The life of our reverend father, Theodore the Sacred, a disciple of Pachomiyev

The memory of May 16 was already known everywhere when Theodore the Holy was still a boy. He received information about Pachomiya while living in one of the monasteries and with youthful zeal striving for the highest perfection. Theodore was the son of rich and noble parents [He was born around 316].

One day, on the feast of the Annunciation, his parents prepared a fine meal, set out a variety of wines, and spread carpets in all the rooms.

And the boy went away to a secluded place, and fell on his knees, and prayed with tears, saying, I desire not this corruptible food, but the good things which thou hast appointed for the faithful.

He repeated these words for a long time with tears. Meanwhile, his mother was looking for him all over the house. They were waiting for Feodor at the table and no one had begun to eat. When she found him and noticed his tears on his face, her mother said to him with tender love: "You cried, my son! Where were you? We were looking for you". Feodor replied that nothing had happened to him. His mother called him to lunch, adding that if he did not eat, no one would sit at the table.

Feodor decidedly refused to eat the food of the feast. He lived for some time in his parents' house, fasting, praying and weeping. From these tears young Feodor's eyes even became sick. He continued to go to school during this time.

And it was the custom of the monastery, that every evening, after the meal, they should meet together for a spiritual conversation, and that they should speak of what they had to learn from the Scriptures, or what they had to hear, if it were to be of any use to the common instruction; and that these conversations should give abundant food to the soul, and keep away idle talk and evil thoughts.

During one of these conversations, a monk who had recently visited the Pahomian monastery recalled the explanation of a passage from the Holy Scriptures he had heard from Pahomius, who told him with delight about the arrangements of the Tavennisian dormitory, about the love with which he was received there, and above all about Pahomius himself.

And after this speech of his, Theodore was filled with the desire to see the great abbot, and he was left alone, and prayed with great fervor.

O God, Lord, Creator of all things, if Thou wilt hear me and grant me what I ask of Thee, if Thou wilt make me to see Thy servant Pachomius, I will serve Thee all the days of my life, and will not turn from Thee until the day of my death. Thy will be done, but make me worthy to see Thy servant.

Then he went to the cell of his brother, who was in Tavennisi, and asked him to tell him more about the life of Pahomi, about the rules he had given to the nuns. The brother told him in detail what he knew about Pahomi, his life and rules.

Feodor hoped to know God and His holy will better through Pachomius. At that time Feodor fell ill. His parents brought him food. Feodor refused to eat it. But his illness worsened.

Four months passed, and Feodor did not stop his prayers for a meeting with Pahomius. At this time, the monastery where Feodor lived was visited by the abbot Pechosh (or Pecucius), the monk of Pahomius' monastery.

And when he came to the house of Feodor, he saw that he was a man of great strength, and that he was a man of prayer, and he asked him to help him; but Feodor would not take him with him, for fear of the wrath of his parents, for Feodor was firm in his purpose.

When the abbot and some monks boarded the boat to go to the monastery of Pachomius, Feodor followed them on foot. He was still unnoticed, walking along the Nile bank not far from the boat. Finally some monks noticed him. They pointed to him, remembering that he had asked the abbot to take him with them in the boat.

When Theodore saw the walls of the monastery, he thanked the Lord for the fulfillment of his desire and kissed the walls with joy. When he saw Pachomius himself, he greeted the great old man with tears of joy. Pachomius pointed him to the Lord, who will fulfill all the desires of his pious heart, because he left the world for the Lord.

Feodor remained in Tavennis, ready to obey all the rules of monastic life and to obey the will of his leaders. He was only fourteen years old.

When Theodore settled in Tavennisi, he showed great zeal for pleasing God, and he was happy that the teachings and private conversations of Pachomius showed him the right way to achieve the perfection of the monk, and the whole system of life in the dormitory did not weaken his zeal.

And when he had spoken with his brethren, he said, If a man had true knowledge, he would not have sinned against God, nor against his neighbour.

He prayed to God to give him the right knowledge, humbly acknowledging his inferiority, his inability to know the truth. He prayed, "Lord, to whom I have taken refuge, grant me the right knowledge as You have promised to those who love You, so that I may do whatever pleases You.

And when he saw him, he wept, and said unto him, Be thou earnest in seeking after knowledge; and when the moon shone bright, he called unto him, and said unto him, Be thou earnest in seeking after knowledge: and when the moon shone brightly, he said unto him, Be thou earnest in seeking after knowledge.

And fear Allah, and glorify Him with tears, and when they had finished their conversation, they said: O my people!

For Feodor, an extremely receptive young man, burning with holy jealousy for pleasing God, every word of St. Pachomius meant a great deal: not only did his devout feelings and aspirations grow, but his spiritual wisdom also grew.

By his conversations, especially his close association with Feodor, whether deliberately or unintentionally, Pahoomius prepared Feodor for future service to the monks as their guide in spiritual life.

One day Theodoros met a brother with a rug on his shoulders, who was returning from a monastic service. Theodoros asked him where he was coming from. Pachomius heard the question. He called Theodoros to himself and said to him: "Fodor, look, be master of your heart at every moment. Do not ask your brother where you are coming from. This may become a habit. What need is there to say this? For this word serves neither for comfort nor for salvation".

Feodor often recalled this instruction of his teacher, attaching great importance to it: he knew that faithfulness in small things leads to faithfulness in great things and is required by the commandment of the Savior.

He said, "O my people, if you are a disbeliever, you should not tell anyone about your illness, except in cases where it is not concealed from others.

And when he had heard the word of the LORD, he said unto him, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of Israel; behold, I am the LORD, the God of Israel. And he said unto him, Behold, I am the LORD.

And none of the monks killed himself as Feodorus, who kept his deeds secret from the people. He ate only late in the evening, and sometimes he fasted for two days on Wednesday, eating only until the end of the second day.

But if the brothers ate figs, he ate them with the monks, even taking with him quite a lot, but then he ate no more than two.

But the young monk was quite alien to his affection for his fleshly relatives: they were almost non-existent for Feodor, they could not distract him from his love for Feodor and the monks.

It was the tenth year since his arrival in Tavennis, when his mother, longing to see her son, came with a letter from the bishop of the province of Esna, who asked Pachomius to allow her to see her son.

"I ask you one thing. Tell me, if I go to my mother, will I not be guilty before the Lord, because I did not obey the commandments written in the Gospel, as our Lord said, 'Whoever loves father or mother more than me' (Matthew 10:37).

Pachomius said that he did not want to force him to break the Gospel commandment to renounce kinship for the sake of pleasing God, but he invited him to go on a date with his mother because he knew of her tears and feared that Theodore himself would be saddened by his mother's grief.

And when he heard that his disciple had fulfilled the commandment of God, he said, The bishop also will be glad, for it is the bishops who teach the gospel. And some of the brothers, desiring to comfort the mother of Theodore, devised a common work for the monks outside the monastery.

When Theodore returned to the monastery, he was informed of his brother's words, but the jealous monk was not pleased that his brother wanted to be a monk as if for his own sake, so he did not want to see his brother.

But Pahomius persuaded him not to refuse his brother to go. After greeting each other, Theodorus said to his brother, "If you have come here for me, go back to where you came from; if you have come for God, why did you not agree to become a monk before I came to you?" With these words, Theodorus immediately left his brother. But Pafnutius went after him and, catching up with him, said to him with tears:

"How many days have I waited for your coming, and you come to speak to me with such cruelty?" Theodorus replied, "If you have come for my sake to become a monk now, you could have left the monastic life if I had left it. But if you do so out of fear of God, whether I endure this life or not, you will remain in the monastery forever.

And when he saw him in his cell, he was greatly troubled, and said to him, Stay here; but I will not live here any more, lest we be like the people who are related by flesh; but let me live near thee, as all the brethren, for there is no distinction in this house; we are all servants of God, and children of our father.

And the words of Theodore grieved his brother exceedingly, and Paphnutius went at once to St. Pachomius, and wept, and besought him to let him go home, because he could not bear the unbrotherly manner of Theodore.

"Why did you speak so harshly to him? Do you not know that he is a young plant? Do you not think that everyone who comes to become a monk will already be afraid of the Holy Spirit? For some people come to save their souls, and others come with other motives.

Finally, Pahoemius asked Feodor to be his brother's guide in monastic life until he himself had acquired a true understanding of the duties of a monk.

Feodorus, who was under the direct guidance of St. Pahoemius, and with tireless zeal in carrying out all his instructions, soon became an example for all monks to imitate.

But the holy Feodorus found a way to comfort him. "You are not alone", said Feodorus, "I too am grieved at his heart, for he has often rebuked me. Let us stay together to comfort one another until we see whether he will cease to rebuking us, or else we will go to another place". These words comforted the soul of Enoch. Meanwhile, Feodorus told everything to Pachomius secretly from the others. After a month Feodorus invited this brother to Pachomius.

Both of them were relieved: the nun, who had been saddened by Pahoemia, was glad that the abbot had changed his attitude towards him, and Feodor was glad of his reassurance and thanked God for sending him the opportunity to serve as a means of salvation for the grieving monk.

A young monk wanted to go to see his parents, but because he was afraid that he would not return to the monastery, the wise abbot did not let him go alone, but gave him Feodorus as a companion.

The parents of the young monk met the son and his companion with love. In a special room they gave them food permitted by the monastic customs. The young nun asked Feodor to eat too. He at first refused.

But in fulfilling the last commandment of Pachomius, Feodor remembered well the first one, which was very important. The abbot once told him that he himself during his monastic life did not allow any of the laity to see how he ate.

This caused Feodor to repent for a long time, and he prayed to God to forgive him the sin he had committed in order not to allow the young monk to remain in the world at all.

Feodor, thinking that it would not be good for the young monk to eat much porridge, because it strengthens the body, rebuked him gently. Then Feodor began to think about whether he had done well; perhaps the monk himself would have corrected himself.

When he heard of the abstinence of this monk, Theodore himself did not eat porridge until his death, lest he be guilty before God of violating the rule he had imposed on another.

It was not easy for St. Pachomius to manage a large brotherhood spread over nine monasteries, and he needed an assistant. Feodor the Holy, the best of the great elder's disciples, could also be the best assistant in the work of serving the monks.

Feodor the Holy was distinguished not only by his virtuous life, but also by his special gift of speech and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. St. Pachomius once instructed him to give a sermon to the brothers on Sunday. Feodor takes the place of Pachomius without any pride and pronounces the sermon, considering the will of the elder as a law for himself. Pachomius himself listened attentively to the lively speech of his disciple, taking his place among all the monks.

But some of the monks did not like that Theodoros, the young monk, was teaching them instead of Pachomius, and they became very jealous, and even left the assembly.

And when they were come to the house of the LORD, and had heard the words of the LORD, they said, Behold, the LORD is with us, and he will deliver us from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of the Philistines.

The great elder himself settled in another monastery in Pevow, hoping that Feodor would govern in his spirit, and that his wise conversations and examples would be of great benefit to the monks.

The spiritual height reached by Feodor at this time is evident from the testimony of the experienced and zealous abbot Cornelius, one of the first disciples of the Pahomievs.

After becoming the chief of Tavennis, St. Theodore often went to Pevow to ask advice from the abbot Pahoemius or to listen to his general teachings. Returning to his monks, he passed on to them what he had heard from Pahoemius.

For his part, he found the work of teaching to be necessary, taking great delight in assimilating and imparting God's word.

And he went to Tavennisi, and talked with all men, and with some alone, concerning the salvation of the soul; and his wisdom, and his virtue, and especially his humility before all, even before the youngest of the brethren, were a source of instruction to all; but Feodor especially cherished these visits, and took the lessons of the life or words of the great elder into his heart.

When Theodoros did not strictly observe all the rules set by Pachomius, Pachomius pointed out to him that it was necessary to demand of the monks complete obedience, obedience even in small matters, because the violation of the smallest rule disturbs the order of monastic life and leads to the development of a spirit of disobedience in the monks.

When the two nuns allowed themselves to talk while working in the bakery, and Feodor did not pay attention to this, Pachomius strictly and insistently told him that he should observe the rules of external behavior.

When Theodore, becoming more and more perfect, finally reached a high degree of purity of heart and spiritual wisdom, monk Pachomius summoned him from Tavennisi to himself in Pevow, wishing that Theodore would share with him the labors of managing all the monasteries.

And he sent him instead of himself to observe the spiritual state of the brethren, to heal their spirit. And he had the right in all the monasteries to command the reception of the monks, and to banish from the monastery those who, being incorrigible, by their conduct caused temptation in the brotherhood.

The love that Theodore had, according to an ancient biographer, not only for each monk, but also for every person, gave him the opportunity to penetrate the spiritual needs of his brothers and help them with wise and warm words.

Pachomius, for his part, was an experienced advisor and a stern rebuker: he wished that Theodore would not stop at the level of moral purity and spiritual wisdom he had so quickly attained, but that he would improve more and more, so that he would become wholly pure in spirit and could not lose this purity.

The monk often addressed the monks with speeches in which he denounced the faults common to many, or the faults of individual persons, without naming the culprits.

After the death of St. Pachomius and of his successor, the abbot Petronius, who lived not long after Pachomius, St. Feodorus was a wise guide to the salvation of all the Tavennician monasteries, partly by helping the abbot Orsicius in their management, partly by managing the monasteries instead of him, though in full union with him, as if as his co-ruler.

He died twenty years after the death of St. Pachomius. He was known as a zealous defender of the Orthodox teaching about the Face of the Son of God and a zealous rebuker of the Arian heresy.

In the rank of deacon, he took an active part in the sessions of the 1st Ecumenical Council (at Nicaea, in 325), which condemned the Arian heresy.] The Innocents with their Avon Orsicius at their head mourned him for a long time.

A desert dweller, and in the flesh an angel, and a miracle-worker, appeared to this god-bearer, our father Theodorus: by fasting, watchfulness, and prayer receive the heavenly gifts, healing the sick, and the souls of those who come by faith.

In the house of God, like a phoenix, he flourished, and the fruit of the Lord's goodness brought honor to the noble, the reverend father.