St. Theodore MonasteryΙερά Μονή Αγίων Θεόδωρων

The Holy Monastery of Saints Theodoroi, dedicated to Saint Theodore of Tyro and Saint Theodore Stratelates, is one of the many Greek Orthodox monasteries located within the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is believed that the Monastery dedicated to the Saints Theodores was established by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Ioannis III during the 6 th century. References to the Monastery can be found in texts documenting Christianity in Jerusalem throughout history, including in 1877 when Archimandrite Veniamin wrote that it had been used to host female Russian pilgrims. It has also been used as a guesthouse for pilgrims to the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The major feast celebrated within the Monastery is the miracle of the boiled wheat by Saint Theodore the Tyro. Saint Theodore the Tyro, translated as Saint Theodore the Recruit, was a Roman soldier venerated as a warrior saint and Great Martyr in the Greek Orthodox Church. As a Roman soldier in the region of Amasea , modern day Turkey, Saint Theodore the Tyro was arrested after refusing to participate in pagan rituals and tortured and executed around the year 306CE after setting fire to a pagan temple. About 50 years after his martyrdom, during the first week of Lent, Saint Theodore the Tyro appeared in a dream to Eudoxius, the Archbishop of Constantinople. In the dream, he warned the archbishop that the emperor Julian the Apostate had instructed the governor of Constantinople to sprinkle the food in the marketplace with blood that had been offered to the pagan idols, forcing the Christians to unknowingly eat contaminated food following their fasting. Saint Theodore the Tyro ordered Eudoxius to tell the Christians instead to boil the wheat they had in their homes and sweeten it with honey, known as ‘kolyva.’ Today this miracle is still celebrated in the Church, with kolyva being distributed to worshippers after the service on the first Saturday of Lent in order to break the fast. It is after this miracle that Theodore the Tyro was venerated as a Saint, near the end of the 4 th century. Icons of Saint Theodore the Tyro generally depict him with dark hair and beard, clothed in 6th century military dress and sometimes on horseback spearing a dragon alongside Saint George. He became a revered military Saint during the Byzantine period and was also adopted by the Crusaders. The Monastery of the Saints Theodoroi is located within the Christian Quarter, between New Gate and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, near the Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas and the Latin Casa Nova. The interior is decorated in the style typical of Orthodox Monasteries in the region. Carved wooden alters and screens are adorned with beautifully painted icons. One of the icons features Saint Theodore Stratelates, the second namesake of this Holy Monastery, as well as a chapel dedicated to Saint Spyridon. The Monastery is not typically open to the public. With the exception of Saint Theodore the Tyro’s feast day, which occurs on the first Saturday in Lent, visits must be arranged with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.