St. Theodosius - January 11th
St. Theodosius was born in Asia Minor. Greatly impressed by the examples of the Patriarch Abraham, of whom he read in the Bible, he decided to imitate him. So he left his family and friends and traveled to Jerusalem to visit all the holy places. While there, he decided to submit himself to a holy hermit named Longinus, so as to serve God by obeying him. Longinus was so pleased with Theodosius’ virtues that he entrusted him with the care of a church of Our Lady. Theodosius obeyed promptly, but he grew disturbed by the great admiration the people had for him. He then retired to a mountain and fasted and prayed for years.
Many men were attracted by his holiness and he eventually built a monastery near Bethlehem.
Seeing how good and devout he was, the Patriarch of Jerusalem made Theodosius Superior General of all the religious men living in Palestine. St. Theodosius delighted in helping the poor. He and his monks set more than a hundred tables some days to serve hungry beggars. Even when food was very scarce, and the monks themselves did not have enough, he would not turn the poor people away. Even though he was very active, the Saint kept himself close to God by reading spiritual books often. He lived to be a hundred and five years old.
Let us imitate St. Theodosius’ humility by never bragging about ourselves and what we have done.
