7. Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike - Dumbarton Oaks

St. Theodora of Thessalonike 169
location and situation and the peaceful living conditions, and that as a result
of its protection by its guardian and defender, the all-glorious martyr Demetrios
37 (second only to God), it was protected from all evil assaults and remained
impregnable. Theodora’s father, who desired peace and quiet and detested
the iconoclast faction, loathsome to God (for the holy Church was still
controlled by them, through some oversight of God), 38 retired to the remote
area below Thoropa, 39 which is not frequented by men, in the belief that it was
easier to live among wild beasts than to associate 40 with people of false belief,
so that he might be able to see God to as great an extent as possible and to
become blessed. And he spent the remaining years of his life here in a pious
manner, inasmuch as he enjoyed freedom from worldly cares and could live
the ascetic life in peaceful contemplation. He left everything to those
who wanted it, and communing constantly with himself and with the
Spirit, he departed this human life, and flew off to the heavenly abodes.
8. But they [i.e., Theodora and her husband] decided to live in the city.
They had three children, of whom the second and third died soon , 41 adding great sorrow to their distress at living in a strange place and
the loss of their possessions. But not even this terrible, indeed exceedingly
terrible, and great blow prevailed in the end over that woman’s noble
and virtuous soul. [p. 80] On the one hand, did overwhelm her,
inasmuch as she was a mother, and, as in the case of mothers, her nature was
overwhelmed in this as in all things; but unlike most women, she was not swept
away by the tragic event, her reason giving way to her suffering. Rather she
used reason to withstand her suffering, and became a support for her husband
in his despondency, saying: “I have heard the Holy Writ explain that ‘the head
of the woman is the man’ 42 and that ‘the members should have the same care for
37 Tradition holds that Demetrios, the patron saint of Thessalonike, was martyred
there under the emperor Maximian (286–305).
38 Gregory is referring to the imperial policy of persecuting those who venerated the
images of Christ, the Virgin and saints. The second period of iconoclasm (lit., “breaking
of icons”) lasted from 815 to 843.
39 An unknown place probably in the vicinity of Thessalonike.
40 “Retired to . . . associate”: cf. Basil of Caesarea, Homilia in Gordium martyrem,
PG 31:496b.
41 An indication of the high infant mortality in Byzantium; cf. also note 324 in Chap.
13 of the Translation and Miracles, and G. Contis, “Patterns of Disease and Death
among Women and Children in Early Byzantine Times,” BSCAbstr 19 (1993), 34–35.
42 1 Cor. 11:3.