ON ST. THEOSTERICTUS, MONK AT SYMBOLA,
9TH CENTURY?
CommentaryTheosterictus, monk at Symbola. (S.)
H. D.
Illustrious monks of Symbola. The monastery ἐν Συμβόλοις in the region of Mount Olympus is not without renown among the hagiographers. For it had as hegumens, besides Gregory who subscribed to the seventh synod: ἡγούμενος τῆς ἁγίας Θεοτόκου Συμβόλων Hardouin, Concilia, vol. IV, p. 285 c., that Theoctistus of whom there is mention in the Life of St. Plato Act. SS., April vol. I, p. 367. and in the letters of St. Theodore the Studite Letter 215 in Mai, Nova Patrum bibliotheca, vol. VIII, p. 183., and also St. Plato himself. The synaxaria, on the 21st day of February, give the elogium τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Τιμοθέου τοῦ ἐν Συμβόλοις Synax. Eccl. CP., p. 479.. There was also an anonymous steward of this monastery, who, having suffered very many things for the orthodox faith, is loaded with praises by St. Theodore the Studite in letters written to him Letters 215, 255, Mai, volume cited, pp. 183 – 84, 207.. To these is added today's announcement of the synaxaria: Theosterictus τοῦ ὁσίου Θεοστηρίκτου μοναχοῦ τοῦ ἐν Συμβόλοις, or, as it is in other books: Θεοστηρίκτου πρεσβυτέρου καὶ μοναχοῦ ἐν Συμβόλοις τοῦ Ὀλύμπου Synax. Eccl. CP., p. 205.. In some codices he has been put off to the following day Same place, p. 211.. By more recent ones likewise the memory τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Θεοστηρίκτου is recalled on the 17th day of February, with no praise added besides that metrical jest with which they also adorn our Theosterictus:
Θεοστήρικτος τὸν Θεὸν πήξας βάσιν ὄντως θεοστήρικτος ἔργοις ὡράθη Dukakis, Μέγας Συναξαριστής, February, p. 284.
Nothing more is gathered from the calendars, whether he is the same nor do any Acts of St. Theosterictus survive. There was indeed in Bithynia a not undistinguished monk Theosterictus, who wrote the Ἐπιτάφιον of St. Nicetas, hegumen of Medikion, who was also a monk of Medikion? whose disciple he also was BHG. 1341.. He constantly calls St. Nicetas πατέρα ἡμῶν, and the monastery of Medikion τὴν ἡμετέραν μονήν BHG. 1341, n. 12., and he must be said to have spent his life there while he was writing, and not ἐν Συμβόλοις. Nevertheless this is to be noted, that the monastery of Symbola was closely joined with that of Medikion not by neighbourhood alone but also by similarity of rule, which is shown even from what Theosterictus himself relates of Athanasius, a monk ἐν Συμβόλοις [Concerning whom Act. SS., Oct. vol. XI, p. 963 – 65. Some things have also been collected about the monastery of Symbola in Oct. vol. X, pp. 917, 918.]. He was called from his own monastery by the fathers to that of Medikion, and was joined to Nicetas as a companion by the hegumen Nicephorus. And in another place the biographer relates that he was present at the funeral of the deceased Nicetas and with the brethren of both monasteries escorted his body to Medikion: πάση ἡ ἀδελφότης ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μοναστηρίων προεπέμπομεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν μονήν BHG. 1341, n. 48.. Now, as Papebroch acutely noted Act. SS., April vol. I, p. 266., the other was the monastery of Symbola. If anyone should contend that Theosterictus could have been sent away there, just as Athanasius had been called to Medikion, I for my part will not deny it; nor yet will I grant that it happened until it is established by sure testimonies. He erred who asserted that Theosterictus of Medikion, after the death of Nicetas, was made hegumen τῆς Πελεκητῆς A. Hergès, Médicius, in Bessarione, vol. V (1899), p. 11.. That hegumen of the same name had long since ceased to live P. G., vol. C, p. 1164..