The Holy GreatMartyr Theodore Stratelates
Commemorated on June 8
The Holy
GreatMartyr Theodore Stratelates suffered for Christ in Herakleia on 8
February 319. At the time of his sufferings the holy Greatmartyr Theodore
ordered his servant Uaros to bury his body on the estate of his parents in
Eukhaitos. The transfer of the relics of the Greatmartyr Theodore was done on 8
June 319.
On this day also is
remembered a miracle from an image of the Greatmartyr Theodore in a church of
his name, at a place called Karsata, near about Damascus. The Saracens had
turned this church into a residence. One of the Saracens shot an arrow into the
image of the greatmartyr. From the shoulder of the saint, where the arrow had
stuck into the wall, blood flowed forth in front of the eyes of everyone. A
short while later, the Saracens who had settled in the church, killed each
other. Accounts about this miracle are given by the holy Patriarch Anastasias
of Antioch (+ 599, Comm. 20 April) and the Monk John Damascene (+ c. 780, Comm.
4 December).
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
