The
veneration of St Theodore is attested by the late 4th century, when
Gregory of Nyssa preached an
encomium or
homily in the winter of 381. a mosaic created of him at Rome's
Church of SS Cosmas & Damian , and
San Teodoro al Palatino, a separate circular church in his honor at the foot of the
Palatine, was consecrated in the 6th or 7th century. The initial center of veneration was in the district around Amasea. From at least the 9th century (and possibly much earlier), Euchaita housed the
relics of the saint and became an important place of pilgrimage, to the point it was also known as Theodoropolis. In a tradition recorded in the 10th or 11th century, a woman from Euchaita named Eusebia had transferred the saint's relics according to his wishes. The same tradition also associates Theodore with the
dragon slayer motif. In the late 11th century, the Amasea province was gradually overwhelmed by the
Turkish invasion and Euchaita became depopulated. St Theodore became especially important in the
Eastern Orthodox Church, where his cult spread widely. Gregory of Nyssa said nothing about St Theodore's life beyond the basic legend as given above, but he told how he could influence the lives of his hearers and specifically mentioned that he could intervene in battles. This became a particularly important attribute of St Theodore. Theodore was one of the important military saints of Byzantium and eventually had 15 churches in his honor in Constantinople. He was also widely venerated in Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine and there are churches dedicated to him in
Jerusalem and
Damascus. The oldest Georgian
Bir el Qutt inscriptions mention him twice. After the period of
iconoclasm, from the 9th century, he was depicted as a soldier in military dress. A tradition origating in
Cappadocia from the 9th or 10th century depicted him as dragon-slayer alongside Saints Demetrius and George. He was adopted as a military saint by the
crusaders. In Western Europe, Theodore was the
patron saint of
Venice during its period under Byzantine hegemony and the
doge's chapel was dedicated to him until the 9th century, when Venice largely replaced him with
St Mark as a sign of its growing independence. His cult spread during the
Crusades. His body was said to have been transferred to
Brindisi in the 12th century, after which he was honored as that city's patron.
Gaeta claimed to have taken his head.
Chartres Cathedral in
France has a 13th-century
stained glass window with 38 panels depicting Theodore's life, but his cult did not become common beyond Italy.
San Teodoro in Rome was made a collegiate church by
Pope Felix IV and was made available to the Orthodox by
Pope John Paul II in 2000, with services beginning in 2004.
Iconography In mosaics and icons, he is most often shown in military dress from the 6th century, but sometimes in civilian or court dress. When on horseback, he is always in military dress, possibly spearing a dragon, and often accompanied by St George. Both he and St Theodore Stratelates are shown with thick black hair and pointed beards, usually one point for Theodore Tiron and two points for Stratelates. His encounter with a dragon was increasingly transferred to the more-widely venerated
Saint George beginning in the 13th century. However, Demus later noted that none of the 12th-century mosaics which show St Theodore mentions more than his name and that he may have become the patron of the city before the two saints were distinguished. In fact the Venetians never appear to have made any distinction between the different St Theodores. None of the mosaics in Venice's
St Mark's Basilica show him in military dress. There were 15 churches in Constantinople dedicated to St Theodore, who was a Greek saint, specially venerated by the Eastern church. Venice had originally been a subject city of the
Eastern Roman Empire, and the Venetians saw St Theodore as a symbol of their subjection to Constantinople. The adoption of St Mark as their patron helped to establish their independence. The new church of St Mark was built between the old chapel of St Theodore and the
Ducal Palace. When this was enlarged and rebuilt in the late 11th century, the chapel of St Theodore disappeared in the rebuilding. There is today a small chapel dedicated to St Theodore, behind St Mark's church, but this was not built until 1486. (It was later occupied by the Inquisition in Venice). The two Byzantine columns in the Piazzetta in Venice were set up soon after 1172. The eastern column bears a strange animal representing the winged lion of St Mark. A statue representing St Theodore was placed on the western column in 1372, but this was not the statue now to be seen there, which is a composite of several fragments, some antique, including a
crocodile to represent a dragon, and was placed there in the second half of the 15th century. The statue on the pillar is now a copy of the original, which is kept elsewhere for its preservation. Reputed relics of St Theodore were taken from
Mesembria by a Venetian admiral in 1257 and, after being first placed in a Venetian church in Constantinople, were brought to Venice in 1267. They were placed in the church of San Salvatore. ==Gallery==