ON ST. THEODORE, MARTYR,
AT ALEXANDRIA IN EGYPT.
A Collection from the Calendars of the Greeks.
Theodore, M., at Alexandria in Egypt (St.)
BY J. S.
[St. Theodore today among the Greeks, and perhaps the same in the Hieronymian calendars on the 2nd of September:] We have already given several martyrs of this name, and among them I find two who suffered at Alexandria, the one at the twenty-eighth of June with several others, the other likewise at the tenth of July with another handful of martyrs. But I find none of these who has anything in common with St. Theodore, whom the Greeks celebrate on this day. But I judge that this is the Theodore whom the Hieronymian martyrologies celebrate on the 2nd of September, as Florentinius also observed there in the notes. Certainly on that day in Florentinius St. Theodore is thus announced: At Alexandria, the birthday of St. Theodore. The Corbie codex: At Alexandria, the birthday of St. Theodore the martyr. More briefly the Epternach codex: At Alexandria, of Theodore. In some martyrologies also more abridged the bare name of Theodore is read. The chief reason why I think this one the same as today's is indeed not so certain that it cannot deceive; yet it appears to me likely and probable — namely, because Theodore is announced without any companions both in the Hieronymian and in the Greek calendars, and in both constantly at Alexandria, so that we can easily believe him to be the same, lest we multiply martyrs without necessity. Nor ought it to move us much that he is commemorated on one day by the Greeks, on another in the Hieronymian calendars; for the Greeks frequently attribute some day to holy martyrs at their own discretion, and in the Hieronymian calendars too they have from time to time been torn away from the day of their death.
[2] But now, whether Theodore be the same in both places, or whether the one today among the Greeks be another, the Greeks make him bishop of Alexandria; these announce their own man variously, and not without some error. The Sirletian Menology makes him bishop of Alexandria, and has thus: The birthday of the most holy martyr Theodore, bishop of Alexandria, whom the men of Alexandria, seizing him because he preached Christ himself with a free voice, being inflamed with fury, crowned with thorns, struck upon the cheek, and led about through the city, and plunged into the deep sea, from which he was preserved by divine providence; and by the governor's order he was beheaded, and buried by faithful and religious men in the same city of the Alexandrians. The printed Menaea agree with these, nor is anything added except two little verses, in which by the cutting off of his head he is said to have been made partaker of the gifts of God; for the poet wished to allude to the name Theodore, which is explained as "gift of God." But in this eulogy that which calls him bishop of Alexandria must altogether be corrected; for among the bishops of Alexandria no Theodore is found before the eighth century; and it is clear that the aforesaid things happened when the superstition of the heathen ruled at Alexandria, which had no place after the fourth century.
[3] this title is not given him today in the Basilian Menology, In the Basilian Menology at this day Theodore is not said to have been a bishop, but the rest is set forth in nearly the same manner. This, as it has been rendered into Latin in the most recent edition, I transfer hither: On the same day, the contest of the holy martyr Theodore of Alexandria. This holy martyr Theodore, a pious Christian and endowed with virtue, when he freely preached Christ and asserted him to be God and the maker of all things, the people of Alexandria, given over to the superstition of idols, gathered into one body, took him and tortured him sharply. Then, plaiting a crown of thorns, they set it on his head; and having beaten him with rods, they led him bound about the city, exposed to mockery and jeers. After these things, when he had been plunged into the sea, a very light wind cast him unharmed upon the land. And being seized again he is set bound before the prefect; who, when he could not turn him away from the faith of Christ, again subjects him to torments, as he gave glory to God in the very torments and rendered thanks to his name. Last of all, condemned to death by the prefect's sentence, and led away by the soldiers to the place of punishment, he was beheaded. And thus, having accomplished his martyrdom, he gave up his spirit. Thus far the Menology.
[4] but the same is attributed to him at the 3rd of December. But I should not wish anyone straightway to gather from this that Theodore was not a bishop at all. For in this very Basilian Menology, as well as in the Menaea, the given eulogy of St. Theodore recurs, and there he is clearly called bishop and archbishop of Alexandria. I subjoin the announcement from the Menology: The contest of the holy great martyr Theodore, bishop of Alexandria. Receive also the little verses added there in the Menaea:
Ἐν πατριάρχαις καὶ Θεόδωρος μέγας, Κἂν τοῖς αθληταῖς τοῖς διὰ ξιφους μέγας.
And among the patriarchs Theodore is great, And among the champions crowned by the sword, great.
From these the opinion of the Greeks of the middle age is manifest, who clearly make this Theodore bishop of Alexandria. But in that matter they are certainly deceived, unless there was in the first centuries at Alexandria some bishop wholly unknown to us — which we shall not so easily believe. Wherefore it is not probable to us that he was bishop of Alexandria. But it is not equally improbable that he was bishop of some city in Egypt unknown to us.
[5] The Hieronymian calendars on the following day, that is the thirteenth of September, announce at Alexandria Theodolus the bishop, [It is uncertain whether today's saint is the same as St. Theodolus the bishop, or as the Theodore the bishop in Eusebius.] whom Florentinius suspects to be no other than today's Theodore. Indeed we sometimes find the names Theodore and Theodolus confused, although the name is otherwise different and has a different Greek meaning. Nevertheless, since that man is so constantly called Theodolus in the calendars, and nowhere Theodore, I should not dare to say that he seems with sufficient probability to be the same. The studious reader will be able to consider what we shall gather from the calendars concerning Theodolus at the following day, and to follow his own judgment in this matter. Eusebius, book 8, chapter 13, among the bishops who suffered in Egypt at the time of the persecution of Diocletian, numbers a certain Theodore, of whom Baronius makes mention in the Roman Martyrology at the twenty-sixth of November. On what day that Theodore suffered, Eusebius does not express; but he names him as one of the chief, along with a few, six hundred others being passed over. The Greeks too celebrate no Theodore who suffered at Alexandria more than today's, whom they call μεγαλομάρτηρα, the great martyr. Hence someone will be able to suspect that today's is the same as the one commemorated by Eusebius; and this can be examined at the twenty-sixth of November.
[6] Meanwhile, if we consider those things which the Greeks report concerning the saint's martyrdom, [Theodore seems to have been taken rather in a popular tumult, such as there was before the reign of Decius,] Theodore seems to have been taken rather in a popular tumult, such as is narrated by Eusebius, book 6, chapter 41, to have taken place at Alexandria, than by lawful authority. Hear the praised Eusebius speaking from the mouth of St. Dionysius, then bishop of Alexandria: By no means did the persecution (at Alexandria) begin from the emperor's (Decius') edict; indeed it had anticipated it by a whole year. For a certain ill-omened seer and poet, whoever he was, had already before stirred up and incited against us the crowds of the heathen, kindling their minds to the superstition inborn in that people. Goaded therefore by this man, and having gained every license for perpetrating crimes, they reckoned this alone piety and worship of their demons: to rage with slaughter against our people. He then reports some examples of that impious fury, in which St. Apollonia also fell.
[7] Now receive, reader, also the eulogy of St. Theodore which is inserted at the 3rd of December in the Basilian Menology, differing in a very few things from the one given above, his eulogy agrees better with this than with a general persecution: so that you may consider whether the saint's martyrdom does not seem to agree more with the tumult of the Alexandrian populace stirred up before the reign of Decius than with the persecution of Diocletian, in which fell the St. Theodore praised by Eusebius. The people of Alexandria, and chiefly the Greeks and unbelievers, were fierce and cruel against the saints. Wherefore they made very many martyrs in that city; of whose number that holy Theodore, because he confessed Christ and believed in him, and because he taught the Greeks to hold him for God, an onset being made against him, was seized and most cruelly torn in pieces; then a crown woven of thorns was set upon his head, and his eyes being grievously bruised, he was mocked with taunts in jest and contempt. Then, bound, he is cast into the sea; but escaping thence unharmed, he is beheaded by the prefect's order. And his holy and blessed spirit ascended the heavens. But his precious relics, laid up in the same city of Alexandria, pour forth cures upon those who come to them even to the present day. Thus far the eulogy. Yet from this I should not wish to conclude anything certain concerning the time at which the saint suffered. For the history indeed agrees rightly with a popular tumult; but tumults of this sort were frequent enough at Alexandria.
[8] his body probably translated: it is uncertain whether he was a bishop. Further, in the sacred calendars of the Alexandrian church which Job Ludolf published, on the twentieth day of the third month of the Ethiopians, which answers to the sixteenth day of November, Theodore the martyr is commemorated, perhaps the same as today's. On the fifth day of the same month, or the first of November, is read: Translation of the body of the martyr Theodore; which is most probably of the martyr Theodore of whom we treat today, since the eulogy given from the Menology agrees concerning his body being held in great veneration among the Alexandrians. In the praised Alexandrian calendars too Theodore, patriarch of Alexandria, is commemorated at the first of our February, on which that Theodore is said to have died who ruled the Alexandrian see with praise in the eighth century, as may be seen in the Chronological History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, tom. V of June, p. 78. But since the Greeks do not commemorate this Theodore the patriarch, I suspect that by them the title of Theodore the patriarch was confused with the deeds and martyrdom of today's St. Theodore the martyr. Whatever it be, it is not probable that this man was a patriarch; and it is very uncertain whether he was a bishop — nay, I should rather believe that he was not a bishop. Wherefore the eulogy which Galesinius wove for St. Theodore in this manner does not displease me: At Alexandria in Egypt, of St. Theodore the martyr, whom, an eminent worshiper of the Christian faith, the people of Alexandria, given over to the superstition of idols, tortured in various ways; afterward they led him to the prefect, who at last ordered the most valiant champion of God to be struck with the axe.