The Byzantine Shrine on Beacon Hill

Holy Empress Theodora, who restored Orthodoxy

Holy Empress Theodora was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast (829-842), but she did not share in the heresy of her husband and secretly venerated the holy icons. After the death of her husband, Saint Theodora governed the realm because her son Michael was a minor.

She convened a Council, at which the Iconoclasts were anathematized, and the veneration of icons was reinstated. Saint Theodora established the annual celebration of this event, the Triumph of Orthodoxy, on the first Sunday of the Great Fast. Saint Theodora did much for Holy Church and fostered a firm devotion to Orthodoxy in her son Michael.

When Michael came of age, she was retired from governing and spent eight years in the monastery of Saint Euphrosynē, where she devoted herself to ascetic struggles, and reading books that nourished her soul.

A copy of the Gospels, copied in her own hand, is known to exist. She died peacefully around the year 867.

In 1460, her relics were given by the Turks to the people of Kerkyra (Corfu).

Troparion — Tone 5

(Podoben: “O Coeternal Word…”)
As a most worthy namesake of the gifts bestowed by God,¹ / and a divinely-wrought image of holy wisdom and faith, / you make the Church shine with godly piety; / for you demonstrate to all that the Saints in every age have shown honor to the revered icons, / O Theodora, thou righteous and fair adornment of Orthodox Empresses.

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¹ The name Theodora means “the gift of God.”

Kontakion — Tone 8

(Podoben: “O victorious Leader…”)
We praise you as the beauty of the Church, / the fitting dignity of Empresses and their character and diadem, O divinely-crowned Theodora. / For you saw the Icons restored and the complete overthrow of heresy. / Therefore, we cry out, “Rejoice, most honorable Sovereign.”