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Today, November 9, is commemorated Saint Theodore the Martyr and Patron of Filadelfia (Calabria) Italy, my parents' hometown.

O our protector Saint Theodore, you who lived in the midst of a pagan and perverse world,
you never tired of fighting for the faith
and of spreading it among your fellow soldiers,
teach us also the neccesity of living always
according to the Lord's ways
and to love our neighbor
according to your holy example. Amen.

St Theodore intercede for all of Europe in the name of Jesus amen.

San Teodoro, prega per noi!

Logos Teen

Thank you, Vito, for the beautiful prayer! We'll be including it in our family's night prayers this evening.
Simplicity

Vito-

Do you have any other info about St. Theodore?

And where in Calabria is Filadelphia?

Best,

Marc

Marc. Filadelfia is in the province of Vibo Valentia, about midway and the narrowest part of the Calabrian toe. The following is from the New Advent Encyclopedia:

Surnamed Tyro (Tiro), not because he was a young recruit, but because for a time he belonged to the Cohors Tyronum (Nilles, Kal. man., I, 105), called of Amasea from the place where he suffered martyrdom, and Euchaita from the place, Euchais, to which his body had been carried, and where he was held in such veneration that the city was frequently spoken of as Theodoropolis. His martyrdom seems to have taken place 17 Feb., 306, under the Emperors Galerius Maximian and Maximin, for on this day the Menologies give his feast. The Greeks and Armenians honour him also on the first Saturday of Lent, while the Roman Martyrology records him on 9 Nov. In the twelfth century his body was transferred to Brindisi, and he is there honoured as patron; his head is enshrined at Gaeta. There are churches bearing his name at Constantinople, Jerusalem, Damascus, and other places of the East. An ancient church of Venice, of which he is titular, is said to have been built by Narses. At the foot of the Palatine in Rome is a very old church, circular in shape and dedicated to S. Teodoro, whom the Roman people call S. Toto, which was made a collegiate church by Felix IV. The people showed their confidence in the saint by bringing their sick children to his temple. His martyrdom is represented in the choir of the cathedral of Chartres by thirty-eight glass paintings of the thirteenth century (Migne, "Dict. iconogr.", 599). He is invoked against storms. Emblems: temple, torch, crocodile, pyre, crown of thorns.

St. Gregory of Nyssa delivered a panegyric on his feast and gave several data concerning his life and martyrdom (P.G., XLVI, 741, and Ruinart, 505). The oldest text of the "Martyrium S. Theodori Tironis" was published by Delehaye in "Les legendes grecques des saints militaires", p. 227, but it is considered largely interpolated (Anal. Boll., XXX, 323). St. Theodore is said to have been born in the East (Syria or Armenia are mentioned by some writers). He enlisted in the army and was sent with his cohort to winter quarters in Pontus. When the edict against the Christians was issued by the emperors, he was brought before the Court at Amasea and asked to offer sacrifice to the gods. Theodore, however, denied their existence and made a noble profession of his belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. The judges, pretending pity for his youth, gave him time for reflection. This he employed in burning the Temple of Cybele. He was again taken prisoner, and after many cruel torments was burned at the stake.

Saint Theodore is one of the military saints like St. George and St. Demetrius et al. Find out more here: http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/index.html

St. Theodore is one of the 8 Saints for today in the Latin Calendar.

The others are:

St. Agrippinus
St. Alexander
St. Benignus
St. Vitonus
St. Ursinus
St. Orestes
St. Pabo, (and)

St. Amado

(I made the last one up! )

Dear Friends,

"Theodore" means, in the Greek, "Gift of God."

The same name in Hebrew is "Matthew" in Russian, "Bogdan" in Latin "Adeodatus" or "Deusdedit," in German "Gottfried" and also "Godfrey" or Geoffrey/Jeffrey in the liturgical language of the Byzantine Catholic Church.

Alex

Here's another version of the life of St. Theodore:

This holy, glorious Martyr of Christ came from Amasia in Pontus and was a Roman legionary at the time of Maximian�s great persecution (c. 303). He had been a Christian since childhood but kept his faith secret, not out of cowardice but because he had not yet received a sign from God to present himself for martyrdom. While his cohort was stationed near the town of Euchaita (Helenopontus), he learned that the people of the district went in terror of a dreadful dragon, which lurked in the surrounding forest. He realized that here was the quest in which God would show him whether the time had come to offer himself for martyrdom. Going deep into the wood, he came upon an abandoned village whose only remaining occupant, a Christian princess named Eusebia, told him where the monster had its lair. He set off to find it, arming himself with the sign of the Cross, and when he confronted the roaring, fire-spitting beast, he thrust his spear through its head and killed it.

Convinced that now, by God�s Grace, he would be able to vanquish the spiritual dragon, the Devil, just as he had felled the visible fiend, Saint Theodore returned to the camp, ready to confess his faith. When the commander of his cohort ordered a sacrifice to the gods of the Empire, Theodore remained in his tent. �I am a Christian,� he told the squad who came to look for him. �I adore only Christ. He is the King whom I serve, and to Him only am I willing to offer sacrifice!� After plying him with crafty questions, they left him in order to interrogate other Christian soldiers. Inflamed with divine zeal, Theodore encouraged his fellow Christians to show themselves worthy of Christ, who had chosen them to be soldiers in His army on high. That night he went to the pagan temple and reduced the altar of Rhea, the mother of the gods, to ashes. He was caught in the act by a verger, and brought unresisting to the governor Publius. There was uproar in Euchaita when the deed was known; but Theodore replied calmly to the governor�s questions, showing the absurdity of regarding as a deity a lifeless piece of wood which had been reduced to ashes in a few moments. Threatened with dire torments, the Saint responded; �Your threats don�t frighten me because, amid torments, the power of Christ will be joy and gladness to me.� Grinding his teeth in rage, the governor had him thrown into a gloomy dungeon. That night, Christ appeared to His valiant servant and promised that His grace would be at once his food and drink, his joy and shield. Thus comforted, Theodore spent his time chanting hymns with the Angels, so that even though his cell was bolted and barred, his captures thought that other Christians must have joined him there.

When offered bread and water, Theodore refused it, saying that Christ had promised him food from heaven. On coming before Publius for the second time, he was offered the post of high priest of the idols, at which he laughed, and assured the governor that he was ready to be cut in pieces for love of Christ. He was then hung by his heels while his body was lacerated with iron claws. But faced with the Saint�s indomitable resolution, the tormentors labored in vain, and the governor, fearing lest his example encourage other Christians, decided to be done with him; and he condemned him to be burnt to death. When they reached the stake, the Martyr took off his clothing and sent up a fervent prayer that God would strengthen the other confessors. He walked freely into the flames, which surrounded him but left him untouched as though wanting to do him obeisance. In the midst of this triumphal circlet, Saint Theodore gave back his soul to God with thanksgiving. The pious Eusebia ransomed his body, which she took to Euchaita. A church was built there in honor of the Martyr, who obtained healing of soul and body for many pilgrims who came to seek his intercession.

In 361, Julian the Apostate was doing his utmost to restore pagan customs. Knowing that the Christians were accustomed to sanctify the first week of Lent by fasting and prayer, the wily tyrant told the Prefect of Constantinople to have all the foodstuffs set out for sale in the markets sprinkled with blood of animals sacrificed to the gods, so that no one in the City would escape the contagion of idolatry. However, the Lord did not abandon His chosen people, but sent his servant Theodore to outwit the tyrant. Appearing in a vision to Patriarch Eudoxius (360-4), the holy Martyr informed him of what was afoot and told him to instruct the Christians not to buy food from the markets but instead to eat kolyva made from grains of boiled wheat. Thus, thanks to the intervention of the holy Martyr Theodore, the Christian people were preserved from the stain of idolatry. The Church has commemorated this miracle ever since on the first Saturday of Great Lent, in order to remind the faithful that fasting and temperance have the power to cleanse all the stains of sin.

Saint Theodore Tyron wrought many other miracles for those who had recourse to him with faith, and who persevered in prayer in his church. One day, shining in glory on his white horse, he appeared to a poor widow and restored her only son who had been captured by Saracens. He often brought the tempest-tossed to safety, thieves to light and runaways back to their masters. In all his miracles, this Roman legionary showed that he had become the heavenly protector of the Christian people.

Portions of the preceding text are from �The Synaxarion: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church� by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra, and translated from the French by Christopher Hookway

Dear Vito,

On St Theodore's Day during Lent, Eastern Christians will boil wheat in his honour.

Theodore appeared in a dream to the Patriarch and told them of the plot by the pagan emperor to sprinkle the blood of pagan sacrifices over the meat to be sold the next day.

Theodore told the Patriarch to order the people to boil wheat and to eat that.

This is called "kolliva" and is sweetened with nuts and honey and blessed in Church.

Kolliva is also made and blessed on Namesdays and also by the Serbians for their "Krsna Slavas" or what is really the Namesday of the founding family ancestor.

Alex

Dear Alex, At my Romanian Byzantine Catholic church koliva is used and blessed along with bread and wine at a parastas (memorial service). These elements are raised and lowered by the priest and all present as they pray for the deceased. I'm sure all Byzantine Christians are familiar with this service.

Vito,

Buon Giorno Italianski Brat! Come sta!

I often wondered if both of my Calabrese materal grandparents were actually Italo-Greeks? My grandfather emigrated from Amateo on the western coast of Calabria. Any Calabrese Italo-Greek Churches in Amateo?

Buona Notte!

Ungcsertezs

Dear Vito,

You haven't seen my parish . . .

Alex

Alex and Vito -- very interesting information -- very enlightening. Thank you for sharing!!

God Bless,

Dave

Dear Ungcsertezs,

Buon giorno anche a te. Sto bene, grazie. I'm not familiar with the town you name. Perhaps you mean Amantea. As far as Italo-Greek origins which would go back centuries, probably the best clue nowadays would be surnames. The Byzantine Catholic Church exists in Calabria and Sicily in the centers of the Italo-Albanians. Ciao, Vito

Vito,

Prebachte i mi scusi! That's the correct spelling, Amantea, the coastal town in southern Calabria. I am very Italian-challenged, as only my immigrant grandfather Dominico spoke Italian. His bride,(my grandmother) was born here in Jefferson Co, PA and her parents wanted their childern to speak English. Hey, I'm a menz-a-menz/half na pol Rusyn-Italiano and need to study the Italian language as I hope to travel to southern Calabria someday!

Ciao,

Ungcsertezs

Ung-Certez,

As I understand it, Southern Italians and Sicilians basically are Greeks, more or less!

Logos Teen

Since Amado posted the Novus Ordo Calendar for Saints of the Day, I'll post the Traditional Calendar's Saints of the Day.

St. Andrew Avellini, Priest-Confessor
Ss. Trypho and Respicius, Martyrs
St. Nympha, Virgin
St. Leo I, Pope
Ss. Tryphenna and Tryphosa
St. Demetrius of Antioch, Bishop
St. Anian, Deacon
St. Eustosius, and twenty others
Ss. Tiberius, Modestus, and Florence, Martyrs
St. Probus, Bishop
St. Monitor, Bishop
St. Justus, Bishop
St. Leo of Melun, Confessor
St. Theoctistis, Virgin

Pray for us!

Logos Teen

Dear Teen, Southern Italians are a people of mixed blood. The Italic peoples of that region have been invaded by Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Longobards, Saracens, Normans, Spaniards, French, Northern Italians, etc. etc. Vito

Vito,

Yes, I know; I was speaking a little tongue-in-cheek.

Certainly, there are some families or groups of people that would be primarily descended from this or that ethnic group.

Though Sicily has been invaded and even ruled by the Normans, genetically speaking they made very, very little effect unless one assumes every Norman male raped every Sicilian woman in sight.

Primarily, Sicilians are descended from Greeks, Phoenician/Carthaginians, Saracen Arabs, and the autocthonous inhabitants of Sicily.

Southern Italy is not my forte so I couldn't speak to that.

Logos Teen

Vito-

Thanks for all your information! Something's always drawn me to the icon of St. Theodore in a parish I visit....

Marc

Dear Ung Certez,

I don't know of any current Italo-Greek parishes in or near Amateo, but hope to consult my maps and lists over the weekend.

I said "current" because many centuries ago mostly everyone in this area was Eastern Rite, as Vito would probably confirm.

The current Eastern Rite parishes are part of the Diocese of Lungro, which in modern times has had an Italo-Greco-Albanian identity, a people who call themselves "Arberesh" and who have descended from those warriors who fled the Turkish domination of the Balkans.

Please do more research on the key words posted above if you like.

I apologize for straying from Theodore.

In Christ,
Andrew

Mi Caro Vito,

Tu ringrazio per gli posti per Santo Teodoro. Ho imperato molto di nuovo. Due anni in Brindisi, non lo saputo della presenza di questo santo la. A dove? Dentro la cattedrale?

Sempre tuo in nostro Cristo,
Andrea

Caro Andrea, Sia lodato Gesu` Cristo!

As I mentioned previously, San Teodoro, is patron (along with St. Barbara) of my parents' hometown of Filadelfia in Calabria. Filadelfia was built after the old town, Castelmonardo was destroyed by earthquake.(1783)

La devozione a San Teodoro proviene dal vecchio paese, Castelmonardo, completamente distrutto dal terremoto del 1783.

La devozione verso il "Grande Martire" diffusasi in Oriente molto rapidamente (cos� come ci testimonia il panegirico che S.Gregorio da Nissa compose in occasione dell'anniversario della sua morte) giunse a Castelmonardo per opera dei monaci basiliani.

Nel vecchio paese esisteva una abbazia intitolata a San Teodoro al punto tale che fino al 1945, i parroci che si sono succeduti nell'attuale parrocchia possedevano il titolo di abate.

The relics of the saint were brought to Brindisi by Venetian seamen in the 13th c. where they are conserved in the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in a chapel dedicated to San Teodoro. By the way, St. Theodore was replaced by St. Mark as the principal patron of Venice.

Molto grazie per la tue parole in italiano,
Tante belle cose, Vito

Dear Marc,

Thanks for your message. Gagliato, as many towns in the region, may have been founded by Byzantine Greeks.. Keep in mind that when speaking of Greeks in Calabria we have the Ancients and the much later Byzantines. You may know that even today there are a few small towns in the province of Reggio where a Greek dialect is still spoken. Sadly, it may soon be extinct.

Ciao, Vito

Dear Ung Certez,

Probably the closest towns to Amantea that worship in the Byzantine Rite are San Benedetto Ullano and Falconara Albanese (perhaps Falconara is Latin Rite - now I have to consult another list), a ways to the north and up in the mountains.

What is interesting about San Benedetto is her RETURN to the Byzantine Rite and the Diocese of Lungro in the early 1980's. Obviously, there was some kind of reawakening.

This western Calabria is Vito's territory. He may be able to tell us if there is a general reawakening there to Byzantine roots.

I know that the Greek-speaking communities of the toe, outside of Reggio are some getting attention and support from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the European Union (as a linguistic minority).

In Christ,
Andrew

Caro Andrea,

I think that in general Calabria has become more conscious in recent years of its Greek and Byzantine heritage. So much of its past has been destroyed by earthquakes and foreign invasions, but there are constantly new archeological finds that remind of this heritage. The Italo-Albanians make great efforts to preserve their heritage of language, music, religion, etc. The Calabrians, mostly Latin Catholics, seem to be very welcoming and ecumenically minded. Among other efforts, they've supported Orthodox monks from Mt. Athos who have been given the monastery of St. John Theristes in Bivongi. I've often thought that if Catholics and Orthodox were really serious about unity, a model, albeit imperfect, can be found among the Italo-Greek-Albanian Church of the Monastery of Gottaferrata (Rome) and the Eparchies of Lungro (Calabria) and Piana degli Albanesi (Sicily).

Dear Vito,

Yes, yes! This is exactly what the Italo-Greek Dioceses bring to the table:

That upon their (we best call them Epiroti - perhaps identifying themselves by region and language rather than by "ethnicity" - and usualy bilingual in both Albanian and Greek) arrival in the 1400s and 1500s some integrated into existing Greek Rite communities and others founded new communities. But what one doesn't find is any proclamation that by leaving the Patriarch of Ohrid or Constantinople and by coming under the Pope of Rome that they had "changed Churches." The understanding was that they had changed Patriarchs.

My point here, and theirs, being that the schism is not properly dated to 1054, but was a much more gradual slide away from each other in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Documentation that I've seen from 1560s and 1580s, wherein local Latin Rite bishops in Southern Italy argue to Rome against the validity of these "filthy, married Greek Rite priests," were answered by affirming the legitimacy of their Rite and the authority of the Patriarch of Ohrid to send an auxiliary (Greek Rite) Bishop to ordain priests and deacons for the care of the Greek Rite flock.

There are three dogmata, all from the 1850-1870 period that stand in the way of East-West union, but that still doesn't mean that we can't look for valid practical models of "cohabitation" such as those that we find in the Italo-Greek Communities.

In Christ,
Andrew