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

St. Theodora of Thessalonike 181
20. Therefore, as I have already described, after performing the third and
ninth day memorial rites for her excellent husband, she divided her property
into three parts, and gave one portion to the poor for the repose
of her departed . Then she decided that she should seek refuge with
her celebrated relative Anna, who for the sake of God’s honor and the most
pure [p. 106] veneration of the sacred icons fought the good fight 106 of being a
confessor , when a certain bodyguard of the emperor, named
Choirosphaktes, 107 severely abused her. And so went immediately
to the holy monastery dedicated to St. Stephen, 108 first among martyrs and
deacons, bringing with her one hundred gold coins (and after her tonsure she
donated to the monastery three maidservants and all the rest of her property).
109 And prostrating herself at the feet of the aforementioned Anna, who
was also superior of this monastery, she said:
“Blessed mother, have mercy on me, since I have been terribly buffeted
by the storms of this life. Now that I have discovered a joyful of
my sorrowful widowhood, let me not be turned away, but may I attain the
angelic habit . Some time ago I dedicated to God the fruit of my
loins [i.e., Theopiste]; now I dedicate myself through you. Have
mercy on me.”
21. That holy woman [Anna] raised her up and replied: “Since you are
my blood and my child and I am well aware of the mode of life
106 2 Tim. 4:7.
107 Choirosphaktes is known only from this text. He is evidently the first member of
his family to be mentioned in the historical sources; G. Kolias, who was not aware of
this passage in the vita of Theodora, claims that Leo Choirosphaktes, born ca. 845–
850, is the first person of this surname to be recorded; cf. Léon Choerosphactès, magistre,
proconsul et patrice (Athens, 1939), 16. It is unclear under which emperor Anna
suffered persecution for her beliefs; it was probably Leo V (813–820) or Theophilos
(829–842).
108 The convent of St. Stephen the Protomartyr is mentioned only in the vita of St.
Theodora. It later took her name, and is attested several times in sources of the 14th
and 15th centuries. The convent evidently stood on the site of the modern church of
St. Theodora, west of Hagia Sophia; cf. Paschalides, Theodora, 257–58, 283–96; Janin,
EglisesCentres, 374–75, 411 (the notice on p. 411 has several errors).
109 The account in Chap. 20 of Theodora’s distribution of her property to the poor
and to the monastery of St. Stephen, in addition to the fact that she had three maidservants,
indicates that she lived in comfortable circumstances despite her refugee status.