Theodore Trichinas
Our Venerable Father Theodore Trichinas, the Hair-shirt Wearer
Venerable · Wonderworker · d. 5th century
Commemorated 20 April — Repose of the hair-shirt ascetic
Theodore, called Trichinas ("the Hairy" or "the Hair-shirt Wearer"), was an ascetic of the region of Constantinople who, for love of Christ, wore only a rough garment of animal hair next to his skin throughout his life, enduring cold and hardship in the extremity of his self-denial. A great faster and man of prayer, he received the gift of wonderworking; from his relics flowed a healing myrrh that drove out demons and cured the sick, and he is honoured on April 20.
Theodore was born at Constantinople of well-to-do and pious parents, but from youth despised the ease of his home and withdrew to the ascetic life. He entered a monastery in the region — the tradition places his labours in Thrace, near the capital — and there gave himself to extreme austerity. His byname comes from his one distinguishing practice: he wore never any soft or woven cloth, but only a single coarse hair-shirt (trichinon) against his body, summer and winter, so that he was known ever after as "Trichinas," the wearer of hair. He slept on the ground, ate little, kept long vigils, and bore the assaults of the weather and of the demons with unshaken patience, crucifying the flesh that the spirit might live.
By these labours he was purified and filled with grace, and God glorified him with the gift of miracles — in his life and still more after his death. Having reached a great age in the ascetic struggle, he reposed in peace. From his relics there flowed a sweet-smelling myrrh, by which many were healed of sickness and delivered from unclean spirits; and his hair-shirt itself was kept as a relic of power. The Church honours him among the venerable wonderworkers.
Feast and commemoration
April 20 (church date; Old Calendar civil May 3). Theodore Trichinas is honoured as a venerable ascetic and wonderworker; his service is that of the common of an ascetic father.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of an ascetic)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert fruitful, and by thy sighs from the depths thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a beacon, shining upon the world by thy miracles, O Theodore our father: intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Theodore is painted as an aged, gaunt ascetic in the coarse hair-garment from which he is named, bearded and holding a scroll or cross; his extreme thinness marks his fasting. No pre-1900 icon of him alone has been identified for this collection.