Theodore of Antioch
The Holy Martyr Theodore of Antioch
Confessor · d. c. late 4th c.
Commemorated 23 November — Confession under Julian the Apostate
Theodore of Antioch was a young confessor of the reign of Julian the Apostate (361–363). A youth of about fifteen, he took part in returning the relics of the hieromartyr Babylas of Antioch from the grove of Daphne to the city, and for this he was arrested and cruelly tortured. Rejoicing under the torments and feeling no pain — an angel, he later said, stood by and eased his suffering — he so astonished his executioners that the emperor ordered him released. He lived on to a peaceful old age. Though the calendars style him "martyr," he did not die of his sufferings and is properly a confessor. He is commemorated on November 23.
The context of Theodore's confession is the brief pagan restoration under the emperor Julian. At Daphne, the pleasure-suburb of Antioch, stood a famous oracle and temple of Apollo which had fallen silent since the relics of the martyred bishop Babylas of Antioch (commemorated September 4) had been enshrined nearby. When Julian ordered the Christians to remove the saint's relics so that the oracle might speak again, the faithful of Antioch bore Babylas back into the city in a great triumphant procession, chanting psalms against idols — and that night fire from heaven consumed the temple of Apollo.
Theodore, a youth of about fifteen, was prominent in carrying the relics, and was seized as one of those responsible. He was stretched out and tortured savagely, yet throughout he sang and rejoiced as though he felt nothing. The tormentors, dismayed that their cruelty caused him no pain, reported the wonder to Julian, who — unwilling to make him a celebrated martyr — gave orders that he be let go. Theodore afterwards told how, during the torture, an angel of the Lord had stood beside him wiping the sweat from his body and refreshing him, and that only when the angel departed at the end of the ordeal did he begin to feel the pain of his wounds. He lived thereafter to a great age and reposed in peace. The episode is recounted by the historians of the early Church as a token of God's protection of his confessors under Julian.
Feast and commemoration
November 23 (church date; Old Calendar civil December 6). His is a lesser commemoration kept with the greater saints of the day; it falls within the Nativity Fast and the afterfeast of the Entry of the Theotokos. His memory is bound to that of the hieromartyr Babylas (September 4), whose relics he helped to translate.
Iconography
Theodore is depicted as a beardless youth, in the manner of the young martyr-confessors, holding the cross of confession. No public-domain image securely identified as this Theodore of Antioch has been located (see the list of icons still being sought).
Disputed questions
- Classification. The Byzantine calendars and the Slavic and Greek menaia call Theodore "martyr," and he is so styled on the day of his commemoration; but the sources agree that he survived his torments and died peacefully in old age. He is therefore, strictly, a confessor, and is so classified here, the traditional "martyr" title being noted.