St. Theodosia of Constantinople

Feastday: July 18
Death: 745

Nun and martyr. Born to a noble family, she was orphaned in her youth and eventually became a nun at Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) at the monastery of St. Anastasia. She led a group of nuns in defense of the icon of Christ which hung over the main door of the community when soldiers were sent to enforce the decrees of the Iconoclast emperors Leo Ill the Isaurian  and Constantine V. Theodosia and twelve other nuns were arrested and tortured; Theodosia died of her grievous injuries while in prison. It is possible that the account of Theodosia is fictitious, based perhaps on the story of the fourth-century martyrs Theodora and companions who are venerated on the same feast day.

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Saint Theodosia of Constantinople (Greek: Ἁγία Θεοδοσία ἡ Κωνσταντινουπολίτισσα, romanized: Hagia Theodosia hē Kōnstantinoupolitissa) is an Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Saint and Martyr who lived in the seventh and eight centuries.

According to a biography published by the Orthodox Church in America, Theodosia "was born in answer to the fervent prayers of her parents." When they died, she was sent to be raised at the women's monastery of the holy Martyr Anastasia in Constantinople. She "distributed to the poor of what remained of her parental inheritance" after which she became a nun.

Icon of St. Theodosia

Martyrdom

On January 19, 729, at the beginning of the iconoclastic persecutions, the Emperor Leo III the Isaurian demanded that an icon of Christ which stood over the Chalke Gate of the imperial palace be removed. Anastasius of Constantinople ordered that the church comply. While an officer was executing the order, a group of women gathered to prevent the operation. Among them was Theodosia, who shook the ladder strongly until the officer fell from it. The man died from his injuries, and Theodosia was arrested and brought to the Forum Bovis, where she was executed by having a ram's horn hammered through her neck.

Sainthood

Following the Triumph of Orthodoxy over iconoclasm she was recognized as a martyr and saint, and her body was kept and venerated in the church of Hagia Euphemia en to Petrio, in the quarter named Dexiokratianai, named after the houses owned here by one Dexiokrates. It corresponds to the modern neighborhood of Ayakapı, along the Golden Horn. After the beginning of the fourteenth century, the church was named after her. It may correspond to the mosque of Gül. A gate in the sea walls of Constantinople, the Gate of Hagia Theodosia (Turkish: Ayakapı) was named after her church.

Hagia Theodosia became one among the most venerated saints in Constantinople. She is invoked particularly by the infirm. Her fame was increased by the recovery of a deaf-mute in 1306.

The Roman Catholic church celebrates the feast's day on the 18th of July, which was the date of her original feast day. The Orthodox Church moved her commemoration to the 29th of May.