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

St. Theodora of Thessalonike 199
spirit, she also maintained rigorous control over her eyes, thrusting aside any
missile which might attack her soul as the result of looking intently .
And I heard this from those who had accurate knowledge of her, that,
whenever anyone who was not known to her came to her for a prayer, she
would reply to his questions while looking at the ground, on no account gazing
at the face of her visitor. And after his departure she would inquire who
it was and what he looked like. She also restrained her tongue from speaking
unseemly words; for she was never seen conversing with anyone at an inopportune
moment, fearing the accounting for her words.
Thus she never swore, heeding , “I say unto you, swear not at
all,” 199 and she never spoke abusively, heeding , “Why dost thou
set at naught thy brother?,” 200 and she never condemned anyone, heeding , “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant?” 201 And she possessed
every form of virtue whatsoever. Thus she attained the angelic way of
life, 202 and often heard their divine voices. And this is clear from what she
herself frequently recounted. For when all the nuns were sleeping in the narthex
of the church, she would often quietly rouse Theopiste 203 and say, “Did
you hear the very sweet and melodic angelic psalmody inside the church?”
She used to do this, not showing off or boasting of the spiritual favor
, but, in my opinion, to prepare her own daughter to desire
the divine spiritual gifts. [p. 150] And she often used to say to her kinswomen
in God: “I know that the Lord will not disregard the servitude of obedience
that I have discharged for so many years, but will visit me in the mercy of His
goodness.” And she bade her daughter bury her body separately and by it-
199 Mt. 5:34.
200 Rom. 14:10.
201 Rom. 14:4.
202 A common circumlocution for the monastic life.
203 This puzzling passage could also be translated “While all the nuns were sleeping,
she would often quietly rouse Theopiste in the narthex of the church.” I have found no
parallel passage that specifically describes nuns dozing in the narthex between services,
but such a practice is suggested by chap. 38 of the typikon of the Kecharitomene nunnery.
The typikon prescribed that after the completion of the midnight office, which
took place in the narthex, the semantron should be struck to signal the beginning of
matins; thus, there may have been a brief interval between the services during which the
nuns dozed in the narthex. Cf. Gautier, “Kécharitôménè,” 87.1213–20. I am indebted to
Angela Hero for this reference.