Feastday: September 11
Death: 491
Egyptian penitent. She was a maiden of Alexandria, Egypt, who fell into a life of sin, repented, and spent her remaining days in virtual anonymity as a hermit in the Thebaid, in the southern region of Egypt, atoning through abstinence and mortifications. The fact that she was a woman was not discovered until she died.
Theodora of Alexandria was a saint and Desert Mother who was married to a prefect of Egypt. In order to perform penance for a sin she committed, she disguised herself as a man and joined a monastery in Thebaid. Her true identity as a woman was discovered only after her death.
A rare image of Theodora in Western art is a print by Bernardino Capitelli, made in 1627 for Theodora Costa dal Pozzo, showing St Theodora of Alexandria disguised as a monk and caring for the child that she was accused of fathering (Vienna: Graphische Sammlung Albertina).
Theodora is honored with a Lesser Feast (with Sarah, and Syncletica) on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on January 5.
