N and on April 22 we honor the memory of the Reverend Theodore Sikeot.
He was born in the first half of the 6th century in the village of Sikea, region of Galatia in Asia Minor,
from where the main road from Constantinople through Nicaea to Ankyra (today’s Ankara) passed. His mother Maria was a prostitute, owner of a roadside inn, and his father Cosmas served at the imperial court. After his mother was reunited with Cosmas and conceived, she abandoned her previous life and lived a godly life. Holy Great Martyr George appeared to the couple in a dream and predicted that their son would receive God’s grace and live according to His law.
Indeed, Theodore early showed a desire for a prayerful and holy life in seclusion.
At the age of 12, he dug a small cave under the altar of the “St. George” church and began to devote himself to prayers and reading sacred texts there. Later he spent two years in a cave in the mountains. His ascetic solitude was interrupted by the insistent entreaties of his relatives, and he returned to them. And when the bishop of the nearby city of Anastasiopolis Theodosius heard about Theodore’s asceticism, he sought him out and consecrated him to the priesthood.
Theodore continued to live at the “St. George” church, where he already served,
with God’s help he healed the sick, cast out demons. Together with his monastic followers, Theodore built the church “St. Michael the Archangel” and founded a monastery. Despite his desire to live away from people in silence, at the insistence of the faithful he was ordained bishop of Anastasiopolis (100 kilometers west of Ankara, now Beypazar).
Later, however, he renounced the high rank and returned to the monastery to live in constant prayer.
It is clear from his life that he met prominent representatives of secular and ecclesiastical power, even emperors and patriarchs during their travels through Sikea or in Constantinople. He died on April 22, 613.
Saint Januarius has been the patron saint of the city of Naples for many centuries.
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Source: BTA/Prof. Ivan Zhelev
