medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Theodosius the Coenobiarch (the spelling used in much recent scholarship, for essentially the same reason that causes one to write "Marcian the Oeconomus" rather than "Marcian the Economus") is also known as Theodosius the Abbot, an early designation rendered impractical for purposes of differentiation by the existence of such other abbot-saints as Theodosius of Cilicia, Theodosius of Tryglia, and Theodosius of the Caves. Celebrated liturgically during the Middle Ages chiefly in eastern-rite churches, Theodosius is absent from the major martyrologies and legendaries of the medieval Latin church. Instances of his veneration there seem to be outliers: _Theodosius abbas_ was one of the representatives of eastern monasticism present at the altar of the eastern crypt of abbot St. Eigil's early ninth-century church of the Savior at Fulda (the altar of the western crypt was protected by St. Benedict of Nursia) and, only slightly later, his feast (_Nat. s. Theodosii monachi_) occurs under today's date in the earlier ninth-century Marble Calendar of Naples, whose admixture of "eastern" and "western" saints testifies to the politically autonomous duchy's continued participation to some degree in the greater Byzantine cultural area. Can anyone adduce further examples?
Herewith some medieval images of Theodosius the Coenobiarch:
a) Theodosius as depicted (lower register; above, St. Chariton the Confessor) on an eighth- or ninth-century triptych wing at the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai:
http://campus.belmont.edu/honors/SinaiIcons/8thSinaiSSCharitonTheodosios.jpg
b) Theodosius as depicted in the earlier eleventh-century Imperial Menologion for January in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (ms. W. 521, fol. 70v):
http://tinyurl.com/na3qopn
c) Theodosius as depicted in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://www.eikonografos.com/album/albums/uploads/nea_moni/65.jpg
d) Theodosius (at left) as depicted in the fire-damaged eleventh-century frescoes of the narthex of Thessaloniki's cathedral of Agia Sophia:
http://tinyurl.com/n8adfyw
e) Theodosius (at center betw. Sts. Daniel of Skete and John Climacus) as depicted in a late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century fresco in the Palaia Enkleistra ("Old Hermitage") in the St. Neophytus monastery at Tala (Paphos prefecture) in the Republic of Cyprus (for a clearer view, click on the image):
http://tinyurl.com/oc7z6md
f) Theodosius (misidentified at the ICA as Theodore) as depicted in the frescoes of ca. 1200 in the church of the Panagia (a.k.a. Episkopi church) in Stavri (Lakonia prefecture) on Greece's Mani peninsula:
http://tinyurl.com/2bq5cfg
g) Theodosius as depicted in a thirteenth-century January menaion seemingly from Cyprus (Paris, BnF, ms. Grec 1561, fol. 55v):
http://tinyurl.com/yexcftv
h) Theodosius as depicted (at left; at right, St. Nicholas of Myra) in the late thirteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1295) by the painters Eutychios and Michael Atrapas in the church of the Peribleptos (now Sv. Kliment Ohridski) in Ohrid:
http://tinyurl.com/7lafp4u
A distance view of Theodosius alone (again misidentified at the ICA as Theodore), with a perhaps clearer view of the remains of his identifying inscription:
http://tinyurl.com/24pq8uo
i) Theodosius (at left; at right, St. Ephraem the Syrian) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the chapel of St. Nicholas in the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/873xx77
j) Theodosius as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1314 and ca. 1320) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. Nicetas the Goth (Sv. Nikita) at Čučer in today's Čučer-Sandevo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/3l43qf3
In a different light (misidentified at the ICA as Theodore):
http://tinyurl.com/3dxldbe
k) Theodosius as depicted (at upper right) in an earlier fourteenth-century set of miniatures from Thessaloniki (betw. 1322 and 1340) for the Great Feasts (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Gr. th. f. 1, fol. 24v):
http://image.ox.ac.uk/images/bodleian/msgrthf1/24v.jpg
l) Theodosius as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/y8qpbjx
m) Theodosius the Coenobiarch (at left; at right, St. Euthymius the Great) as depicted in a fourteenth-century fresco in the church of Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis at Kakopetria (Nikosia prefecture) in the Republic of Cyprus:
http://tinyurl.com/cwpwx44
Detail view (Theodosius):
http://ica.princeton.edu/images/tomekovic/st.00444.jpg
n) Theodosius (at left; at right, St. Sabas of Jerusalem) as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (1389; restored in the early 1970s) in the church of St. George at Matka (Skopje dist.) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/3pub5o5
o) Theodosius as depicted in the earlier fifteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1407 and 1413) in the church of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Kalenić monastery in Belgrade's constituent municipality of Vračar:
http://www.monumentaserbica.com/mushushu/images/121.jpg
p) Theodosius as depicted (at left; at right, St. Anthony of Egypt) in the sixteenth-century frescoes (1502) by Dionisy and sons in the Virgin Nativity cathedral of the St. Ferapont Belozero (Ferapontov Belozersky) monastery at Ferapontovo in Russia's Vologda oblast:
http://www.dionisy.com/eng/museum/123/137/index.shtml
q) Theodosius (at left; at right, St. Theophanes Graptos) as depicted by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (Theophanes the Cretan) in an earlier sixteenth-century fresco (1527) in the katholikon of the monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas in the Meteora district of Greece's Trikala prefecture:
http://www.eikastikon.gr/xristianika/kris/toixografies/16.jpg
r) Theodosius (at right, after Sts. Theophanes of Megas Agros [T. the Confessor] and John of Damascus) as depicted in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (1545-1546) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the katholikon of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/75q7jjh
s) Theodosius (lower register at far right, after Sts. Anthony of Egypt, Euthymius the Great, and Sabas of Jerusalem) as depicted in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (1545-1546) by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the refectory of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/ov9mrz3
Detail view (Theodosius):
http://tinyurl.com/n7vc83z
Best,
John Dillon
On 01/11/15, Matt Heintzelman wrote:
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> Theodosius formed a small community of monks near Bethlehem, which later became the Monastery of St. Theodosius. The community grew rapidly, with monks of several cultures and languages, and became very well known for its work with the sick, elderly, and mentally impaired. When Theodosius' friend and countryman Sabbas was appointed archimandrite of all the isolated monks in Palestine by Patriarch Salustius of Jerusalem, Theodosius was made the leader of all those monks who lived in community. This is the origin of his being called "the Cenobiarch", which translates as chief of those living a life in common. (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_the_Cenobiarch(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_the_Cenobiarch))
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