TROPARUL ŞI VIAŢA SF. TEODOR SFINŢITUL
16 MAI
Pomenirea preacuviosului părintelui nostru Teodor sfinţitul, ucenicul preacuviosului Pahomie cel Mare.
Fericitul acesta îndeletnicindu-se cu legea lui Dumnezeu şi tot curat făcându-se şi arătându-se vas ales şi sfinţit, s-a învrednicit şi de numirea cea adevărată şi mare, dimpreună-locuitor şi asemenea la chip făcându-se marelui Pahomie. Pentru aceea locaşurile etiopienilor, după dumnezeiescul Avacum a zice spăimântând, şi ca în uimire capetele acestora tăind, a trecut la darurile răsplătirii cu sudorile bunei fapte, alungând toată boala şi toată slăbiciunea de la oameni.
Ὁ Ὅσιος Θεόδωρος ὁ Ἡγιασμένος ὁ Ταβεννησιώτης
Ὁ Ὅσιος Θεόδωρος ὁ Ἡγιασμένος, ὁ ὁποῖος ἤκμασε κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Ἰουλιανοῦ τοῦ Παραβάτου (361 – 363 μ.Χ.), καταγόταν ἀπὸ τὴν Αἴγυπτο καὶ γεννήθηκε ἀπὸ γονεῖς πλούσιους. Σὲ νεαρὴ ἡλικία ἀκολούθησε τὸν Ὅσιο Παχώμιο († 15 Μαΐου) στὴ Θηβαΐδα τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ ἐντάχθηκε ὑπὸ τὴν πνευματικὴ καθοδήγησή του, ἐνῷ ἀναδείχθηκε ἕνας ἀπὸ τοὺς πλέον ἀγαπητοὺς μαθητὲς αὐτοῦ. Πιστὸς μιμητὴς τοῦ διδασκάλου του στὸν μοναχικὸ βίο, τὸν διαδέχθηκε μετὰ τὴν κοίμησή του στὴν ἡγουμενία τῆς μονῆς. Γιὰ τὴν ἁγνότητα τοῦ βίου του καὶ τὴν ἁγιοσύνη του προικίσθηκε ἀπὸ τὸν Θεὸ μὲ τὴν χάρη τῆς θαυματουργίας. Γιὰ τὴν τέλεια δὲ ψυχικὴ καὶ σωματικὴ καθαρότητά του ἔλαβε τὸν τίτλο Ἡγιασμένος.
Ὁ Ὅσιος Θεόδωρος κοιμήθηκε μὲ εἰρήνη τὸ 367 μ.Χ
Ἀπολυτίκιον. Ἦχος γ’. Θείας πίστεως.
Δῶρον πέφηνας, ἁγιωσύνης, τὸν πανάγιον, δοξάσας Λόγον, ἡγιασμένε θεόφρον Θεόδωρε· ὅθεν βλυστάνεις ἐκ θείας χρηστότητος, ἁγιασμὸν ἀληθῆ τοῖς βοῶσί σοι. Πάτερ Ὅσιε, Χριστὸν τὸν Θεὸν ἱκέτευε, δωρήσασθαι ἡμῖν τὸ μέγα ἔλεος.
Κοντάκιον. Ἦχος πλ. δ’. Τῇ ὑπερμάχῳ.
Τὸν ἐν Ἁγίοις ἀληθῶς ἀναπαυόμενον
Τοῖς σοῖς ὁσίοις θεραπεύσας κατορθώμασιν
Ἁγιότητος ἐδείχθης λαμπρὸν δοχεῖον.
Ἀλλ’ ἁγίασον παμμάκαρ τῇ σῇ χάριτι
Καὶ ἡμῶν τὰς διανοίας καὶ τὰ σώματα
Τῶν βοώντων σοι, χαίροις Πάτερ Θεόδωρε.
Μεγαλυνάριον.
Σῶμα καὶ καρδίαν ἁγιασθείς, τῷ ἀμέμπτῳ βίῳ, ὡς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐραστής, Τρισηλίου δόξης, ἡγιασμένον σκεῦος, ἐν τοῖς Ὁσίοις ὤφθης, Πάτερ Θεόδωρε.
Venerable Theodore the Sanctified, Disciple of the Venerable Pachomius the Great
Commemorated on May 16
Saint Theodore was called „Sanctified” because he was the first in his monastery ordained to the priesthood.
St Theodore came from Egypt and was the son of rich and illustrious Christian parents. The yearning for monastic life appeared early in him. Once there was a large party at the house of his parents during the feast of Theophany. The boy did not want to take part in the festivities, grieving that because of earthly joys he might be deprived of joys in the life to come. He secretly left home when he was fourteen and entered one of the monasteries.
Hearing about Pachomius the Great, he burned with the desire to see the ascetic. St Pachomius received the young man with love, having been informed by God beforehand about his coming. Remaining at the monastery, St Theodore quickly succeeded in all his monastic tasks, particularly in the full obedience to his guide, and in his compassion towards the other brethren. Theodore’s mother, learning that he was at the Tabennisi monastery, came to St Pachomius with a letter from the bishop, asking to see her son. St Theodore did not wish to break his vow to renounce the world, so he refused to meet with his mother.
Seeing St Theodore’s strength of mind and ability, St Pachomius once told him to instruct the brethren on Holy Scripture. St Theodore was then only twenty years old. He obeyed and began to speak, but some of the older brethren took offense that a new monk should teach them, and they departed. St Pachomius said to them, „You have given in to the devil and because of your conceit, your efforts will come to naught. You have not rejected Theodore, but rather the Word of God, and have deprived yourselves of the Holy Spirit.”
St Pachomius appointed St Theodore as overseer of the Tabennisi monastery, and withdrew to a more solitary monastery. St Theodore with filial love continued to concern himself over his instructor, and he looked after St Pachomius in his final illness, and when the great abba reposed in the Lord, he closed his eyes. After the death of St Pachomius, St Theodore directed the Tabennisi monastery, and later on he was at the head of all the Thebaid monasteries. St Theodore the Sanctified was famed for his holiness of life and a great gift of wonderworking, and he was well known to St Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. St Theodore reposed in his old age in the year 368.