ON ST. TIMOTHY THE ANCHORITE, DWELLING AT SYMBOLA.
CommentaryTimothy, anchorite at Symbola (St.)
I. B.
[1] Many Timothys are mentioned in the Lives of the Fathers and in various calendars. Different from all of these seems to be "our holy Father Timothy who dwelt at Symbola." Where was the dwelling of St. Timothy at Symbola? But what this place is has not been sufficiently ascertained by us. Strabo in book 7 of his Geography locates the Port of Symbola in the Tauric Chersonese, as do Ptolemy and others. That Timothy dwelt on some mountain near this port cannot be determined with certainty: for there are also places of this name elsewhere. In Surius, on December 16, the Life of St. Plato the Confessor is found, in which the following occurs: "Fleeing further to the region of Olympus, he came to that place and man which had been divinely pointed out to him: to a certain Archimandrite, namely, from among those who were in that region. The place of which we speak was called Symbolus: the man, Theoctistus, whose character was good, lineage illustrious, and end holy." Perhaps Timothy was one of those who also lived in that region, or even a disciple of Theoctistus. This Theoctistus lived in the eighth century of Christ, under Constantine Copronymus and his son Leo. the name in Martyrologies. It is not the case, however, as some might suspect, that this Timothy of ours is the same one who admitted St. Simeon Stylites, as related on January 5, into his monastery; for that Timothy was an Archimandrite, or head of a monastery, whereas ours was an anchorite.
[2] In whatever age or place Timothy lived, he is venerated by the Greeks on February 21. On which day, among the Latins, Molanus in his supplement to Usuard in the second edition of 1583 has the following: "On the 21st day, St. Father Timothy, who was at Symbola." Ferrari also in his general Catalogue of Saints: "Among the Greeks, St. Timothy the Hermit." The Menaea celebrate him with many canticles and antiphons, in which they praise his continence, the constancy of his prayers, his knowledge of divine things, ascetic virtues, the mortification of his passions, the cure of any diseases whatsoever, and his victories over demons infesting human bodies. Then they present an epitome of his life in the form of a Lesson, which is also found in Maximus of Cythera and in the new Anthologion of Anthony Arcudius, published by the authority of Clement VIII. It reads thus:
[3] This Saint, from his very earliest years, pursued the religious life, mortification of passions, and by much abstinence and constant prayer repressed and extinguished the wantonness of sinful desires and affections, so that he seemed in some way superior to every movement of the passions, having become a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. care for virginity, He preserved virginity of body and soul to the very end of his life, and never allowed any woman to come into his sight. He dwelt in mountains and desert places, and irrigated his own soul with the dew of tears: whence, gifted also with the grace of healings, he expelled demons from human bodies grace of healings. and cured all other infirmities. Having lived in this manner, departing in a good old age, he passed to the Lord.