in the martyrdom of Saint Theodore.

According to the testimony of the teacher of the Ancient Church, St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258), pagans could recognize Christians by the Eucharist, which they celebrated on the first day of the week, which was Sunday. Just as on the Day of Pentecost, according to the Book of Acts, “some, hearing the apostles speaking in other tongues, thought that they had drunk sweet wine” (cf. Acts 2:11,13), idolaters, immersed in the routine of rituals and labor, saw Christians after communion as different from themselves. Apparently, they captured Theodore on one of the city streets when he was returning from a Christian worship service.

Wanting to force him to renounce his faith, they began to threaten him, but in response they heard a confession of faith. Blasphemously imitating the events of the gospel history, they subjected him to scourging, then put a crown of thorns on his head and dragged him around the city. Having achieved nothing, they threw him into the sea. After Theodore survived, the pagans captured him again and brought him to the local ruler. His miraculous rescue from the depths of the sea became a reason for them to accuse him of witchcraft, for which Roman laws were severely punished. After this, Theodore was beheaded for publicly professing Christianity.

In an amazing way, in the feat of Saint Theodore, the Gospel words of the Lord were revealed: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The fact is that in the church calendar the saint is called the Bishop of Alexandria. However, in the first centuries of Christianity, there was no bishop with that name on the see of the Apostle Mark, which was Alexandria. Apparently, the pagans mistook Theodore for a bishop, because in those ancient times Christian bishops did not stand out among other Christians in their appearance, but were distinguished by extreme modesty, friendliness, and humility of face. Apparently, this was Theodore. By the predestination of grace, he suffered for another.

Therefore, in their treatment of him, the pagans so scrupulously reproduced the events of the gospel history, and did not simply torture and execute him, as was the case with many other saints. They scourged him, put on a crown of thorns, and led him around the city… just as the soldiers in the Gospel greeted the Lord with the words “Hail, King of the Jews” (Mark 15:16). They then brought him to the ruler to accuse and kill him. According to the customs of office work of that time, the name “Theodore Bishop” was able to be preserved in the charges of court records, from where it was transferred to the ancient menologies.