THEODORE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

The Archbishop of Constantinople Theodore I can be called a saint of humble acceptance, expectation and return. This is the acceptance of other people’s human decisions about oneself and the grace-filled, by the will of above, calling and providence. His memory is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on December 27, that is, almost immediately after Christmas, January 9 according to the modern calendar.

The exact date of Theodore’s birth is unknown. His church service took place in Constantinople, where he was a priest and sacristan in the Hagia Sophia.

In 676 (or 677) he was elected Patriarch of Constantinople. For that era, this was a common path to ascend to the highest ecclesiastical ranks. The beginning of Theodore’s patriarchate coincided with the first Arab siege of the City (674-678), when it seemed that the capital of the Christian Empire was about to fall under the blows of the Muslim conquerors and the true end times would come.

At the same time, the Byzantine Emperors had been adhering to the Monothelite heresy in their teachings about Christ for about half a century. According to the Monothelites, who were opposed in their time by Maximus the Confessor (580-662) and Pope Martin (+655), there was no human will in Christ Jesus. The Orthodox Church Fathers and theologians rightly saw in this a distortion of the fullness of the redemption of human nature in the God-man Christ.

Then Emperor Constantine IV Pogonatus (668-685) sought rapprochement with the Roman Church, which had already condemned the Monothelite teaching. In order to create the appearance of change in his Empire and the Byzantine Church, he deposed Patriarch Theodore in 679.

In modern language, this was a reset in the relations of the most important Churches. Theodore, by the will of the powers that be, fell victim to it.

George of Cyprus (670-686) was elevated to the patriarchate, who, at the Sixth Ecumenical Council that took place soon after in 680-681, renounced Monothelitism and signed the Orthodox confession. In turn, Patriarch Macarius I of Antioch (653-680), with whom Theodore closely interacted during his short patriarchate, refused to recognize the decisions of the Council and was condemned. In 686, after the death of Patriarch George, Theodore was again returned to the patriarchal throne. He did not remain on it for long, since he died at the end of the following year 687 on the third day of Christmas.

“God has provided something better for us,” says the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews (11:40). The biography of Saint Patriarch Theodore became an amazing personification of these apostolic words. Removed from the patriarchate by the emperor for some personal reasons, or perhaps simply because of slander, Theodore humbly gave in. The sessions of the Sixth Ecumenical Council were held soon after, already under his successor. At it, some of his former allies showed obstinacy and were anathematized. Just a few years later, Theodore was returned to the patriarchate. His reputation remained unblemished, so much so that the Church subsequently placed his name on the liturgical calendar of saints. This is an instructive example of the ability to leave sacred power and wait for God’s will. During the Christmas days, in the firmament of saints singing praises to God, let us also remember Saint Theodore.