Théodore
le Studite (mosaïque du XIe siècle du monastère Nea Moni de Chios).
St
Theodore the Studite. 11th-century mosaic from Nea Moni monastery
in Chios.
Teodoro
Studita, mosaico dell'XI secolo, Monastero di Nea Moni, Chio.
Teodoro el Estudita. Mosaico del siglo XI del Monasterio de Néa Moní, Quíos
Saint Théodore le Studite
Higoumène du monastère du
Stoudion (+ 826)
Né dans une noble et très chrétienne famille de Constantinople. Il entre dans un monastère dirigé par l'un de ses oncles, mais les moines sont exilés parce qu'ils réprouvent la conduite de l'empereur qui répudie sa femme et en épouse religieusement une autre. Lorsque les raids arabes chassent les moines byzantins de leurs monastères d'Asie Mineure, saint Théodore revient à Constantinople où ses difficultés se sont aplanies. Il est placé à la tête du monastère du 'Stoudios' à qui il fait retrouver la pureté du monachisme primitif. Le règlement du Stoudios servira d'ailleurs de règle à un grand nombre de monastères orientaux. Chaque jour, il adresse à ses frères des catéchèses célèbres. Mais la tempête revient. L'empereur Léon V met hors la loi les saintes images. Théodore résiste et il passera le reste de sa vie dans un exil douloureux. "O philanthropie indicible du Christ, dit-il. Du non-être, il nous a amenés à l'être."
Le 27 mai 2009, Benoît XVI a tracé durant l'audience générale un portrait de saint Théodore Le Studite. Né en 759 dans une famille riche et religieuse, il se fit moine à 22 ans. Son opposition au mariage adultère de l'empereur Constantin VI, le fit exiler à Salonique en 796. Il peut retrouver son monastère de Sakkudion grâce à l'impératrice Irène qui le fit venir à celui de Studios, loin des incursions sarrasines. Il guida ensuite la résistance contre l'iconoclaste Léon V, ce qui lui valut de nouveaux exils à travers l'Asie Mineure. Finalement de retour à Constantinople, il mourut en 826.
Le Pape a d'abord rappelé que Théodore "s'est distingué dans l'histoire de l’Église comme grand réformateur de la vie monastique, puis comme défenseur des icônes avec le Patriarche Nicéphore au cours de la seconde crise iconoclaste... Il insista sur la valeur du monachisme et la nécessaire obéissance des moines...pour que le monastère soit une communauté fonctionnelle, une véritable famille, un corps du Christ comme il disait... Une de ses convictions profondes était que le moine doit observer les devoirs chrétiens avec rigueur et intensité afin d'offrir un exemple aux autres. Pour cela il doit prononcer ses vœux particuliers...comme un second baptême". Puis il a souligné l'importance pour saint Théodore de la pauvreté, de la chasteté et de l'obéissance, qui distinguent les moines des laïcs". La pauvreté personnelle "constitue un élément essentiel du monachisme, qui peut indiquer aussi un cheminement pour les autres fidèles. Les moines vivent radicalement la renonciation à la propriété et aux biens matériels, la sobriété et la simplicité dans un esprit d'égalité. Sans dépendre des choses matérielles, il faut apprendre à renoncer et à être sobre pour qu'une société solidaire puisse surmonter enfin la grave question de la misère du monde... Ces renonciations, Théodore Le Studite les appelaient "un martyre de la soumission". D'ailleurs, le tissu social ne peut tenir qu'en appliquant pour le bien commun ces limites aux règles générales. Ainsi créera-t-on une société libérée de la superbe qui conduit ce monde.
Pour saint Théodore, a ajouté le Pape, "l'humilité était aussi une importante vertu, la Philergia, c'est-à-dire l'amour du travail... Sous prétexte de la prière et de la contemplation, le moine ne doit pas se dispenser de travailler, le travail manuel étant un moyen de rencontrer Dieu... Père spirituel de ses moines, il était toujours prêt à écouter leurs confidences, mais conseillait spirituellement aussi de nombreuses personnes hors de la communauté... La règle du Studite ne fut codifiée qu'après sa mort et adoptée presque complètement au Mont Athos, où elle est toujours en usage, singulièrement d'actualité". Benoît XVI a conclu son exposé en disant qu'il existe de nos jours nombre de "courants qui menacent l'unité de la foi et poussent à un dangereux individualisme spirituel. Il faut donc s'engager dans la défense et dans la croissance de l'unité parfaite de l’Église, dans laquelle paix et ordre peuvent s'articuler harmonieusement avec les rapports personnels dans l'Esprit. L'enseignement du Studite est éclairant en la matière".
(source: VIS 090527)
À Constantinople, en 826, saint Théodore Studite, abbé, qui fit de son
monastère une école de sages, de saints et de martyrs, victime des persécutions
perpétrées par les iconoclastes; trois fois envoyé en exil, il eut en grand
honneur les traditions des pères de l’Église et, pour l’exposé de la foi
catholique, il écrivit les célèbres Institutions de la doctrine chrétienne.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/83/Saint-Theodore-le-Studite.html
St.
Theodore Studite and Stefan the New, north chapel, Gracanica monastery
Frescos in the Gračanica
Monastery
BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Mercredi 27 mai 2009
Saint Théodore le Studite
Chers frères et sœurs!
Le saint que nous
rencontrons aujourd'hui, saint Théodore le Studite, nous conduit en plein Moyen
Age byzantin, à une période assez tourmentée du point de vue religieux et
politique. Saint Théodore naquit en 759 dans une famille noble et pieuse:
sa mère, Théoctiste, et un oncle, Platon, abbé du monastère de Saccoudion en
Bithynie, sont vénérés comme des saints. Ce fut précisément son oncle qui
l'orienta vers la vie monastique, qu'il embrassa à l'âge de 22 ans. Il fut
ordonné prêtre par le patriarche Tarasius, mais rompit ensuite la communion
avec lui en raison de la faiblesse dont celui-ci fit preuve à l'occasion du
mariage adultérin de l'empereur Constantin vi. La conséquence en fut l'exil de
Théodore, en 796, à Thessalonique. La réconciliation avec l'autorité impériale
advint l'année suivante sous l'impératrice Irène, dont la bienveillance
conduisit Théodore et Platon à s'installer dans le monastère urbain de Stoudios,
avec une grande partie de la communauté des moines de Saccoudion, pour
éviter les incursions des sarrasins. C'est ainsi que débuta l'importante
"réforme studite".
Toutefois, l'histoire
personnelle de Théodore continua d'être mouvementée. Avec son énergie
habituelle, il devint le chef de la résistance contre l'iconoclasme de Léon v
l'Arménien, qui s'opposa de nouveau à l'existence d'images et d'icônes dans
l'Eglise. La procession d'icônes organisée par les moines de Stoudios déchaîna
la réaction de la police. Entre 815 et 821, Théodore fut flagellé, incarcéré et
exilé en divers lieu de l'Asie Mineure. En fin de compte, il put rentrer à
Constantinople, mais pas dans son monastère. Il s'installa alors avec ses
moines de l'autre côté du Bosphore. Il mourut, semble-t-il, à Prinkipo, le
11 novembre 826, jour où il est célébré dans le calendrier byzantin. Théodore
se distingua dans l'histoire de l'Eglise comme l'un des grands réformateurs de
la vie monastique et également comme défenseur des images sacrées pendant la
deuxième phase de l'iconoclasme, aux côtés du patriarche de Constantinople,
saint Nicéphore. Théodore avait compris que la question de la vénération des
icônes avait à voir avec la vérité même de l'Incarnation. Dans ses trois
livres Antirretikoi (Réfutations), Théodore établit une comparaison
entre les relations éternelles intratrinitaires, où l'existence de chaque
Personne divine ne détruit pas l'unité, et les relations entre les deux natures
en Christ, qui ne compromettent pas, en lui, l'unique Personne du Logos.
Et il argumente: abolir la vénération de l'icône du Christ signifierait
effacer son œuvre rédemptrice elle-même, du moment que, assumant la nature
humaine, l'invisible Parole éternelle est apparue dans la chair visible humaine
et de cette manière a sanctifié tout le cosmos visible. Les icônes, sanctifiées
par la bénédiction liturgique et par les prières des fidèles, nous unissent
avec la Personne du Christ, avec ses saints et, par leur
intermédiaire, avec le Père céleste et témoignent de l'entrée dans la réalité
divine de notre cosmos visible et matériel.
Théodore et ses moines,
témoins du courage au temps des persécutions iconoclastes, sont liés de façon
inséparable à la réforme de la vie cénobitique dans le monde byzantin. Leur
importance s'impose déjà en vertu d'une circonstance extérieure: le
nombre. Tandis que les monastères de l'époque ne dépassaient pas trente ou
quarante moines, nous apprenons de La vie de Théodore l'existence de
plus d'un millier, au total, de moines studites. Théodore lui-même nous informe
de la présence dans son monastère d'environ trois cents moines; nous voyons
donc l'enthousiasme de la foi qui est né autour de cet homme réellement informé
et formé par la foi elle-même. Toutefois, plus que le nombre, c'est le nouvel
esprit imprimé par le fondateur à la vie cénobitique qui se révéla influent.
Dans ses écrits, il insiste sur l'urgence d'un retour conscient à
l'enseignement des Pères, surtout à saint Basile, premier législateur de la vie
monastique et à saint Dorothée de Gaza, célèbre père spirituel du désert
palestinien. La contribution caractéristique de Théodore consiste à insister
sur la nécessité de l'ordre et de la soumission de la part des moines. Au cours
des persécutions, ceux-ci s'étaient dispersés, s'habituant à vivre chacun selon
son propre jugement. A présent qu'il était possible de reconstituer la vie
commune, il fallait s'engager pleinement pour faire du monastère une véritable
communauté organisée, une véritable famille ou, comme il le dit, un véritable
"Corps du Christ". Dans cette communauté se réalise de façon concrète
la réalité de l'Eglise dans son ensemble.
Une autre conviction de
fond de Théodore est la suivante: les moines, par rapport aux séculiers,
prennent l'engagement d'observer les devoirs chrétiens avec une plus grande
rigueur et intensité. Pour cela, ils prononcent une profession particulière,
qui appartient aux hagiasmata (consécrations), et est presque un
"nouveau baptême", dont la vêture représente le symbole. En revanche,
par rapport aux séculiers, l'engagement à la pauvreté, à la chasteté et à
l'obéissance est caractéristique des moines. S'adressant à ces derniers,
Théodore parle de façon concrète, parfois presque pittoresque, de la pauvreté,
mais celle-ci, dans la suite du Christ, est depuis le début un élément
essentiel du monachisme et indique également un chemin pour nous tous. Le
renoncement à la possession des choses matérielles, l'attitude de liberté
vis-à-vis de celle-ci, ainsi que la sobriété et la simplicité valent de façon
radicale uniquement pour les moines, mais l'esprit de ce renoncement est le
même pour tous. En effet, nous ne devons pas dépendre de la propriété
matérielle, nous devons au contraire apprendre le renoncement, la
simplicité, l'austérité et la sobriété. Ce n'est qu'ainsi que peut croître une
société solidaire et que peut être surmonté le grand problème de la pauvreté de
ce monde. Donc, dans ce sens, le signe radical des moines
pauvres indique en substance également une voie pour nous tous. Lorsqu'il
expose ensuite les tentations contre la chasteté, Théodore ne cache pas ses
expériences et montre le chemin de lutte intérieure pour trouver le contrôle de
soi et ainsi, le respect de son corps et de celui de l'autre comme temple de
Dieu.
Mais les renoncements
principaux sont pour lui ceux exigés par l'obéissance, car chacun des moines a
sa propre façon de vivre et l'insertion dans la grande communauté de trois
cents moines implique réellement une nouvelle forme de vie, qu'il qualifie de
"martyre de la soumission". Ici aussi, les moines donnent uniquement un
exemple de combien celui-ci est nécessaire pour nous-mêmes, car, après le péché
originel, la tendance de l'homme est de faire sa propre volonté, le principe
premier est la vie du monde, tout le reste doit être soumis à sa propre
volonté. Mais de cette façon, si chacun ne suit que lui-même, le tissu social
ne peut fonctionner. Ce n'est qu'en apprenant à s'insérer dans la liberté
commune, à la partager et à s'y soumettre, à apprendre la légalité,
c'est-à-dire la soumission et l'obéissance aux règles du bien commun et de la
vie commune, qu'une société peut être guérie, de même que le moi lui-même,
de l'orgueil d'être au centre du monde. Ainsi, saint Théodore aide ses moines
et en définitive, nous aussi, à travers une délicate introspection, à
comprendre la vraie vie, à résister à la tentation de placer notre volonté
comme règle suprême de vie, et de conserver notre véritable identité
personnelle - qui est toujours une identité avec les autres - et la paix du
cœur.
Pour Théodore le Studite,
une autre vertu, aussi importante que l'obéissance et que l'humilité, est
la philergia, c'est-à-dire l'amour du travail, dans lequel il voit un
critère pour éprouver la qualité de la dévotion personnelle: celui qui
est fervent dans les engagements matériels, qui travaille avec assiduité,
soutient-il, l'est également dans les engagements spirituels. Il n'admet donc
pas que, sous le prétexte de la prière et de la contemplation, le moine se
dispense du travail, également du travail manuel, qui est en réalité, selon lui
et selon toute la tradition monastique, le moyen pour trouver Dieu. Théodore ne
craint pas de parler du travail comme du "sacrifice du moine", de sa
"liturgie", et même d'une sorte de Messe à travers laquelle la vie
monastique devient angélique. C'est précisément ainsi que le monde du travail
doit être humanisé et que l'homme à travers le travail devient davantage
lui-même, plus proche de Dieu. Une conséquence de cette vision singulière
mérite d'être rappelée: précisément parce qu'étant le fruit d'une forme
de "liturgie", les richesses tirées du travail commun ne doivent pas
servir au confort des moines, mais être destinées à l'assistance des pauvres.
Ici, nous pouvons tous saisir la nécessité que le fruit du travail soit un bien
pour tous. Bien évidemment, le travail des "studites" n'était pas
seulement manuel: ils eurent une grande importance dans le développement
religieux et culturel de la civilisation byzantine comme calligraphes,
peintres, poètes, éducateurs des jeunes, maîtres d'école, bibliothécaires.
Bien qu'exerçant une très
vaste activité, Théodore ne se laissait pas distraire de ce qu'il considérait
comme strictement lié à sa fonction de supérieur: être le père spirituel
de ses moines. Il connaissait l'influence décisive qu'avaient eu dans sa vie
aussi bien sa bonne mère que son saint oncle Platon, qu'il qualifiait du titre
significatif de "père". Il exerçait donc à l'égard des moines la
direction spirituelle. Chaque jour, rapporte son biographe, après la prière du
soir, il se plaçait devant l'iconostase pour écouter les confidences de tous.
Il conseillait également spirituellement de nombreuses personnes en dehors du
monastère lui-même. Le Testament spirituel et les Lettres soulignent
son caractère ouvert et affectueux, et montrent que de sa paternité sont nées
de véritables amitiés spirituelles dans le milieu monastique et également en
dehors de celui-ci.
La Règle, connue
sous le nom d'Hypotyposis, codifiée peu après la mort de Théodore, fut adoptée,
avec quelques modifications, sur le Mont Athos, lorsqu'en 962 saint Athanase
Athonite y fonda la Grande Lavra, et dans la Rus' de Kiev, lorsqu'au début
du deuxième millénaire, saint Théodose l'introduisit dans la Lavra des
Grottes. Comprise dans sa signification authentique, la Règle se
révèle singulièrement actuelle. Il existe aujourd'hui de nombreux courants qui
menacent l'unité de la foi commune et qui poussent vers une sorte de dangereux
individualisme spirituel et d'orgueil intellectuel. Il est nécessaire de
s'engager pour défendre et faire croître la parfaite unité du Corps du Christ,
dans laquelle peuvent se composer de manière harmonieuse la paix de l'ordre et
les relations personnelles sincères dans l'Esprit.
Il est peut-être utile de
reprendre, pour conclure, certains des éléments principaux de la doctrine
spirituelle de Théodore. Amour pour le Seigneur incarné et pour sa visibilité
dans la Liturgie et dans les icônes. Fidélité au baptême et engagement à vivre
dans la communion du Corps du Christ, entendue également comme communion des
chrétiens entre eux. Esprit de pauvreté, de sobriété, de renoncement; chasteté,
maîtrise de soi, humilité et obéissance contre le primat de sa propre volonté,
qui détruit le tissu social et la paix des âmes. Amour pour le travail matériel
et spirituel. Amitié spirituelle née de la purification de sa propre
conscience, de son âme, de sa propre vie. Cherchons à suivre ces enseignements
qui nous montrent réellement la voie de la vraie vie.
* * *
Je salue avec joie les
pèlerins francophones, particulièrement les groupes de jeunes de Bitche,
d’Aix-en-Provence et du Luxembourg, ainsi que les pèlerins de l’Archidiocèse de
Clermont-Ferrand. A la suite de saint Théodore le Studite, n’ayez pas peur de
vous laisser guider par l’Esprit Saint « hôte très doux de nos
âmes ». Avec ma Bénédiction apostolique.
© Copyright 2009 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastère
pour la Communication
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/fr/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527.html
Saint Théodore Studite
(759-826): La sagesse de la Croix !
vendredi 13 septembre
2019
Quel don infiniment
précieux que la croix ! Oui, comme sa vue est belle ! La beauté
qu’elle nous présente n’est pas mêlée de mal et de bien, comme jadis l’arbre du
jardin d’Eden. Elle est tout entière admirable et belle à voir et à partager.
En effet, c’est un arbre qui donne la vie et non la mort ; la lumière et
non l’aveuglement. Elle fait entrer dans l’Eden, et n’en fait pas sortir.
Après avoir été mis à mort par le bois, nous avons trouvé la vie par le bois ; après avoir été trompés par le bois, c’est par le bois que nous avons repoussé le serpent trompeur. Quels échanges surprenants ! La vie au lieu de la mort, l’immortalité au lieu de la corruption, la gloire au lieu de la honte ! C’est avec à-propos que l’Apôtre s’est écrié : « je ne veux trouver ma gloire que dans la croix de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ par qui le monde a été crucifié pour moi, et moi pour le monde ! Car cette sagesse au-dessus de toute sagesse, qui a fleuri sur la croix, a rendu stupides les prétentions de la sagesse du monde . »
C’est par la croix que la mort a été tuée, et Adam rendu à la vie.
C’est par la croix que tous les Apôtres ont été glorifiés, tous les martyrs couronnés, tous les saints sanctifiés.
C’est par la croix que nous avons revêtu le Christ et dépouillé l’homme ancien.
C’est par la croix que nous avons été ramenés comme les brebis du Christ, et que nous sommes rassemblés dans la bergerie d’en haut.
S. Théodore le Studite
Saint Théodore Studite
(759-826): Homélie 2 pour la Nativité de Marie, 4, 7 ; PG 96, 683s (trad.
Orval)
« Enfin du grain est
tombé dans la bonne terre »
C’est à Marie, me
semble-t-il, que s’adresse le bienheureux prophète Joël lorsqu’il s’écrie : «Ne
crains pas, toi, la terre, chante et réjouis-toi, parce que le Seigneur a
réalisé en toi de grands desseins» (2,21). Car Marie est une terre: cette terre
sur laquelle l’homme de Dieu Moïse a reçu l’ordre d’enlever sa sandale (Ex
3,5), image de la Loi dont la grâce viendra prendre la place. Elle est encore
cette terre sur laquelle, par l’Esprit Saint, s’est établi celui dont nous
chantons qu’il «établit la terre sur ses bases» (Ps 103,5).
C’est une terre qui, sans
avoir été ensemencée, fait éclore le fruit qui donne à tout être sa nourriture
(Ps 135,25). Une terre sur laquelle n’a point poussé l’épine du péché: bien au
contraire, elle a donné le jour à celui qui l’a arrachée jusqu’à la racine. Une
terre, enfin, non pas maudite comme la première, aux moissons remplies d’épines
et de chardons (Gn 3,18), mais sur laquelle repose la bénédiction du Seigneur,
et qui porte en son sein un «fruit béni» comme dit la parole sacrée (Lc 1,42)…
Réjouis-toi, Marie,
maison du Seigneur, terre que Dieu a foulée de ses pas… Réjouis-toi, paradis
plus heureux que le jardin d’Éden, où a germé toute vertu et a poussé l’arbre
de Vie.
S. Théodore le Studite
Also
known as
Theodore of Stoudios
Theodore of Studion
Theodore of Studium
Theodorus Studita
formerly 12
November
Profile
Monk at
the monastery of
Saccudion, Asia
Minor in 781. Ordained c.787. Abbot of
the Saccudion monastery in 794. Abbot of
the Stoudios monastery outside Constantinople in 799,
which caused him to be the spiritual teacher of many wise and holy men.
His writings include
the first recorded stand against slavery.
Fought iconoclasm.
These opinions and writings put
him in conflict with imperial authorities, which led to him being exiled three
times.
Born
11
November 826 on
the peninsula of Tryphon, near the Akrita promontory in Asia
Minor
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MLA
Citation
‘Saint Theodore the
Studite‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 23 November 2022. Web. 7 May 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-theodore-the-studite/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-theodore-the-studite/
St
Theodosius Kinoviarch and Theodore Studite St John Church Velika Hoča
Црква
св Јована, Велика Хоча, зидно сликарство
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Theodore the
Studite
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Saint we meet today,
St Theodore the Studite, brings us to the middle of the medieval Byzantine
period, in a somewhat turbulent period from the religious and political
perspectives. St Theodore was born in 759 into a devout noble family: his
mother Theoctista and an uncle, Plato, Abbot of the Monastery of Saccudium in
Bithynia, are venerated as saints. Indeed it was his uncle who guided him
towards monastic life, which he embraced at the age of 22. He was ordained a
priest by Patriarch Tarasius, but soon ended his relationship with him because
of the toleration the Patriarch showed in the case of the adulterous marriage
of the Emperor Constantine VI. This led to Theodore's exile in 796 to
Thessalonica. He was reconciled with the imperial authority the following year
under the Empress Irene, whose benevolence induced Theodore and Plato to
transfer to the urban monastery of Studios, together with a large portion of
the community of the monks of Saccudium, in order to avoid the Saracen
incursions. So it was that the important "Studite Reform" began.
Theodore's personal life,
however, continued to be eventful. With his usual energy, he became the leader
of the resistance against the iconoclasm of Leo V, the Armenian who once again
opposed the existence of images and icons in the Church. The procession of
icons organized by the monks of Studios evoked a reaction from the police.
Between 815 and 821, Theodore was scourged, imprisoned and exiled to various
places in Asia Minor. In the end he was able to return to Constantinople but
not to his own monastery. He therefore settled with his monks on the other side
of the Bosporus. He is believed to have died in Prinkipo on 11 November 826,
the day on which he is commemorated in the Byzantine Calendar. Theodore
distinguished himself within Church history as one of the great reformers of
monastic life and as a defender of the veneration of sacred images, beside St
Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople, in the second phase of the iconoclasm.
Theodore had realized that the issue of the veneration of icons was calling
into question the truth of the Incarnation itself. In his three books, the Antirretikoi (Confutations),
Theodore makes a comparison between eternal intra-Trinitarian relations, in
which the existence of each of the divine Persons does not destroy their unity,
and the relations between Christ's two natures, which do not jeopardize in him
the one Person of the Logos. He also argues: abolishing veneration of
the icon of Christ would mean repudiating his redeeming work, given that, in
assuming human nature, the invisible eternal Word appeared in visible
human flesh and in so doing sanctified the entire visible cosmos.
Theodore and his monks,
courageous witnesses in the period of the iconoclastic persecutions, were
inseparably bound to the reform of coenobitic life in the Byzantine world.
Their importance was notable if only for an external circumstance: their
number. Whereas the number of monks in monasteries of that time did not exceed
30 or 40, we know from the Life of Theodore of the existence of more
than 1,000 Studite monks overall. Theodore himself tells us of the presence in
his monastery of about 300 monks; thus we see the enthusiasm of faith that was
born within the context of this man's being truly informed and formed by faith
itself. However, more influential than these numbers was the new spirit the
Founder impressed on coenobitic life. In his writings, he insists on the urgent
need for a conscious return to the teaching of the Fathers, especially to St
Basil, the first legislator of monastic life, and to St Dorotheus of Gaza, a
famous spiritual Father of the Palestinian desert. Theodore's characteristic
contribution consists in insistence on the need for order and submission on the
monks' part. During the persecutions they had scattered and each one had grown
accustomed to living according to his own judgement. Then, as it was possible
to re-establish community life, it was necessary to do the utmost to make the
monastery once again an organic community, a true family, or, as St Theodore
said, a true "Body of Christ". In such a community the reality of the
Church as a whole is realized concretely.
Another of St Theodore's
basic convictions was this: monks, differently from lay people, take on the
commitment to observe the Christian duties with greater strictness and
intensity. For this reason they make a special profession which belongs to
the hagiasmata (consecrations), and it is, as it were, a "new
Baptism", symbolized by their taking the habit. Characteristic of monks in
comparison with lay people, then, is the commitment to poverty, chastity and
obedience. In addressing his monks, Theodore spoke in a practical, at times
picturesque manner about poverty, but poverty in the following of Christ is
from the start an essential element of monasticism and also points out a way
for all of us. The renunciation of private property, this freedom from material
things, as well as moderation and simplicity apply in a radical form only to
monks, but the spirit of this renouncement is equal for all. Indeed, we must
not depend on material possessions but instead must learn renunciation,
simplicity, austerity and moderation. Only in this way can a supportive society
develop and the great problem of poverty in this world be overcome. Therefore,
in this regard the monks' radical poverty is essentially also a path for us
all. Then when he explains the temptations against chastity, Theodore does not
conceal his own experience and indicates the way of inner combat to find self
control and hence respect for one's own body and for the body of the other as a
temple of God.
However, the most
important renunciations in his opinion are those required by obedience, because
each one of the monks has his own way of living, and fitting into the large
community of 300 monks truly involves a new way of life which he describes as
the "martyrdom of submission". Here too the monks' example serves to
show us how necessary this is for us, because, after the original sin, man has
tended to do what he likes. The first principle is for the life of the world,
all the rest must be subjected to it. However, in this way, if each person is
self-centred, the social structure cannot function. Only by learning to fit
into the common freedom, to share and to submit to it, learning legality, that
is, submission and obedience to the rules of the common good and life in
common, can society be healed, as well as the self, of the pride of being
the centre of the world. Thus St Theodore, with fine introspection, helped his
monks and ultimately also helps us to understand true life, to resist the
temptation to set up our own will as the supreme rule of life and to preserve
our true personal identity which is always an identity shared with others and
peace of heart.
For Theodore the Studite
an important virtue on a par with obedience and humility is philergia, that
is, the love of work, in which he sees a criterion by which to judge the
quality of personal devotion: the person who is fervent and works hard in
material concerns, he argues, will be the same in those of the spirit.
Therefore he does not permit the monk to dispense with work, including manual
work, under the pretext of prayer and contemplation; for work to his mind and
in the whole monastic tradition is actually a means of finding God. Theodore is
not afraid to speak of work as the "sacrifice of the monk", as his
"liturgy", even as a sort of Mass through which monastic life becomes
angelic life. And it is precisely in this way that the world of work must be
humanized and man, through work, becomes more himself and closer to God. One
consequence of this unusual vision is worth remembering: precisely because it
is the fruit of a form of "liturgy", the riches obtained from common
work must not serve for the monks' comfort but must be earmarked for assistance
to the poor. Here we can all understand the need for the proceeds of work to be
a good for all. Obviously the "Studites'" work was not only manual:
they had great importance in the religious and cultural development of the
Byzantine civilization as calligraphers, painters, poets, educators of youth,
school teachers and librarians.
Although he exercised
external activities on a truly vast scale, Theodore did not let himself be
distracted from what he considered closely relevant to his role as superior:
being the spiritual father of his monks. He knew what a crucial influence both
his good mother and his holy uncle Plato whom he described with the significant
title "father" had had on his life. Thus he himself provided
spiritual direction for the monks. Every day, his biographer says, after
evening prayer he would place himself in front of the iconostasis to listen to
the confidences of all. He also gave spiritual advice to many people outside the
monastery. The Spiritual Testament and the Letters highlight
his open and affectionate character, and show that true spiritual friendships
were born from his fatherhood both in the monastic context and outside it.
The Rule, known by
the name of Hypotyposis, codified shortly after Theodore's death, was
adopted, with a few modifications, on Mount Athos when in 962 St Athanasius
Anthonite founded the Great Laura there, and in the Kievan Rus', when at the
beginning of the second millennium St Theodosius introduced it into the Laura
of the Grottos. Understood in its genuine meaning, the Rule has
proven to be unusually up to date. Numerous trends today threaten the unity of
the common faith and impel people towards a sort of dangerous spiritual
individualism and spiritual pride. It is necessary to strive to defend and to
increase the perfect unity of the Body of Christ, in which the peace of order
and sincere personal relations in the Spirit can be harmoniously composed.
It may be useful to
return at the end to some of the main elements of Theodore's spiritual
doctrine: love for the Lord incarnate and for his visibility in the Liturgy and
in icons; fidelity to Baptism and the commitment to live in communion with the
Body of Christ, also understood as the communion of Christians with each other;
a spirit of poverty, moderation and renunciation; chastity, self-control,
humility and obedience against the primacy of one's own will that destroys the
social fabric and the peace of souls; love for physical and spiritual work;
spiritual love born from the purification of one's own conscience, one's own
soul, one's own life. Let us seek to comply with these teachings that really do
show us the path of true life.
To special groups
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I warmly greet all the English-speaking pilgrims. In a special way, I welcome
members of the Schola Cantorum of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio,
Texas; seminarians and priests from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit,
Michigan; and members of the Order of Knights of Saint John from Nigeria. God
bless all of you!
* * *
Lastly, I address my
greeting to the young people, the sick and the newly
weds. Yesterday the Church commemorated St Philip Neri who was
distinguished by his cheerfulness and his dedication to the poor and the sick,
and especially to young people. Dear young people, learn from this Saint
to live your life with evangelical simplicity and joy. Dear sick people, may
St Philip Neri help you to make your suffering an offering to the heavenly
Father in union with the Crucified Jesus. And may you, dear newlyweds, supported
by his intercession, build families illuminated by evangelical wisdom.
© Copyright 2009 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastery for
Communication
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527.html
Book of Saints –
Theodore Studita
Article
(Saint) Abbot (November
12) (9th
century) A monk of Constantinople,
and afterwards Abbot of
his monastery.
He was a man of great learning and ability, and rendered important services to
religion by manfully resisting the Iconoclast Emperors of Constantinople and
the heretics they
patronised. Four times in his life Saint Theodore
was banished,
and he ended his days in exile (A.D. 826),
being then over eighty years of age. Several of the controversial works
he wrote are
still extant.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “Theodore
Studita”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
16 November 2016. Web. 7 May 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-theodore-studita/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-theodore-studita/
THEODORE THE STUDITE, ST.
Byzantine monastic
reformer and theologian; b. Constantinople, 759; d. perhaps on the island of
Prinkipo, 826. Theodore's family, particularly his mother, Theoctista, provided
him with an excellent secular and religious education, and he entered the
monastic life under the direction of his maternal uncle, Abbot Plato of
Symbola, at Saccudium near Mt. Olympus in Bithynia. Ordained in 787 or 788,
Theodore succeeded Plato as abbot in 794.
For his vigorous
opposition to the adulterous second marriage of the Emperor Constantine VI and
to the Patriarch Tarasius's toleration of it, Theodore was banished to
Thessalonica in 796; but he was recalled a year later when the Empress irene
deposed her son.
In 799 Theodore and his
community moved to Constantinople and revived the dormant monastery of Studios.
Continued conflict over Constantine's "Moechian Affair" led to
Theodore's banishment again in 809 by the Emperor Nicephorus I. After this
Emperor's death in 811, Theodore returned to his activities in the capital.
A resurgence under Leo V
(813–820) of the controversy over iconoclasm resulted in a third period of
exile for Theodore, a popular and eloquent defender of the veneration
of images. Despite harsh
treatment and virtual imprisonment, he continued to lead opposition to imperial
policies by letters, which included appeals to Pope pas chal i. The Emperor Michael
II was installed after Leo's assassination, but though pursuing a tolerant
policy, he feared renewed agitation and refused to allow Theodore to settle
permanently in Constantinople. Theodore died away from his monastery in
semiexile, but his body was brought to Constantinople with that of his brother
Joseph on the restoration of orthodoxy (Jan. 26, 844).
However impressive his
courageous defense of Christian morality, orthodox doctrine, and ecclesiastical
independence, Theodore's primary contributions were in the area of monastic
regulation. By a prudent delegation of authority and duty, carefully outlined
yet consonant with cenobitic asceticism, Theodore rendered his Studios
community the model of Byzantine monasticism. Many of his regulations and exhortations
were promulgated in two series of catecheses, or spiritual conferences, on the
virtues and demands of communal religious life. The abbot delivered these talks
to his monks.
In addition to the
catecheses there survives a collection of 550 letters including many
controversial tracts, as well as exhortatory and consolation pieces. He
composed liturgical and penitential studies, several works of incisive
anti-iconoclastic polemic (including 80 syllogisms that form a systematic
theology of the veneration of images), spiritual orations, and verse pieces
ranging from hymns to epigrams.
Feast: Nov. 11.
Bibliography: Theodore
the Studite, On the Holy Icons ; trans. C. P. Roth (Crestwood, N.Y.
1981); The Testament, trans. N. P. Constas, (Washington, D.C. 1991); Theodori
Studitae epistulae, recensuit G. Fatouros (Berolini; Novi Eboraci 1992,
c1991). Patrologia Graeca, ed. J. P. Migne (Paris 1857–66) 99;
102:923–926. H. G. Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im
byzantinischen Reich (Munich 1959) 491–495. É. Amann, Dictionnaire
de théologie catholique, ed. A. Vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales
1951–) 15.1:287–298. A. Gardner, Theodore of Studium (London 1905). N. H. Baynes and H. St. L. B. Moss, eds., Byzantium (Oxford 1948) 136–165.
[R. J. Schork]
New Catholic Encyclopedia
Theodore the Studite,
Abbot (RM)
Born at Constantinople in
759; died at Akrita, 826. Saint Theodore was the son of an imperial treasury
official. Theodore became a novice at a monastery established by his father on
his estate at Saccudium (Sakkoudion) near Constantinople, where he was sent to
study by his uncle Abbot Saint Plato of Symboleon.
He was ordained in 787 in
Constantinople, returned to the monastery, and in 794 succeeded his uncle as
abbot of the monastery of Sakkoudion in Bithynia. He and his monks were
banished for a short time in 796 for his refusal to countenance Emperor
Constantine VI's divorce and remarriage to Theodota but they returned when
Constantine's mother, Irene, seized power, dethroned and then blinded her son.
Theodore reopened
Sakkoudion but in 799 he transferred his community to Constantinople to escape
the Saracen raids. There they occupied the monastery founded by the Roman
consul Studius in 463 and he was again named abbot. The Studios Monastery was
famous partly because of its age, but it had been neglected and rundown. Under
Theodore's direction this house developed remarkably from 12 monks to a
thousand.
Theodore's ideals and
regulations have had a far-reaching influence in Byzantine monasticism. He
encouraged learning and the arts, founded a school of calligraphy, and wrote a
rule for the monastery that was adopted in Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia,
and even on Mount Athos. He restored liturgical prayer, community life,
enclosure, poverty, and manual labor among his monks. These reforms and
developments were brought about under great external difficulties.
When he opposed the
emperor's appointment of a layman, Nicephorus, to succeed Tarasius, who had
died in 806 as patriarch of Constantinople, Theodore was imprisoned by the
emperor.
From 809 to 811 Theodore
was in exile on Prince's Island with his uncle Plato and his brother Archbishop
Joseph of Thessalonica on account of further troubles arising out of the late
emperor's adultery. At that time the emperor dispersed the monks of Studios.
Theodore returned to Constantinople on the emperor's death and was reconciled
to Patriarch Nicephorus in a common fight against Emperor Leo V the Armenian,
who revived iconoclasm as an imperial policy. When Nicephorus was banished,
Theodore organized public resistance, and he was again exiled to Mysia in 813.
For seven years he was
confined at various places with extreme rigor, even to being flogged by his
jailers. But he continued by letter to encourage his followers to keep up the
struggle, and he sent an appeal to Pope Paschal I (emphasizing the primacy of
the bishop of Rome), who sent legates to Constantinople; but they achieved
nothing except Theodore's removal to Bonita in Anatolia (now in Turkey). He
endured great hardships for the three years he was imprisoned there and was
then transferred to Smyrna and placed in the custody of an iconoclast bishop
who wanted him beheaded and treated him with great harshness.
After the violent death
of Leo V in 820, Theodore was released, but was again faced with a renewed
iconoclasm under Emperor Michael the Stammerer, and was not allowed to return
permanently to the Studite monastery. Theodore left Constantinople and visited
monasteries in Bithynia, founded a monastery on Akrita for many of his monks
who had followed him, and he died there in semi-exile on November 11. Saint Theodore
stands out as a champion of the Church's religious independence of civil power,
a defender of the legitimacy of sacred images, and a monastic reformer of
genius. He has been called an incomparable agitator: he was certainly
strong-willed and intransigent, even domineering; but there was a less rigid
side to him, which can be seen in some of the more personal of his very
numerous extant letters. There have also survived, as well as polemical
writings, catechetical works, sermons, hymns, and epigrams. Saint Theodore was
also a skilled calligrapher, an art which he fostered among his monks
(Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Gardner).
This anonymous Russian
icon shows Saint Theodore with Saint Theodosius the Great.
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1111.shtml
Saint
Theodore Studite Church at Nikitskie Gate, Moscow
Церковь
преподобного Феодора Студита у Никитских ворот, Москва
St. Theodore of Studium
A zealous champion
of the veneration of images and the
last geat representative of the unity and independence of
the Church in
the East, b. in 759; d. on the Peninsula of Tryphon, near the
promontory Akrita on 11 November, 826. He belonged to a very
distinguished family and
like his two brothers, one of whom, Joseph, became Archbishop of Thessalonica,
was highly educated.
In 781 theodore entered the monastery of Saccudion on
the Asiatic side
of the Bosphorus near Constantinople, where his uncle Plato was abbot.
In 787 or 788 Theodore was ordained priest and
in 794 succeeded his uncle. He insisted upon the exact observance of
the monastic rules. During the Adulterine heresy dispute
(see SAINT
NICEPHORUS), concerning the divorce and remarriage of
the Emperor Constantine VI, he was banished by Constantine VI to Thessalonica,
but returned in triumph after the emperor's overthrow. In 799 he
left Saccudion, which was threatened by the Arabs,
and took charge of the monastery
of the Studium at Constantinople. He gave the Studium an
excellent organization which was taken as a model by the
entire Byzantine monastic world, and still exists on Mount
Athos and in Russian monasticism. He supplemented the
somewhat theoretical rules of St.
Basil by specific regulations concerning
enclosure, poverty, discipline,
study, religious services, fasts,
and manual labour. When the Adulterine heresy dispute
broke out again in 809, he was exiled a second time as the head of the
strictly orthodox church part,
but was recalled in 811. The administration of the iconoclastic Emperor
Leo V brought new and more severe trials. Theodore courageously denied
the emperor's right to interfere in ecclesiastical affairs.
He was consequently treated with great cruelty, exiled, and his monastery filled
with iconoclastic monks. Theodore lived
at Metopa in Bithynia from 814, then at Bonita from 819, and finally at Smyrna.
Even in banishment he was the central point of the opposition
to Cæsaropapism and Iconoclasm. Michael II
(810-9) permitted the exiles to return, but did not annul the laws of
his predecessor. Thus Theodore saw himself compelled to continue the
struggle. He did not return to the Studium,
and died without having attained his ideals. In
the Roman Martyrology his feast is
placed on 12 November; in the Greek martyrologies on
11 November.
Theodore was a man of
practical bent and never wrote any theological works,
except a dogmatic treatise on the veneration of images. Many of
his works are still unprinted or exist in
Old Slavonic and Russian translations. Besides several
polemics against the enemies of images, special mention should be made of the
"Catechesis magna", and the "Catechesis parva" with their
sonorous sermons and orations. His writings on monastic
life are: the iambic verses on the monastic offices,
his will addressed to the monks,
the "Canones", and the "Pænæ monasteriales", the
regulations for the monastery and
for the church services. His hymns and
epigrams show fiery feeling and a high spirit. He is one of the first of
hymn-writers in productiveness, in a peculiarly creative technic, and in
elegance of language. 550 letters testify to his ascetical and
ecclesiastico-political labours.
Sources
Theodorus Studites, Opera
varia, ed. SIRMOND (Paris, 1696); P.G., XCIX; Nova patrum
bibl., V, VIII, IX, X (Rome, 1849, 1871, 1888, 1905); Theodorus
Studites, Parva Catechesis, ed. AUVRAT-TOUGARD (Paris, 1891); Bibl.
hagiogr. Græca (2nd ed., Brussels, 1909), 249; THOMAS, Theodor von
Studien (Osnabrück, 1892); GARDNER, Theodore of Studium (London,
1905).
Löffler, Klemens.
"St. Theodore of Studium." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New
York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 11 Nov. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14574a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron. In memory of Fr. John
Hilkert, Akron, Ohio — Fidelis servus et prudens, quem constituit Dominus super
familiam suam.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2026 by New Advent LLC.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14574a.htm
11th-century
Byzantine miniature representing en:Studion Monastery.
Menologion of Basil II, Vatican
Monasterio
de Studion representado en un manuscrito del siglo XI.
Miniature
byzantine du XIe siècle représentant le monastère du Stoudion. Ménologe de Basile II.
11th-century
Byzantine miniature representing en:Studion Monastery.
Menologion of Basil II, Vatican
Monasterio
de Studion representado en un manuscrito del siglo XI.
Miniature
byzantine du XIe siècle représentant le monastère du Stoudion. Ménologe de Basile II.
ST. PLATO, the holy abbot of Symboleon upon Mount Olympus, in Bithynia, being obliged to come to Constantinople for certain affairs, was received there as an angel sent from heaven, and numberless conversions were the fruit of his example and pious exhortations. He reconciled families that were at variance, promoted all virtue, and corrected vice. Soon after his return to Symboleon, the whole illustrious family of his sister Theoctista resolved to imitate his example, and, renouncing the world, founded the abbey of Saccudion near Constantinople in 781. Among these novices no one was more fervent in every practice of virtue than Theodorus, the son of Theoctista, then in the twenty-second year of his age. St. Plato was with difficulty prevailed upon to resign his abbacy in Bithynia to take upon him the government of this new monastery, in 782. Theodorus made so great progress in virtue and learning that, in 794, his uncle abdicated the government of the house, and, by the unanimous consent of the community, invested him in that dignity, shutting himself up in a narrow cell.
The young emperor Constantine having, in 795, put away Mary, his lawful wife, after seven years’ cohabitation, and taken to his bed Theodota, a near relation of SS. Plato and Theodorus, the saints declared loudly against such scandalous enormities. The emperor desired exceedingly to gain Theodorus, and employed for that purpose his new empress Theodota; but though she used her utmost endeavours, by promises of large sums of money and great presents, and by the consideration of their kindred, her attempts were fruitless. The emperor then went himself to the monastery; but neither the abbot nor any of his monks were there to receive him. The prince returned to his palace in a great rage, and sent two officers with an order to see Theodorus and those monks who were his most resolute adherents severely scourged. The punishment was inflicted on the abbot and ten monks with such cruelty that the blood ran down their bodies in streams; which they suffered with great meekness and patience. After this they were banished to Thessalonica, and a strict order was published, forbidding any one to receive or entertain them, so that even the abbots of that country durst not afford them any relief. St. Plato was confined in the abbey of St. Michael. St. Theodorus wrote him from Thessalonica an account of his sufferings, with the particulars of his journey. 1 He wrote also to Pope Leo III. and received an answer highly commending his wisdom and constancy. The emperor’s mother, Irene, having gained the principal officers, dethroned her son, and ordered his eyes to be put out: which was executed with such violence that he died of the wounds in 797. After this Irene reigned five years alone, and recalled the exiles. St. Theodorus returned to Saccudion, and reassembled his scattered flock; but finding this monastery exposed to the insults of the Mussulmans or Saracens, who made incursions to the gates of Constantinople, took shelter within the walls of the city. The patriarch and the empress pressed him to settle in the famous monastery of Studius, so called from its founder, a patrician and consul, who, coming from Rome to Constantinople, had formerly built that monastery. Constantine Copronymus had expelled the monks; but St. Theodorus restored this famous abbey, and had the comfort to see in it above a thousand monks.
In 802 the empress Irene was deposed by Nicephorus, her chief treasurer, and banished to a monastery in Prince’s Island, and afterwards to the Isle of Lesbos, where she died in close confinement in 803. Nicephorus assumed the imperial diadem on the last day of October, in 802. He was one of the most treacherous and perfidious of men, dissimulation being his chief talent, and it was accompanied with the basest cruelty against all whom he but suspected to be his enemies; of which the chronicles of Theophanes and Nicephorus have preserved most shocking instances. He was a fast friend to the Manichees or Paulicians. who were numerous in Phrygia and Lycaonia, near his own country, and was fond of their oracles and superstitions to a degree of frenzy. He grievously oppressed the Catholic bishops and monasteries, and when remonstrances were made to him by a prudent friend, how odious he had rendered himself to the whole empire by his avarice and impiety, his answer was, “My heart is hardened. Never expect any thing but what you see from Nicephorus.” Setting out in May, in 811, to invade Bulgaria, he desired to gain St. Theodorus, who had boldly reproved him for his impiety. He sent certain magistrates to the holy abbot for this purpose. The saint answered them as if he was speaking to the emperor, and said: “You ought to repent, and not make the evil incurable. Not content to bring yourselves to the brink of the precipice, you drag others headlong after you. He, whose eye beholdeth all things, declareth by my mouth that you shall not return from this expedition.” Nicephorus entered Bulgaria with a superior force, and refused all terms which Crummius, king of the Bulgarians, offered him. The barbarian, being driven to despair, came upon him by surprise, enclosed, attacked, and slew him in his tent on the 25th of July, in 811, when he had reigned eight years and nine months. Many patricians and the flower of the Christian army perished in this action. Great numbers were made prisoners, and many of these were tormented, hanged, beheaded, or shot to death with arrows, rather than consent to renounce their faith, as the Bulgarians, who were then pagans, would have forced them to do. These are honoured by the Greeks as martyrs on the 23rd of July. King Crummius caused a drinking-cup to be made of the emperor’s head, to be used on solemn festivals, according to the custom of the ancient Scythians. Stanricius, the son of Nicephorus, was proclaimed emperor; but he, being wounded in the late battle, took the monastic habit, and died of his wounds in the beginning of the following year. Two months after the death of Nicephorus, Michael Curopolates, surnamed Rangabè, who had married Procopia, the daughter of Nicephorus, was crowned emperor on the 2nd of October. He was magnificent, liberal, pious, and a zealous Catholic. By his endeavours all divisions in the church of Constantinople were made up, and the patriarch St. Nicephorus reconciled with St. Plato and St. Theodorus. Michael commanded the Paulicians to be punished with death; and some were beheaded. But St. Nicephorus put a stop to the further execution of that edict, by persuading him that it was better to leave those heretics room for repentance, though the abominations which they practised were most execrable. An Armenian called Paul, who made his escape from Constantinople into Cappadocia, and there, setting up a school, and pretending to inspiration, continued chief of this sect for thirty years: from him these Manichees were called Paulicians, but, by his sons and others, were soon divided into several sects, all infamous for abominable impurities. 2 St. Plato died in 813, on the 19th of March, and the Emperor Michael having been shamefully defeated by the Bulgarians, resolved to resign the empire. This design he communicated to Leo the Armenian, governor of Natolia, and son of the patrician Bardas, who thereupon was chosen and crowned emperor, on the 11th of July. Michael, with his wife and children, took sanctuary in a church, and all of them embraced the monastic state. Leo defended Constantinople against the barbarians; but having perfidiously attempted to kill their king, under pretence of a conference, that prince, in a rage, took Adrianople, and carried the archbishop Manuel and the rest of the inhabitants captives into Bulgaria, where they converted many to the Christian faith. For their zeal in preaching Christ, the archbishop and three hundred and seventy-six other Christian captives were put to cruel deaths by order of the successor of Crummius. The Greek church honours them as martyrs on the 22nd of January.
During these public commotions, St. Theodorus enjoyed the sweet calm of his retirement, studying every day to advance in the perfection of holy charity, and to die more perfectly to himself. He was versed in the sciences, but was the more solicitous to acquire a settled humility of heart, without which learning serves only to puff up. Humility and purity of heart give light of understanding, purge the affections, and illustrate the mind; for it is impossible, as Cassian remarks, 3 that an unclean mind should obtain the gift of spiritual knowledge, or an unmortified heart that of divine charity. Our saint’s solitude was disturbed by a storm which threatened the Eastern church. The heresy of the Iconoclasts, which Leo the Isaurian had set up in the East in 725, was espoused by Leo the Armenian, who, in December, 814, signified his intention of abolishing holy images to the patriarch St. Nicephorus. The patriarch replied: “We cannot alter the ancient traditions. We venerate images as we do the cross and the book of the gospels, though there is nothing written concerning them,” (for the Iconoclasts agreed to reverence the cross and the gospels.) The holy patriarch was deprived in 815, and Theodotus Cassiterus, an Iconoclast, at that time equerry to the emperor, an illiterate layman, was ordained in his room. As soon as Nicephorus was deposed, the enemies of holy images began to deface, pull down, burn, and profane them all manner of ways. St. Theodorus the Studite, to repair this scandal as much as in him lay, ordered all his monks to take images in their hands, and to carry them solemnly lifted up in the procession on Palm-Sunday, singing a hymn which begins, “We reverence thy most pure image,” and others of the like nature, in honour of Christ. The emperor, upon notice hereof, sent him a prohibition to do the like upon pain of scourging and death. The holy abbot, nevertheless, continued to encourage all to honour holy images, for which the emperor banished him into Mysia, and commanded him to be there closely confined in the castle of Mesope, near Apollonia. He forbore not still to animate the Catholics by letters, of which a great number are extant. His correspondence being discovered, the emperor ordered him to be conveyed to the tower Bonitus, at a greater distance, in Natolia; and afterwards sent Nicetas, his commissary, to see him severely scourged. Nicetas, seeing the cheerfulness with which St. Theodorus put off his tunic, and offered his naked body, wasted with fasting, to the blows, was moved with compassion, and conceived the highest veneration for the servant of God. In order to spare him, as often as the sentence was to be executed, he contrived, under pretence of decency, to send all others out of the dungeon; then, throwing a sheep-skin over Theodorus’s back, he discharged upon it a great number of blows, which were heard by those without; then pricking his arm, to stain the whips with blood, he showed them when he came out, and seemed out of breath with the pains he had taken. By his indulgence, St. Theodorus was able to write several letters in support of the Catholic cause. The most remarkable are those which he sent to all the patriarchs, and to Pope Paschal. To this last he writes: “Give ear, O apostolic prelate, shepherd appointed by God over the flock of Jesus Christ; who have received the keys of the kingdom of heaven; the rock on which the Catholic church is built; for you are Peter, since you fill his see. Come to our assistance.” 4 The pope having vigorously ejected from his communion Theodotus and all the Iconoclasts, St. Theodorus wrote him a letter of thanks, in which he said: “You are from the beginning the pure source of the orthodox faith: you are the secure harbour of the universal church, her shelter against the storms of heretics, and the city of refuge chosen by God for safety.” 5 All the five patriarchs were unanimous in the condemnation of the Iconoclasts, as appears by the letters of St. Theodorus, and other monuments.
Several famous Iconoclasts having been converted by our saint, he and his disciple Nicholas were both hung in the air, and cruelly torn with whips, each receiving a hundred stripes. After this they were shut up in a close and noisome prison, so strictly guarded, that no one could come near them. Here they remained three years, enduring extreme cold in winter, and almost stifled in summer; eaten by all sorts of vermin, and tormented with hunger and thirst: for their guards, who were continually scoffing at them, threw them in at a hole in a window only a little piece of bread every other day. St. Theodorus testifies, that he expected they would be left very soon to perish with hunger; and adds, “God is yet but too merciful to us.” 6 He strenuously maintained the rigorous discipline of canonical penances, which all penitents were to undergo, who, for fear of torments or otherwise, had conformed to the Iconoclasts. 7 One of his letters being at length intercepted, the emperor sent orders to the governor of the East, to cause him to be severely chastised. The governor committed the execution to an officer, who caused Nicholas, the disciple who had written the letter, to be cruelly scourged; then a hundred stripes to be given to Theodorus; and after this, Nicholas to be again scourged, and then to be left lying on the ground, exposed to the cold air, in the month of February. The abbot Theodorus also lay stretched on the ground, out of breath, and was a long time unable to take any rest, or receive almost any nourishment. His disciple, seeing him in this condition, forgetting his own pain, moistened his tongue with a little broth, and, after he had brought him to himself, endeavoured to dress his wounds, from which he was forced to cut away a great deal of mortified and corrupted flesh. Theodorus was in a high fever, and for three months in excessive pain. Before he was recovered, an officer arrived, sent by the emperor to conduct him and Nicholas to Smyrna, in June, 819. They were forced to walk in the day-time, and at night were put in irons.
At Smyrna, the archbishop, who was one of the most furious among the Iconoclasts, kept Theodorus confined in a dark dungeon under ground eighteen months, and caused him to receive a third time a hundred stripes. When the saint set out from thence to be conveyed to Constantinople, the inhuman archbishop said, he would desire the emperor to send an officer to cut off his head, or at least to cut out his tongue. The persecution ended the same year, with the life of him who had raised it. Michael, commander of the confederates, (a body of troops so called), was cast into prison by the emperor for a conspiracy against him, and his execution was only deferred one day, out of respect to the feast of Christmas, at the intercession of the empress. In the meantime the rest of the conspirators slew Leo at matins on Christmas night: his four sons and their mother were banished to the isle of Prote; and Michael was taken out of his dungeon, and, his fetters being knocked off, was crowned emperor. He was a native of Phrygia, and, from an impediment in his speech, is surnamed Michael the Stutterer. He had been educated in a certain heresy, in which was a mixture of Judaism, most of its laws being observed by this sect, except that baptism is substituted for circumcision, as Theophanes informs us. He denied the resurrection, maintained fornication to be lawful, and contemned studies, valuing himself only in the knowledge of mules, horses, and sheep. He at first affected great moderation towards the Catholics, but soon threw off the mask, and became a great persecutor. In the beginning of his reign the exiles were restored, and, among others, St. Theodorus the Studite came out of his dungeon, after full seven years’ imprisonment, from 815 to 821. He wrote a letter of thanks to Michael, exhorting him to be united with Rome, the first of the churches, and by her with the patriarchs, &c. Going towards Constantinople, he was received with the greatest honours, and wrought many miracles on the road. The new emperor refused to suffer any images in the city of Constantinople: on which account St. Theodorus, after making fruitless remonstrances to that prince, left it, and retired into the peninsula of St. Tryphon, and was followed by his disciples. He was taken ill in the beginning of November, yet walked to church on the fourth day, which was Sunday, and celebrated the holy sacrifice. His distemper increasing, he was not able to speak aloud, but he dictated to a secretary his last instructions, and to a great number of bishops and devout persons, who came to visit him in his sickness; and he left his monks an excellent testament, recommending to them fervour in all monastic duties, never to have any property, not so much as of a needle; to leave the care of temporal things to their stewards, exacting from them an account, and reserving to themselves only the care of souls; to admit no delicacy in eating, not even in the entertainment of guests; to keep no money in the monastery, and to give all superfluity to the poor; to walk on foot, and, when necessary to ride in long journeys, to make use only of an ass; not to open the gate of the monastery to any woman, nor ever to speak to any except in presence of two witnesses; to catechise or hold conferences three times a week; to transact no business, spiritual or temporal, without taking the advice of the master, &c. These rules were then observed by the monks in the East, and are more enlarged upon in his greater catechism. When his last hour approached, he desired the usual prayers of the church to be read, received extreme unction, and afterwards the viaticum. After this, the wax tapers were lighted, and his brethren, placing themselves round about him in a circle, began the prayers appointed for dying persons. They were singing the hundred and eighteenth psalm, which the Greeks still sing at funerals, when he expired, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He died in the peninsula of Tryphon, on the coast of Bithynia, near Constantinople, on the 11th of November, and is commemorated by the Latins on the day following. His successor, Naucratius, abbot of Studius, wrote the circumstances of his death in a circular letter. His body was translated to the monastery of Studius, eighteen years after his death. See the letter of Naucratius, and the saint’s authentic anonymous life; also Theophanes in Chronogr., &c.
Note 1. Ep. 3. [back]
Note 2. See Theophan. Contin. [back]
Note 3. Collat. 14, c. 10. [back]
Note 4. S. Theod. Studit. ep. 3. [back]
Note 5. Ep. 15. [back]
Note 6. Ep. 34. [back]
Note 7. Ep. 11. &c. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume XI: November. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/11/222.html
Saint Theodore the Confessor
Saint Theodore the
Confessor, Abbot of the Studion was born in the year 758 at Constantinople into
a family of the imperial tax-collector Photinus and his spouse Theoctiste, both
pious Christians. St Theodore received a good education from the best
rhetoricians, philosophers and theologians in the capital city.
During this time the
Iconoclast heresy had become widespread in the Byzantine Empire, and it was
supported also by the impious emperor Constantine Kopronymos (741-775). The
views of the emperor and his court conflicted with the religious beliefs of
Photinus, who was a fervent adherent of Orthodoxy, and so he left government
service. Later, St Theodore’s parents, by mutual consent, gave away their
substance to the poor, took their leave of each other and accepted monastic
tonsure. Their son Theodore soon became widely known in the capital for his
participation of the numerous disputes concerning icon-veneration.
St Theodore was
accomplished in oratory, and had a command of the terminology and logic of the
philosophers, so he frequently debated with the heretics. His knowledge of Holy
Scripture and Christian dogma was so profound that no one could get the better
of him.
The Seventh Ecumenical
Council put an end to dissension and brought peace to the Church under the
empress Irene. The Ecumenical Council, as the highest authority in the life of
the Church, forever condemned and rejected Iconoclasm.
Among the Fathers of the
Council was St Platon (April 5), an uncle of St Theodore, and who for a long
time had lived the ascetic life on Mount Olympos. An Elder filled with the
grace of the Holy Spirit, St Platon, at the conclusion of the Council, summoned
his nephew Theodore and his brothers Joseph and Euthymius to the monastic life
in the wilderness.
After leaving
Constantinople, they went to Sakkoudion, not far from Olympos. The solitude and
the beauty of the place, and its difficulty of access, met with the approval of
the Elder and his nephews, and they decided to remain here. The brothers built
a church dedicated to St John the Theologian, and gradually the number of monks
began to increase. A monastery was formed, and St Platon was the igumen.
St Theodore’s life was
truly ascetic. He toiled at heavy and dirty work. He strictly kept the fasts,
and each day he confessed to his spiritual Father, the Elder Platon, revealing
to him all his deeds and thoughts, carefully fulfilling all his counsels and
instructions.
Theodore made time for
daily spiritual reflection, baring his soul to God. Untroubled by any earthly
concern, he offered Him mystic worship. St Theodore unfailingly read the Holy
Scripture and works of the holy Fathers, especially the works of St Basil the
Great, which were like food for his soul.
After several years of
monastic life, St Theodore was ordained a priest according to the will of his spiritual
Father. When St Platon went to his rest, the brethren unanimously chose St
Theodore as Igumen of the monastery. Unable to oppose the wish of his
confessor, St Theodore accepted the choice of the brethren, but imposed upon
himself still greater deeds of asceticism. He taught the others by the example
of his own virtuous life and also by fervent fatherly instruction.
When the emperor
transgressed against the Church’s canons, the events of outside life disturbed
the tranquility in the monastic cells. St Theodore bravely distributed a letter
to the other monasteries, in which he declared the emperor Constantine VI
(780-797) excommunicated from the Church by his own actions for abusing the
divine regulations concerning Christian marriage.
St Theodore and ten of
his co-ascetics were sent into exile to the city of Thessalonica. But there
also the accusing voice of the monk continued to speak out. Upon her return to
the throne in 796, St Irene freed St Theodore and made him igumen of the
Studion monastery (dedicated to St John the Baptist) in Constantinople, in
which there were only twelve monks. The saint soon restored and enlarged the
monastery, attracting about 1,000 monks who wished to have him as their
spiritual guide.
St Theodore composed a
Rule of monastic life, called the “Studite Rule” to govern the monastery. St
Theodore also wrote many letters against the Iconoclasts. For his dogmatic
works, and also for his Canons and Three-Ode Canons, St Theoctistus called St Theodore
“a fiery teacher of the Church.”
When Nicephorus seized
the imperial throne, deposing the pious Empress Irene, he also violated Church
regulations by restoring to the Church a previously excommunicated priest on
his own authority. St Theodore again denounced the emperor. After torture, the
monk was sent into exile once again, where he spent more than two years.
St Theodore was freed by
the gentle and pious emperor Michael, who succeeded to the throne upon the
death of Nicephoros and his son Staurikios in a war against barbarians. Their
death had been predicted by St Theodore for a long while. In order to avert
civil war, the emperor Michael abdicated the throne in favor of his military
commander Leo the Armenian.
The new emperor proved to
be an iconoclast. The hierarchs and teachers of the Church attempted to reason
with the impious emperor, but in vain. Leo prohibited the veneration of holy
icons and desecrated them. Grieved by such iniquity, St Theodore and the
brethren made a religious procession around the monastery with icons raised
high, singing of the troparion to the icon of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands
(August 16). The emperor angrily threatened the saint with death, but he
continued to encourage believers in Orthodoxy. Then the emperor sentenced St
Theodore and his disciple Nicholas to exile, at first in Illyria at the
fortress of Metopa, and later in Anatolia at Bonias. But even from prison the
confessor continued his struggle against heresy.
Tormented by the
executioners which the emperor sent to Bonias, deprived almost of food and
drink, covered over with sores and barely alive, Theodore and Nicholas endured
everything with prayer and thanksgiving to God. At Smyrna, where they sent the
martyrs from Bonias, St Theodore healed a military commander from a terrible
illness. The man was a nephew of the emperor and of one mind with him. St
Theodore told him to repent of his wicked deeds of Iconoclasm, and to embrace
Orthodoxy. But the fellow later relapsed into heresy, and then died a horrible
death.
Leo the Armenian was
murdered by his own soldiers, and was replaced by the equally impious though
tolerant emperor Michael II Traulos (the Stammerer). The new emperor freed all
the Orthodox Fathers and confessors from prison, but he prohibited icon-veneration
in the capital.
St Theodore did not want
to return to Constantinople and so decided to settle in Bithynia on the
promontory of Akrita, near the church of the holy Martyr Tryphon. In spite of
serious illness, St Theodore celebrated Divine Liturgy daily and instructed the
brethren. Foreseeing his end, the saint summoned the brethren and bade them to
preserve Orthodoxy, to venerate the holy icons and observe the monastic rule.
Then he ordered the brethren to take candles and sing the Canon for the
Departure of the Soul From the Body. Just before singing the words “I will
never forget Thy statutes, for by them have I lived,” St Theodore fell asleep
in the Lord, in the year 826. At the same hour St Hilarion of Dalmatia (June 6)
saw a vision of a heavenly light during the singing and the voice was heard,
“This is the soul of St Theodore, who suffered even unto blood for the holy
icons, which now departs unto the Lord.”
St Theodore worked many
miracles during his life and after his death. Those invoking his name have been
delivered from fires, and from the attacks of wild beasts, they have received
healing, thanks to God and to St Theodore the Studite. On January 26 we
celebrate the transfer of the relics of Theodore the Studite from Cherson to Constantinople
in the year 845.
Those with stomach
ailments entreat the help of St Theodore.
_-_Theodore_Studites.jpg)
Teodoro
Studita raffigurato in un mosaico del monastero di Ossios Loukas
Theodore Studites, early 11th century Byzantine, Hosios
Loukas Monastery (nave, arch by
north west bay), Boeotia, Greece,
San Teodoro Studita Abate
Costantinopoli, 758 –
Calkite, Bitinia, 11 novembre, 826
San Teodoro Studita fu un
monaco cristiano divenuto famoso per la sua zelante opposizione
all’iconoclastia, per la regola monastica da lui introdotta e per il gran
numero di liturgie da lui composte, in particolare la “Lenten Triodion” che è
ancora oggi molto usata nella Chiesa ortodossa.
Martirologio
Romano: A Costantinopoli, san Teodoro Studita, abate, che fece del suo
monastero una scuola di sapienti, di santi e di martiri vittime delle
persecuzioni degli iconoclasti; mandato per tre volte in esilio, ebbe in grande
onore le tradizioni dei Padri della Chiesa e per esporre la fede cattolica
scrisse alcune celebri opere su temi fondamentali della dottrina
cristiana.
Col nome di “Sinodo dell’adulterio” è entrata nella storia della Chiesa un’assemblea di vescovi che, nel IX secolo, volle approvare la prassi del secondo matrimonio dopo il ripudio della legittima moglie. San Teodoro Studita (759-826), fu colui che con più vigore vi si oppose e per questo fu perseguitato, imprigionato e per ben tre volte esiliato.
Tutto iniziò nel gennaio 795 quando l’imperatore romano di Oriente (basileus) Costantino VI (771-797) fece rinchiudere la moglie Maria di Armenia in monastero e iniziò una illecita unione con Teodota, dama d’onore della madre Irene. Pochi mesi dopo l’imperatore fece proclamare “augusta” Teodota, ma non riuscendo a convincere il patriarca Tarasio (730-806) a celebrare il nuovo matrimonio, trovò finalmente un ministro compiacente nel prete Giuseppe, igumeno del monastero di Kathara, nell’isola di Itaca, che benedisse ufficialmente l’unione adulterina.
San Teodoro, nato a Costantinopoli nel 759, era allora monaco nel monastero di Sakkudion in Bitinia, di cui era abate lo zio Platone, venerato anche lui come santo. Teodoro ricorda che l’ingiusto divorzio produsse un profondo turbamento in tutto il popolo cristiano: concussus est mundus (Epist. II, n. 181, in PG, 99, coll. 1559-1560CD) e, assieme a san Platone, protestò energicamente, in nome dell’indissolubilità del vincolo. L’imperatore deve ritenersi adultero – scrisse – e perciò deve ritenersi gravemente colpevole il prete Giuseppe per avere benedetto gli adulteri e per averli ammessi all’Eucarestia. «Incoronando l’adulterio», il prete Giuseppe si è opposto all’insegnamento di Cristo e ha violato la legge divina (Epist. I, 32, PG 99, coll. 1015/1061C). Per Teodosio era da condannare altresì il patriarca Tarasio che, pur non approvando le nuove nozze, si era mostrato tollerante, evitando sia di scomunicare l’imperatore che di punire l’economo Giuseppe.
Questo atteggiamento era tipico di un settore della Chiesa orientale che proclamava l’indissolubilità del matrimonio ma nella prassi dimostrava una certa sottomissione nel confronti del potere imperiale, seminando confusione del popolo e suscitando la protesta dei cattolici più ferventi. Basandosi sull’autorità di san Basilio, Teodoro rivendicò la facoltà concessa ai sudditi di denunciare gli errori del proprio superiore (Epist. I, n. 5, PG, 99, coll. 923-924, 925-926D) e i monaci di Sakkudion ruppero la comunione con il patriarca per la sua complicità nel divorzio dell’imperatore. Scoppiò così la cosiddetta “questione moicheiana” (da moicheia= adulterio) che pose Teodoro in conflitto non solo con il governo imperiale, ma con gli stessi patriarchi di Costantinopoli. E’ un episodio poco conosciuto sul quale, qualche anno fa, ha sollevato il velo il prof. Dante Gemmiti in un’attenta ricostruzione storica, basata sulle fonti greche e latine (Teodoro Studita e la questione moicheiana, LER, Marigliano 1993), che conferma come nel primo millennio la disciplina ecclesiastica della Chiesa d’Oriente rispettava ancora il principio dell’indissolubilità del matrimonio.
Nel settembre 796, Platone e Teodoro, con un certo numero di monaci del Sakkudion, furono arrestati, internati e poi esiliati a Tessalonica, dove giunsero il 25 marzo 797. A Costantinopoli però il popolo giudicava Costantino un peccatore che continuava a dare pubblico scandalo e, sull’esempio di Platone e Teodoro, l’opposizione aumentava di giorno in giorno. L’esilio fu di breve durata perché il giovane Costantino, in seguito a un complotto di palazzo, fu fatto accecare dalla madre che assunse da sola il governo dell’impero. Irene richiamò gli esiliati, che si trasferirono nel monastero urbano di Studios, insieme alla gran parte della comunità dei monaci di Sakkudion. Teodoro e Platone si riconciliarono con il patriarca Tarasio che, dopo l’avvento di Irene al potere, aveva pubblicamente condannato Costantino e il prete Giuseppe per il divorzio imperiale. Anche il regno di Irene fu breve. Il 31 ottobre 802 un suo ministro, Niceforo, in seguito a una rivolta di palazzo, si proclamò imperatore. Quando poco dopo morì Tarasio, il nuovo basileus fece eleggere patriarca di Costantinopoli un alto funzionario imperiale, anch’egli di nome Niceforo (758-828). In un sinodo da lui convocato e presieduto, verso la metà dell’806, Niceforo reintegrò nel suo ufficio l’egumeno Giuseppe, deposto da Tarasio. Teodoro, divenuto capo della comunità monastica dello Studios, per il ritiro di Platone a vita di recluso, protestò vivamente contro la riabilitazione del prete Giuseppe e, quando quest’ultimo riprese a svolgere il ministero sacerdotale, ruppe la comunione anche con il nuovo patriarca.
La reazione non tardò. Lo Studios venne occupato militarmente, Platone, Teodoro e il fratello Giuseppe, arcivescovo di Tessalonica, vennero arrestati, condannati ed esiliati. Nell’808 l’imperatore convocò un altro sinodo che si riunì nel gennaio 809. Fu quello che, in una lettera dell’809 al monaco Arsenio, Teodoro definisce “moechosynodus”, il “Sinodo dell’adulterio” (Epist. I, n. 38, PG 99, coll. 1041-1042c). Il Sinodo dei vescovi riconobbe la legittimità del secondo matrimonio di Costantino, confermò la riabilitazione dell’egumene Giuseppe e anatemizzò Teodoro, Platone e il fratello Giuseppe, che fu deposto dalla sua carica di arcivescovo di Tessalonica. Per giustificare il divorzio dell’imperatore, il Sinodo utilizzava il principio della “economia dei santi” (tolleranza nella prassi). Ma per Teodoro nessun motivo poteva giustificare la trasgressione di una legge divina. Richiamandosi all’insegnamento di san Basilio, di san Gregorio di Nazianzo e di san Giovanni Crisostomo, egli dichiarò priva di fondamento scritturale la disciplina dell’“economia dei santi”, secondo cui in alcune circostanze si poteva tollerare un male minore – come in questo caso il matrimonio adulterino dell’imperatore.
Qualche anno dopo l’imperatore Niceforo morì nella guerra contro i Bulgari (25 luglio 811) e salì al trono un altro funzionario imperiale, Michele I. Il nuovo basileus richiamò dall’esilio Teodoro, che divenne il suo consigliere più ascoltato. Ma la pace fu di breve durata. Nell’estate dell’813, i Bulgari inflissero a Michele I una gravissima sconfitta presso Adrianopoli e l’esercito proclamò imperatore il capo degli Anatolici, Leone V, detto l’Armeno (775-820). Quando Leone depose il patriarca Niceforo e fece condannare il culto delle immagini, Teodoro assunse la guida della resistenza contro l’iconoclastia. Teodoro infatti si distinse nella storia della Chiesa non solo come l’oppositore al “Sinodo dell’adulterio”, ma anche come uno dei grandi difensori delle sacre immagini durante la seconda fase dell’iconoclasmo. Così la domenica delle Palme dell’815 si poté assistere ad una processione dei mille monaci dello Studios che all’interno del loro monastero, ma bene in vista, portavano le sante icone, al canto di solenni acclamazioni in loro onore. La processione dei monaci dello Studios scatenò la reazione della polizia. Tra l’815 e l’821, Teodoro fu flagellato, incarcerato ed esiliato in diversi luoghi dell’Asia Minore. Alla fine poté tornare a Costantinopoli, ma non nel proprio monastero. Egli allora si stabilì con i suoi monaci dall’altra parte del Bosforo, a Prinkipo, dove morì l’11 novembre 826.
Il “non licet” (Mt 14, 3-11) che san Giovanni Battista oppose al tetrarca
Erode, per il suo adulterio, risuonò più volte nella storia della Chiesa. San
Teodoro Studita, un semplice religioso che osò sfidare il potere imperiale e le
gerarchie ecclesiastiche del tempo, può essere considerato uno dei protettori
celesti di chi, anche oggi, di fronte alle minacce di cambiamento della prassi
cattolica sul matrimonio, ha il coraggio di ripetere un inflessibile non licet.
Autore: Roberto de Mattei
Teodoro nacque a Costantinopoli intorno al 758 e sin dalla gioventù si batté coraggiosamente in difesa delle sacre icone presenti nella capitale dell’impero bizantino, minacciate dall’avversa politica religiosa imperiale. Nel 794 succedette a suo zio Plato, che dieci anni prima lo aveva persuaso a prendere i voti monacali, nella direzione del monastero di Sakkoudion in Bitinia. Poco tempo dopo tuttavia fu mandato in esilio a Tessalonica per aver scomunicato l’imperatore Costantino VI, poi venerato anch’esso come santo, che aveva divorziato dalla moglie Maria per sposare Teodota.
Nel 797, dopo la morte dell’imperatore, Teodoro fu richiamato in patria con tutti gli onori, lasciò Sakkoudion che nel frattempo era stata saccheggiata dagli Arabi e si trasferì nel monastero di Studion in Costantinopoli, dal quale prese il suo soprannome. Qui intraprese una forte campagna in favore dell’ascetismo e di radicali riforme monastiche. I punti focali della sua regola, utilizzata in seguito sia nei monasteri bizantini che in quelli russi, come Pečerska Lavra e Pocaiv Lavra, furono la clausura, la povertà, la disciplina, lo studio, i servizi religiosi ed il lavoro manuale.
L’abate Teodoro viene ricordato anche per aver autorizzato i suoi monaci a sbriciolare noce moscata, una delle spezie più costose all’epoca, sulla loro zuppa di piselli quando questi erano costretti a mangiarla. Questo aneddoto, la cui veridicità ci è difficile appurare, lungi dal ridicolizzare il santo ci è invece di aiuto nell’accostarci a lui negli aspetti della sua vita quotidiana quale pastore di una comunità, certamente salda guida spirituale, ma al tempo stesso impelagato in molteplici questioni logistiche che la vita comune di un gruppo di uomini necessariamente comporta.
Nel 809 Teodoro fu nuovamente bandito a causa del suo rifiuto di ricevere la comunione dal patriarca Niceforo, il quale aveva reintegrato il sacerdote Giuseppe reo di aver officiato le nozze tra Costantino e Teodota. Due anni dopo l’imperatore Michele I, sul quale aveva molta influenza, lo richiamò dall’esilio, ma fu di nuovo bandito nonché flagellato nel 814 a causa della sua strenua opposizione all'editto iconoclasta promulgato dall’imperatore Leone V, col quale si proibiva la venerazione delle immagini sacre. Liberato nel 821 dall’imperatore Michele II, promosse nel 824 un’insurrezione contro lo stesso, dal santo giudicato troppo indulgente nei confronti degli iconoclasti. Quando però i suoi piani fallirono, Teodoro ritenne allora opportuno allontanarsi da Costantinopoli.
Da quel momento visse peregrinando fra vari monasteri in Bitinia e morì in quello di Calkite l’11 novembre 826. Sepolto inizialmente proprio in tale monastero, il suo corpo fu successivamente traslato nel monastero di Studion il 26 gennaio 844. E’ festeggiato come santo dalla Chiesa cattolica nell’anniversario della morte, mentre nelle Chiese orientali si dedica alla sua memoria anche l’anniversario della traslazione.
San Teodoro compose parecchie opere letterarie. Innanzitutto, quale intrepido lottatore per la difesa dell’indissolubilità del matrimonio, sulla questione moichiana, ovvero l’unione adulterina di Costantino VI, scrisse un trattato ed uno scritto “Sull’economia in genere” che andarono purtroppo dispersi o più probabilmente distrutti per ordine del patriarca Metodio. Alla sua produzione sono inoltre attribuite lettere la cui importanza è costituita dal quadro della vita e del carattere del santo che in esse si desume e facenti inoltre luce sulle dispute teologiche cui intervenne; opere di catechesi suddivise in due collezioni rivolte ai monaci e contenti moniti e consigli connessi con la vita spirituale e con l’organizzazione monasteriale; orazioni funerarie per la propria madre e per lo zio Plato; opere teologiche incentrate sull’adorazione delle immagini sacre, epigrammi su vari soggetti, alcuni dei quali dimostrano una considerabile originalità, ed alcuni inni sacri. Inoltre, come tutti i monaci dello Studion, San Teodoro fu inoltre celebre per la sua calligrafia e per la sua bravura nel copiare manoscritti.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/93382
BENEDETTO XVI
UDIENZA GENERALE
San Teodoro Studita
Cari fratelli e sorelle!
Il Santo che oggi
incontriamo, san Teodoro Studita, ci porta in pieno medioevo bizantino, in un
periodo dal punto di vista religioso e politico piuttosto turbolento. San
Teodoro nacque nel 759 in una famiglia nobile e pia: la madre, Teoctista, e uno
zio, Platone, abate del monastero di Sakkudion in Bitinia, sono
venerati come santi. Fu proprio lo zio ad orientarlo verso la vita monastica,
che egli abbracciò all’età di 22 anni. Fu ordinato sacerdote dal patriarca
Tarasio, ma ruppe poi la comunione con lui per la debolezza dimostrata nel caso
del matrimonio adulterino dell’imperatore Costantino VI. La conseguenza fu
l’esilio di Teodoro, nel 796, a Tessalonica. La riconciliazione con l’autorità
imperiale avvenne l’anno successivo sotto l’imperatrice Irene, la cui
benevolenza indusse Teodoro e Platone a trasferirsi nel monastero urbano
di Studios, insieme alla gran parte della comunità dei monaci
di Sakkudion, per evitare le incursioni dei saraceni. Ebbe così inizio
l’importante “riforma studita”.
La vicenda personale di
Teodoro, tuttavia, continuò ad essere movimentata. Con la sua solita energia,
divenne il capo della resistenza contro l’iconoclasmo di Leone V l’Armeno, che
si oppose di nuovo all’esistenza di immagini e icone nella Chiesa. La
processione di icone organizzata dai monaci di Studios scatenò la
reazione della polizia. Tra l’815 e l’821, Teodoro fu flagellato, incarcerato
ed esiliato in diversi luoghi dell’Asia Minore. Alla fine poté tornare a
Costantinopoli, ma non nel proprio monastero. Egli allora si stabilì con i suoi
monaci dall’altra parte del Bosforo. Morì, a quanto pare, a Prinkipo, l’11
novembre 826, giorno in cui il calendario bizantino lo ricorda. Teodoro si
distinse nella storia della Chiesa come uno dei grandi riformatori della vita
monastica e anche come difensore delle sacre immagini durante la seconda fase
dell’iconoclasmo, accanto al Patriarca di Costantinopoli, san Niceforo. Teodoro
aveva compreso che la questione della venerazione delle icone chiamava in causa
la verità stessa dell’Incarnazione. Nei suoi tre
libri Antirretikoi (Confutazioni), Teodoro fa un paragone tra i
rapporti eterni intratrinitari, dove l’esistenza di ciascuna Persona divina non
distrugge l’unità, e i rapporti tra le due nature in Cristo, le quali non
compromettono, in Lui, l’unica Persona del Logos. E argomenta: abolire la
venerazione dell’icona di Cristo significherebbe cancellare la sua stessa opera
redentrice, dal momento che, assumendo la natura umana,
l’invisibile Parola eterna è apparsa nella carne visibile umana e in
questo modo ha santificato tutto il cosmo visibile. Le icone, santificate dalla
benedizione liturgica e dalle preghiere dei fedeli, ci uniscono con la Persona
di Cristo, con i suoi santi e, per mezzo di loro, con il Padre celeste e
testimoniano l’entrare della realtà divina nel nostro cosmo visibile e
materiale.
Teodoro e i suoi monaci, testimoni
di coraggio al tempo delle persecuzioni iconoclaste, sono inseparabilmente
legati alla riforma della vita cenobitica nel mondo bizantino. La loro
importanza già si impone per una circostanza esterna: il numero. Mentre i
monasteri del tempo non superavano i trenta o quaranta monaci, dalla Vita
di Teodoro sappiamo dell’esistenza complessivamente di più di un migliaio
di monaci studiti. Teodoro stesso ci informa della presenza nel suo monastero
di circa trecento monaci; vediamo quindi l’entusiasmo della fede che è nato nel
contesto di questo uomo realmente informato e formato dalla fede medesima.
Tuttavia, più che il numero, si rivelò influente il nuovo spirito impresso dal
fondatore alla vita cenobitica. Nei suoi scritti egli insiste sull’urgenza di un
ritorno consapevole all’insegnamento dei Padri, soprattutto a san Basilio,
primo legislatore della vita monastica e a san Doroteo di Gaza, famoso padre
spirituale del deserto palestinese. L’apporto caratteristico di Teodoro
consiste nell’insistenza sulla necessità dell’ordine e della sottomissione da
parte dei monaci. Durante le persecuzioni questi si erano dispersi, abituandosi
a vivere ciascuno secondo il proprio giudizio. Ora che era stato possibile
ricostituire la vita comune, bisognava impegnarsi a fondo per tornare a fare
del monastero una vera comunità organica, una vera famiglia o, come dice lui,
un vero “Corpo di Cristo”. In tale comunità si realizza in concreto la realtà
della Chiesa nel suo insieme.
Un’altra convinzione di
fondo di Teodoro è questa: i monaci, rispetto ai secolari, assumono l’impegno
di osservare i doveri cristiani con maggiore rigore ed intensità. Per questo
pronunciano una speciale professione, che appartiene
agli hagiasmata (consacrazioni), ed è quasi un “nuovo battesimo”, di cui
la vestizione è il simbolo. Caratteristico dei monaci, invece, rispetto ai
secolari, è l’impegno della povertà, della castità e dell’obbedienza.
Rivolgendosi ai monaci, Teodoro parla in modo concreto, talvolta quasi
pittoresco, della povertà, ma essa nella sequela di Cristo è dagli inizi un
elemento essenziale del monachesimo e indica anche una strada per noi tutti. La
rinuncia alla proprietà privata, questa libertà dalle cose materiali, come pure
la sobrietà e semplicità valgono in forma radicale solo per i monaci, ma lo
spirito di tale rinuncia è uguale per tutti. Infatti non dobbiamo dipendere
dalla proprietà materiale, dobbiamo invece imparare la rinuncia, la semplicità,
l’austerità e la sobrietà. Solo così può crescere una società solidale e può essere
superato il grande problema della povertà di questo mondo. Quindi in questo
senso il radicale segno dei monaci poveri indica sostanzialmente anche una
strada per noi tutti. Quando poi espone le tentazioni contro la castità,
Teodoro non nasconde le proprie esperienze e dimostra il cammino di lotta
interiore per trovare il dominio di se stessi e così il rispetto del proprio
corpo e di quello dell’altro come tempio di Dio.
Ma le rinunce principali
sono per lui quelle richieste dall’obbedienza, perché ognuno dei monaci ha il
proprio modo di vivere e l’inserimento nella grande comunità di trecento monaci
implica realmente una nuova forma di vita, che egli qualifica come il “martirio
della sottomissione”. Anche qui i monaci danno solo un esempio di quanto sia necessario
per noi stessi, perché, dopo il peccato originale, la tendenza dell’uomo è fare
la propria volontà, il principio primo è la vita del mondo, tutto il resto va
sottomesso alla propria volontà. Ma in questo modo, se ognuno segue solo se
stesso, il tessuto sociale non può funzionare. Solo imparando ad inserirsi
nella comune libertà, condividere e sottomettersi ad essa, imparare la
legalità, cioè la sottomissione e l’obbedienza alle regole del bene comune e
della vita comune, può sanare una società come pure l’io stesso dalla
superbia di essere al centro del mondo. Così san Teodoro ai suoi monaci e in
definitiva anche a noi, con fine introspezione, aiuta a capire la vera vita, a
resistere alla tentazione di mettere la propria volontà come somma regola di
vita e di conservare la vera identità personale - che è sempre una identità
insieme con gli altri - e la pace del cuore.
Per Teodoro Studita una
virtù importante al pari dell’obbedienza e dell’umiltà è la philergia,
cioè l’amore al lavoro, in cui egli vede un criterio per saggiare la qualità
della devozione personale: colui che è fervente negli impegni materiali, che
lavora con assiduità, egli argomenta, lo è anche in quelli spirituali. Non
ammette perciò che, sotto il pretesto della preghiera e della contemplazione,
il monaco si dispensi dal lavoro, anche dal lavoro manuale, che in realtà è,
secondo lui e secondo tutta la tradizione monastica, il mezzo per trovare Dio.
Teodoro non teme di parlare del lavoro come del “sacrificio del monaco”, della
sua “liturgia”, addirittura di una sorta di Messa attraverso la quale la vita
monastica diventa vita angelica. E proprio così il mondo del lavoro va
umanizzato e l’uomo attraverso il lavoro diventa più se stesso, più vicino a
Dio. Una conseguenza di questa singolare visione merita di essere ricordata:
proprio perché frutto di una forma di “liturgia”, le ricchezze ricavate dal
lavoro comune non devono servire alla comodità dei monaci, ma essere destinate
all’aiuto dei poveri. Qui possiamo tutti cogliere la necessità che il frutto
del lavoro sia un bene per tutti. Ovviamente, il lavoro degli “studiti” non era
soltanto manuale: essi ebbero una grande importanza nello sviluppo
religioso-culturale della civiltà bizantina come calligrafi, pittori, poeti,
educatori dei giovani, maestri di scuole, bibliotecari.
Pur esercitando
un’attività esterna vastissima, Teodoro non si lasciava distrarre da ciò che
considerava strettamente attinente alla sua funzione di superiore: essere il
padre spirituale dei suoi monaci. Egli sapeva quale influsso decisivo avevano
avuto nella sua vita sia la buona madre che il santo zio Platone, da lui
qualificato col significativo titolo di “padre”. Esercitava perciò nei
confronti dei monaci la direzione spirituale. Ogni giorno, riferisce il biografo,
dopo la preghiera serale si poneva davanti all’iconostasi per ascoltare le
confidenze di tutti. Consigliava pure spiritualmente molte persone fuori dello
stesso monastero. Il Testamento spirituale e
le Lettere mettono in rilievo questo suo carattere aperto e
affettuoso, e mostra come dalla sua paternità sono nate vere amicizie
spirituali in ambito monastico e anche fuori.
La Regola, nota con
il nome di Hypotyposis, codificata poco dopo la morte di
Teodoro, fu adottata, con qualche modifica, sul Monte Athos, quando nel 962
sant’Atanasio Athonita vi fondò la Grande Lavra, e nella Rus’ di Kiev,
quando all’inizio del secondo millennio san Teodosio la introdusse
nella Lavra delle Grotte. Compresa nel suo significato genuino,
la Regola si rivela singolarmente attuale. Vi sono oggi numerose
correnti che insidiano l’unità della fede comune e spingono verso una sorta di
pericoloso individualismo spirituale e di superbia spirituale. E’ necessario
impegnarsi nel difendere e far crescere la perfetta unità del Corpo di Cristo,
nella quale possono comporsi in armonia la pace dell’ordine e le sincere
relazioni personali nello Spirito.
E’ forse utile riprendere
alla fine alcuni degli elementi principali della dottrina spirituale di
Teodoro. Amore per il Signore incarnato e per la sua visibilità nella Liturgia
e nelle icone. Fedeltà al battesimo e impegno a vivere nella comunione del
Corpo di Cristo, intesa anche come comunione dei cristiani fra di loro. Spirito
di povertà, di sobrietà, di rinuncia; castità, dominio di sé stessi, umiltà ed
obbedienza contro il primato della propria volontà, che distrugge il tessuto
sociale e la pace delle anime. Amore per il lavoro materiale e spirituale.
Amicizia spirituale nata dalla purificazione della propria coscienza, della
propria anima, della propria vita. Cerchiamo di seguire questi insegnamenti che
realmente ci mostrano la strada della vera vita.
Saluti:
Chers frères et soeurs,
Je salue avec joie les pèlerins francophones, particulièrement les groupes de
jeunes de Bitche, d’Aix-en-Provence et du Luxembourg, ainsi que les pèlerins de
l’Archidiocèse de Clermont-Ferrand. A la suite de saint Théodore le Studite,
n’ayez pas peur de vous laisser guider par l’Esprit Saint « hôte très doux de
nos âmes ». Avec ma Bénédiction apostolique.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I warmly greet all the English-speaking pilgrims. In a special way, I welcome
members of the Schola Cantorum of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio,
Texas; seminarians and priests from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit,
Michigan; and members of the Order of Knights of Saint John from Nigeria. God
bless all of you!
Liebe Brüder und Schwestern!
Von Herzen grüße ich alle deutschsprachigen Pilger und Besucher. Das Beispiel
des heiligen Theodoros und seiner Mönchsgemeinschaft zeigen uns, wie wir
gemeinsam als Glieder des einen Leibes Christi unsere Berufung zur Heiligkeit
leben können. Das ist gerade in unserer vom Individualismus geprägten Zeit ein
Ansporn, auf eigene Ansprüche, auf die Zentralität des Ich zu verzichten, uns
als ein Teil im großen Organismus Christi und der Weltgeschichte zu verstehen
und dem Ganzen zu dienen. Dazu erbitten wir den Beistand des Heiligen Geistes,
den Christus seiner Kirche verheißen hat, indem wir gerade am Vorabend des
Pfingstfestes erneut darum bitten, daß der Herr seinen Geist über die Kirche
und über die ganze Welt ausgießen möge. Gesegnete Pfingsten!
Queridos hermanos y hermanas:
Saludo con afecto a los peregrinos de lengua española, en particular a los
antiguos alumnos del Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción, de Barcelona,
acompañados por el Señor Cardenal Lluís Martínez Sistach, a los fieles de las
Parroquias de la Sagrada Familia y San Pedro, de Santiago de Chile, así como a
los demás grupos procedentes de España, México y otros países latinoamericanos.
Que vuestra peregrinación al sepulcro de los Apóstoles aumente vuestra fe y
vuestro amor a la Iglesia. Muchas gracias.
Uma saudação amiga e
encorajadora para todos os peregrinos de língua portuguesa! Este nosso encontro
tem lugar na novena do Pentecostes, que quer recriar sentimentos de fraterna
benevolência e humilde adoração nos corações e comunidades, como argila nas
mãos de Deus à espera do sopro vivificador do Espírito Santo. Venha Ele sobre
os grupos brasileiros das dioceses de Bauru, São José dos Campos e São Paulo e
também sobre os fiéis cristãos de Paderne e de Lisboa. Sobre todos os presentes
e seus familiares, desça a minha Bênção.
Saluto in lingua croata:
S velikom radošću
pozdravljam sve hrvatske hodočasnike, a osobito vjernike iz župe Svete
Anastazije iz Samobora i župe Svih Svetih iz Livna te župni zbor župe Svetog
Stjepana iz Opuzena! Pogleda uprta u nebo, bez prestanka molite Gospodina, da
pošalje svoga Duha Branitelja na vaše obitelji i župne zajednice, na Crkvu i
čitav svijet te tako obnovi lice zemlje. Hvaljen Isus i Marija!
Traduzione italiana:
Con grande gioia saluto i
pellegrini croati, particolarmente i fedeli della parrocchia di Santa
Anastazija di Samobor e della parrocchia dei Tutti Santi di Livno e il coro
parrocchiale della parrocchia di San Stepfano di Opuzen! Con lo sguardo fisso
al cielo, pregate senza fine il Signore, affinché mandi il suo Spirito
Paraclito sulle vostre famiglie e sulle comunità parrocchiale, sulla Chiesa e
sul tutto il Mondo, e così rinnovi il volto della Terra. Siano lodati Gesù e
Maria!
Saluto in lingua polacca:
Pozdrawiam pielgrzymów
polskich. Wczoraj w Polsce obchodziliście Dzień Matki. Nawiązując do tej
okoliczności, dziękuję Bogu wraz z wami za święty dar, którym dla dziecka,
rodziny, dla każdego z nas jest matka, jej miłość, jej serce. Najczulszej z
Matek, Maryi, w miesiącu Jej poświęconym, zawierzam wszystkie matki, ich
radości i troski. Im i wam wszystkim z serca błogosławię.
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto i pellegrini
polacchi. Ieri in Polonia avete festeggiato la Festa della Mamma. Riferendomi a
tale lieta ricorrenza, ringrazio Dio con voi, per il santo dono che il cuore e
l’amore di ogni madre rappresentano per i suoi bambini, per la sua famiglia e
per ognuno di noi. A Maria, Madre affettuosissima, nel mese a Lei dedicato,
affido tutte le mamme, le loro gioie e le loro tristezze. A loro e a voi tutti,
una benedizione di cuore.
Saluto in lingua
slovacca:
Zo srdca pozdravujem pútnikov z Kráľovej pri Senci, Belej nad Cirochou, Zemplínskych Hámrov, Košíc, Sniny-Sídliska, Bobrovca, Skalice, Liptovského Mikuláša a Ružomberka.
Bratia a sestry, budúcu nedeľu budeme sláviť sviatok Zoslania Ducha Svätého na apoštolov. Prosme Boha o zoslanie darov jeho Ducha, aby sme odvážne svedčili o svojej viere.
S láskou žehnám vás i vašich drahých.
Pochválený buď Ježiš Kristus!
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto di cuore i pellegrini provenienti da Kráľová pri Senci, Belá nad Cirochou, Zemplínske Hámre, Košice, Snina-Sídlisko, Bobrovec, Skalica, Liptovský Mikuláš e Ružomberok.
Fratelli e sorelle, domenica prossima celebreremo la Solennità della
Pentecoste. Preghiamo Dio che mandi i doni del suo Spirito perché possiamo
divenire testimoni coraggiosi della nostra fede.
Con affetto benedico voi ed i vostri cari.
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
* * *
Saluto ora i pellegrini
di lingua italiana. In particolare, rivolgo un affettuoso benvenuto ai preti
novelli di Verona e di Bergamo, accompagnati dai rispettivi Vescovi, ed auguro
loro di saper guardare il mondo con gli occhi di Gesù, per recare ai fratelli
la sua parola di salvezza. Saluto i membri della Fondazione San Matteo in
memoria del Cardinale Van Thuan, qui convenuti con il Cardinale Renato Raffaele
Martino. A ciascuno rivolgo il mio saluto e li ringrazio per l’attività che
generosamente svolgono per diffondere la dottrina sociale della Chiesa e
soprattutto far sentire la vicinanza della Chiesa a quanti sono poveri
materialmente e spiritualmente. Saluto i fedeli della diocesi di Cassano allo
Ionio, venuti a Roma con il loro Vescovo Mons. Vincenzo Bertolone e li invito
ad attingere dall'Eucarestia l’energia spirituale per essere testimoni del
Vangelo della carità, seguendo l'esempio dei Santi che hanno evangelizzato la
Calabria.
Rivolgo, infine, il mio
saluto ai giovani, ai malati e agli sposi novelli. La
Chiesa ha ricordato ieri San Filippo Neri, che si distinse per la sua allegria
e per la sua dedizione ai poveri e agli ammalati, e specialmente alla gioventù.
Cari giovani, imparate da questo Santo a vivere con semplicità evangelica.
Cari malati, vi aiuti San Filippo Neri a fare della vostra sofferenza
un'offerta al Padre celeste, in unione a Gesù crocifisso. E voi,
cari sposi novelli, sorretti dalla sua intercessione, siate costruttori di
famiglie illuminate dalla sapienza evangelica.
© Copyright 2009 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/it/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527.html
Фрески
во Црквата „Св. Ѓорѓи“ во Старо Нагоричане, кумановско
Frescos
in St. George Church in Staro Nagoričane, Macedonia
Македония
фрески 12-14 вв. Старо Нагорично.
GENERALAUDIENZ
Mittwoch, 27. Mai 2009
Der hl. Theodoros
Studites
Liebe Brüder und
Schwestern!
Der Heilige, dem wir
heute begegnen, Theodoros Studites, führt uns mitten in das byzantinische
Mittelalter, eine in religiöser und politischer Hinsicht ziemlich turbulente
Zeit. Der hl. Theodoros wurde 759 in einer vornehmen und frommen Familie
geboren: Seine Mutter, Theoktiste, und ein Onkel, Platon, Abt
des Sakkudionklosters in Bithynien, werden als Heilige verehrt.
Dieser Onkel war es denn auch, der ihn zum monastischen Leben hinführte, dem er
sich im Alter von 22 Jahren anschloß. Er wurde von Patriarch Tarasios zum
Priester geweiht, brach aber dann die Verbindung zu ihm ab, weil sich der
Patriarch im Fall der ehebrecherischen zweiten Vermählung von Kaiser Konstantin
VI. als schwach erwiesen hatte. Die Folge war die Verbannung des Theodoros nach
Thessalonike im Jahr 796. Die Aussöhnung mit der kaiserlichen Obrigkeit
erfolgte ein Jahr später unter Kaiserin Irene, deren Wohlwollen Theodoros und
Platon dazu veranlaßte, zusammen mit dem Großteil der Mönchskommunität
des Sakkudionklosters in das städtische Studioskloster zu
übersiedeln, um den Sarazeneneinfällen zu entgehen. Damit begann die bedeutsame
»Studitenreform«.
Die persönliche
Geschichte des Theodoros war jedoch weiterhin sehr bewegt. Durch seine gewohnte
Tatkraft wurde er zum Anführer des Widerstands gegen den Ikonoklasmus Leos V.
des Armeniers, der sich von neuem dem Gebrauch von Bildern und Ikonen in der
Kirche widersetzte. Die von den Mönchen des Studiosklosters durchgeführte
Ikonenprozession entfesselte die Reaktion der Polizei. In den Jahren zwischen
815 und 821 wurde Theodoros gegeißelt, eingekerkert und an verschiedene Orte
Kleinasiens verbannt. Schließlich konnte er zwar nach Konstantinopel, aber
nicht in sein Kloster zurückkehren. Er ließ sich nun mit seinen Mönchen auf der
anderen Seite des Bosporus nieder. Allem Anschein nach ist er am 11. November
826 auf den Prinzeninseln gestorben; das ist auch im byzantinischen
Kalender sein Gedenktag. Theodoros hat sich in der Kirchengeschichte als einer
der großen Erneuerer des monastischen Lebens und während der zweiten Phase des
Bilderstreits an der Seite des hl. Nikephoros, Patriarch von Konstantinopel,
auch als Verfechter der Verehrung der heiligen Bilder erwiesen. Theodoros hatte
verstanden, daß es bei der Frage der Bilderverehrung um die Wahrheit der
Menschwerdung selbst ging. In seinen drei
Büchern Antirrhetikoi (»Widerlegungen«) zieht Theodoros einen
Vergleich zwischen den ewigen innertrinitarischen Beziehungen, wo die Existenz
jeder göttlichen Person die Einheit nicht zerstört, und den Beziehungen
zwischen den zwei Naturen in Christus, die in ihm die einzige Person des
»Logos« nicht beeinträchtigen. Und er argumentiert: Die Verehrung der Ikone
Christi abzuschaffen, würde bedeuten, sein Erlösungswerk auszulöschen, da das
unsichtbare ewige »Wort« dadurch daß es die menschliche Natur angenommen hat,
im sichtbaren menschlichen Fleisch erschienen ist und auf diese Weise den
ganzen sichtbaren Kosmos geheiligt hat. Die durch den liturgischen Segen und
die Gebete der Gläubigen geheiligten Ikonen vereinen uns mit der Person
Christi, mit seinen Heiligen und durch sie mit dem himmlischen Vater und
bezeugen das Eintreten der göttlichen Wirklichkeit in unseren sichtbaren und
materiellen Kosmos.
Theodoros und seine
Mönche, mutige Zeugen in der Zeit der Verfolgungen während des Bilderstreits,
sind untrennbar an die Reform des zönobitischen Lebens in der byzantinischen
Welt gebunden. Ihre Bedeutung drängt sich uns schon durch einen äußeren Umstand
auf: die Anzahl. Während die Klöster der Zeit nicht mehr als 30 oder 40 Mönche
hatten, wissen wir aus der »Lebensbeschreibung des Theodoros« von der Existenz
von insgesamt mehr als tausend Studiten- Mönchen. Theodoros selbst informiert
uns über die Anwesenheit von ungefähr dreihundert Mönchen in seinem Kloster;
wir sehen also die Glaubensbegeisterung, die im Umfeld dieses wirklich vom
Glauben unterrichteten und geformten Mannes entstanden ist. Mehr als die Anzahl
erwies sich dennoch der neue Geist als einflußreich, der dem zönobitischen
Leben vom Gründer eingeprägt wurde. In seinen Schriften beharrt er auf der
Dringlichkeit einer bewußten Rückkehr zur Lehre der Väter, vor allem des hl.
Basilius, des ersten Gesetzgebers des Mönchslebens, und des hl. Dorotheos von
Gaza, eines berühmten geistlichen Vaters in der palästinensischen Wüste. Der
charakteristische Beitrag des Theodoros besteht in dem beharrlichen Dringen auf
die Notwendigkeit der Ordnung und der Unterwerfung seitens der Mönche. Diese
hatten sich während der Verfolgungen zerstreut und sich daran gewöhnt, daß
jeder nach seinem eigenen Gutdünken lebte. Nun, da es möglich geworden war, das
Gemeinschaftsleben wiederherzustellen, mußte man sich intensiv darum bemühen,
das Kloster wieder zu einer wahren organischen Gemeinschaft, zu einer wahren
Familie oder, wie er sagt, zu einem wahren »Leib Christi« zu machen. In einer
solchen Gemeinschaft erfüllt sich konkret die Wirklichkeit der Kirche als
ganzer.
Eine weitere
Grundüberzeugung des Theodoros ist folgende: Im Vergleich zu den in der Welt
lebenden Menschen übernehmen die Mönche die Verpflichtung, die christlichen
Pflichten mit größerer Strenge und Intensität zu beachten. Dafür legen sie ein
besonderes Gelübde ab, das zu den »hagiasmata« (Weihen) gehört und einer »neuen
Taufe« gleichkommt, deren Symbol die Einkleidung ist. Im Vergleich zu den
weltlichen Menschen ist für die Mönche hingegen die Verpflichtung zur Armut,
zur Keuschheit und zum Gehorsam charakteristisch. Wenn sich Theodoros an die
Mönche wendet, spricht er in konkreter, manchmal gleichsam pittoresker Weise
von der Armut; sie ist aber in der Nachfolge Christi von Anfang an ein
wesentliches Element des Mönchtums und weist auch uns allen einen Weg. Der
Verzicht auf den Privatbesitz, dieses Freisein von den materiellen Dingen sowie
die Nüchternheit und Einfachheit gelten in der radikalen Form nur für die
Mönche, aber der Geist eines solchen Verzichts ist für alle derselbe. Wir
dürfen nämlich nicht von den materiellen Besitztümern abhängig sein, müssen
hingegen den Verzicht, die Einfachheit, die Strenge und die Nüchternheit
lernen. Nur so kann eine solidarische Gesellschaft wachsen und das große
Problem der Armut in dieser Welt überwunden werden. In diesem Sinne weist also
das radikale Zeichen der armen Mönche im wesentlichen auch einen Weg für uns
alle. Wenn Theodoros dann die Versuchungen gegen die Keuschheit darlegt,
verbirgt er seine eigenen Erfahrungen nicht und zeigt den Weg eines inneren
Kampfes, um die Herrschaft über sich selbst und so die Achtung vor dem eigenen
Leib und dem des anderen als Tempel Gottes zu finden.
Aber die hauptsächlichen
Verzichtleistungen sind für ihn jene, die vom Gehorsam eingefordert werden,
weil jeder der Mönche seine eigene Lebensart besitzt und die Eingliederung von
dreihundert Mönchen in die große Gemeinschaft wirklich eine neue Lebensform
beinhaltet, die er als das »Martyrium der Unterwerfung« bezeichnet. Auch hier
geben die Mönche nur ein Beispiel dessen, was für uns selbst notwendig ist, da
nach der Ursünde der Mensch dazu neigt, seinen eigenen Willen zu tun, das erste
Prinzip ist das Leben der Welt, alles andere wird dem eigenen Willen
untergeordnet. Aber auf diese Weise, wenn jeder nur sich selbst folgt, kann das
soziale Gefüge nicht funktionieren. Nur wenn man lernt, sich in die gemeinsame
Freiheit einzufügen, sie zu teilen und sich ihr zu unterwerfen, kann das
Erlernen der Gesetzlichkeit, das heißt die Unterwerfung und der Gehorsam
gegenüber den Regeln des Gemeinwohls und des gemeinsamen Lebens, eine Gesellschaft
sowie auch das Ich selbst von dem Hochmut heilen, der Mittelpunkt der
Welt zu sein. So hilft der hl. Theodoros seinen Mönchen und schließlich auch
uns durch eine feine Selbstbesinnung das wahre Leben zu begreifen, der
Versuchung zu widerstehen, den eigenen Willen als höchste Lebensregel
aufzustellen, und die wahre persönliche Identität – die immer eine Identität
zusammen mit den anderen ist – und den Frieden des Herzens zu bewahren.
Eine ebenso wichtige
Tugend wie der Gehorsam und die Demut ist für Theodoros Studites die
»philergia«, das heißt die Liebe zur Arbeit, in der er ein Kriterium sieht, um
die Qualität der persönlichen Frömmigkeit zu prüfen: Wer eifrig ist in der
Erfüllung der materiellen Verpflichtungen, wer beharrlich arbeitet – so
argumentiert er – , tut dies auch in den geistlichen Dingen. Daher gestattet er
es nicht, daß sich der Mönch unter dem Vorwand des Gebets und der Betrachtung
von der Arbeit, auch von der Handarbeit dispensiert, die ihm und der ganzen
monastischen Tradition gemäß das Mittel ist, um zu Gott zu finden. Theodoros
scheut sich nicht, von der Arbeit als dem »Opfer des Mönchs«, als seiner
»Liturgie«, ja geradezu als einer Art Messe zu sprechen, durch die das
Mönchsleben ein engelhaftes Leben werde. Und gerade so wird die Arbeitswelt
humanisiert, und der Mensch wird durch die Arbeit mehr er selbst, er kommt
näher zu Gott. Eine Folge dieser einzigartigen Sichtweise verdient es in
Erinnerung gerufen zu werden: Gerade weil sie Frucht einer Art von »Liturgie«
sind, dürfen die aus der gemeinsamen Arbeit erwirtschafteten Reichtümer nicht
der Bequemlichkeit der Mönche dienen, sondern müssen zur Hilfe für die Armen
bestimmt sein. Hier können wir alle die Notwendigkeit erfassen, daß die Frucht
der Arbeit ein Gut für alle ist. Natürlich war die Arbeit der »Studiten« nicht
nur manuelle Arbeit: Sie hatten – als Kalligraphen, Maler, Dichter, Erzieher
der Jugendlichen, Schullehrer, Bibliothekare – eine große Bedeutung in der
religiösen und kulturellen Entwicklung der byzantinischen Zivilisation.
Obwohl er eine sehr
umfassende äußere Aktivität ausführte, ließ sich Theodoros nicht von dem
abbringen, was er für seine Funktion als Oberer als streng angebracht ansah,
nämlich ein geistlicher Vater seiner Mönche zu sein. Er wußte, welchen
entscheidenden Einfluß in seinem Leben sowohl die gute Mutter als auch der
heilige Onkel Platon gehabt hatten, der von ihm bezeichnenderweise »Vater«
genannt wurde. Er übte daher gegenüber den Mönchen die geistliche Leitung aus.
Jeden Tag, so berichtet der Biograph, saß er nach dem Abendgebet vor der
Ikonostase, um die vertraulichen Mitteilungen aller zu hören. Er erteilte auch
vielen Menschen außerhalb des Klosters geistliche Beratung. Das »Geistliche
Tagebuch« und die »Briefe« heben diesen seinen offenen und liebevollen
Charakter hervor und zeigen, wie aus seiner Vaterschaft wahre geistliche
Freundschaften im klösterlichen Bereich und auch außerhalb entstanden sind.
Die »Regel«, bekannt
unter dem Namen Hypotyposis, die bald nach dem Tod des Theodoros
kodifiziert wurde, wurde mit einigen Änderungen auf dem Berg Athos angenommen,
als im Jahr 961 der hl. Athanasios Athonites dort die »Große Laura« gründete,
und in der Kiewer Rus, als sie zu Beginn des zweiten Jahrtausends der hl.
Theodosios in der »Höhlen-Laura« einführte. Verstanden in ihrer ursprünglichen
Bedeutung, erweist sich die »Regel« als einzigartig aktuell. Heute gibt es
zahlreiche Strömungen, die die Einheit des gemeinsamen Glaubens bedrohen und zu
einer Art gefährlichem geistlichem Individualismus und geistlicher
Überheblichkeit treiben. Es ist notwendig, sich für die Verteidigung und das
Wachstum der vollkommenen Einheit des Leibes Christi zu engagieren, in der der
Friede der Ordnung und die aufrichtigen persönlichen Beziehungen im Geist in
Harmonie zusammen bestehen können.
Es ist vielleicht
nützlich, zum Abschluß einige der Hauptelemente der geistlichen Lehre des
Theodoros noch einmal aufzugreifen: Liebe zum fleischgewordenen Herrn und zu
seiner Sichtbarkeit in der Liturgie und in den Ikonen. Treue zur Taufe und
Einsatz für ein Leben in der Gemeinschaft des Leibes Christi, verstanden auch
als Gemeinschaft der Christen untereinander. Geist der Armut, der Nüchternheit,
des Verzichts; Keuschheit, Selbstbeherrschung, Demut und Gehorsam gegen die
Vorherrschaft des eigenen Willens, die das soziale Gefüge und den Seelenfrieden
zerstört. Liebe zur materiellen und geistigen Arbeit. Geistliche Freundschaft,
die aus der Läuterung des eigenen Gewissens, der eigenen Seele, des eigenen
Lebens hervorgeht. Versuchen wir, diesen Lehren zu folgen, die uns wirklich den
Weg des wahren Lebens zeigen.
Heute setzen wir mit dem
heiligen Theodoros Studites die Reihe der Katechesen über große Gestalten der
mittelalterlichen Kirche fort. Theodoros war wie sein Onkel, der heilige Abt
Platon, ein byzantinischer Mönch. Energisch und ohne Scheu vor Verfolgung,
Bestrafung und Exil verteidigte er die Verehrung der heiligen Ikonen, denn
dabei stand für ihn nicht nur eine Frömmigkeitsform, sondern das gläubige
Festhalten an der Menschwerdung Christi und an seinem Erlösungswerk auf dem
Spiel. Mit ebensolchem Tatendrang setzte er sich für eine Erneuerung des
monastischen Lebens ein und war selbst viele Jahre hindurch Abt und Vorsteher
von großen Klöstern mit bis zu 300 Mönchen. Die nach ihm benannte „studitische
Reform“ betonte das disziplinierte, geordnete und arbeitsame Gemeinschaftsleben
nach den evangelischen Räten. Theodoros unterrichtete seine Mönche konkret und
praktisch in dieser Form des gottgeweihten Lebens und forderte von ihnen einen
wahren Gehorsam ein, der bis zum „Martyrium der Unterwerfung“ unter den Willen
Gottes und den rechtmäßigen Oberen gehen kann. Zugleich sahen seine
Untergebenen in ihm einen geistlichen Vater, dem sie im vertraulichen Gespräch
ihr Herz ausschütten konnten, um Orientierung und Ermutigung für ihr Streben
nach Vollkommenheit zu erhalten. Die von Theodoros verfaßten Ordensregeln haben
bis heute große Bedeutung auf dem berühmten Berg Athos und in vielen anderen
Klostergemeinschaften des Ostens.
* * *
Von Herzen grüße ich alle
deutschsprachigen Pilger und Besucher. Das Beispiel des heiligen Theodoros und
seiner Mönchsgemeinschaft zeigen uns, wie wir gemeinsam als Glieder des einen
Leibes Christi unsere Berufung zur Heiligkeit leben können. Das ist gerade in
unserer vom Individualismus geprägten Zeit ein Ansporn, auf eigene Ansprüche,
auf die Zentralität des Ich zu verzichten, uns als ein Teil im großen
Organismus Christi und der Weltgeschichte zu verstehen und dem Ganzen zu
dienen. Dazu erbitten wir den Beistand des Heiligen Geistes, den Christus
seiner Kirche verheißen hat, indem wir gerade am Vorabend des Pfingstfestes
erneut darum bitten, daß der Herr seinen Geist über die Kirche und über die
ganze Welt ausgießen möge. Gesegnete Pfingsten!
© Copyright 2009 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dikasterium
für Kommunikation
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/de/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527.html
Fresco
en el monasterio de Ohrid (Macedonia), con los santos Teodoro Estuditay Pablo
el Simple
BENEDICTO XVI
AUDIENCIA GENERAL
Miércoles 27 de mayo de
2009
San Teodoro el Estudita
Queridos hermanos y
hermanas:
El santo del que voy a
hablar hoy, san Teodoro el Estudita, nos hace remontarnos al centro del período
medieval bizantino, un período más bien turbulento desde el punto de vista
religioso y político. San Teodoro nació en el año 759 en una familia noble y
piadosa: su madre, Teoctista, y uno de sus tíos, Platón, abad del monasterio
de Sakkudion, en Bitinia, son venerados como santos. Fue precisamente su
tío quien lo orientó hacia la vida monástica, que abrazó a la edad de 22 años.
Fue ordenado sacerdote por el patriarca Tarasio, pero después rompió la
comunión con él por la debilidad que mostró en el caso del matrimonio adúltero
del emperador Constantino VI. La consecuencia fue el destierro de san Teodoro a
Tesalónica, en el año 796. La reconciliación con la autoridad imperial se produjo
en el año sucesivo bajo la emperatriz Irene, cuya benevolencia impulsó a san
Teodoro y su tío Platón a trasladarse al monasterio urbano de Studios,
junto con la mayor parte de la comunidad de los monjes de Sakkudion, para
evitar las incursiones de los sarracenos. Así comenzó la importante
"reforma estudita".
La vida personal de san
Teodoro, sin embargo, siguió siendo muy agitada. Con su acostumbrada energía,
se convirtió en jefe de la resistencia contra la iconoclasia de León V el
Armenio, que se opuso nuevamente a la existencia de imágenes e iconos en la
Iglesia. La procesión de iconos organizada por los monjes
de Studios desencadenó la reacción de la policía. Entre los años 815
y 821, san Teodoro fue flagelado, encarcelado y desterrado a varios lugares de
Asia Menor. Al final pudo regresar a Constantinopla, pero no a su monasterio.
Entonces se estableció con sus monjes en la otra parte del Bósforo. Al parecer,
murió en Prinkipo el 11 de noviembre del año 826, día en el que lo
recuerda el calendario bizantino.
En la historia de la
Iglesia san Teodoro se distinguió por ser uno de los grandes reformadores de la
vida monástica y también como defensor de las imágenes sagradas durante la
segunda fase de la iconoclasia, junto al patriarca de Constantinopla, san
Nicéforo. San Teodoro había comprendido que la cuestión de la veneración de los
iconos afectaba a la verdad misma de la Encarnación. En sus tres
libros Antirretikoi (Refutaciones), san Teodoro compara las
relaciones eternas en el seno de la Trinidad, en donde la existencia de cada
Persona divina no destruye la unidad, con las relaciones entre las dos
naturalezas en Cristo, que no comprometen en él la única Persona
del Logos. Y argumenta: abolir la veneración del icono de Cristo
significaría cancelar su misma obra redentora, pues, al asumir la naturaleza
humana, la Palabra eterna invisible se hizo visible en la carne
humana y así santificó todo el cosmos visible. Los iconos, santificados por la
bendición litúrgica y por las oraciones de los fieles, nos unen con la Persona
de Cristo, con sus santos y, a través de ellos, con el Padre celestial, y
testimonian la entrada de la realidad divina en nuestro cosmos visible y
material.
San Teodoro y sus monjes,
testigos de valentía en el tiempo de las persecuciones iconoclastas, están
inseparablemente unidos a la reforma de la vida cenobítica en el mundo
bizantino. Su importancia se impone incluso por una circunstancia exterior: el
número. Mientras los monasterios de la época tenían al máximo treinta o
cuarenta monjes, por la Vida de Teodoro sabemos que los monjes
estuditas eran más de mil. San Teodoro mismo nos informa que en su monasterio
había unos trescientos monjes; por tanto, se ve el entusiasmo de la fe que
nació en el contexto de este hombre realmente informado y formado por la fe
misma.
Ahora bien, más que el
número, influyó sobre todo el nuevo espíritu que imprimió el fundador a la vida
cenobítica. En sus escritos insiste en la urgencia de un regreso consciente a
la enseñanza de los Padres, especialmente de san Basilio, primer legislador de
la vida monástica, y de san Doroteo de Gaza, famoso padre espiritual del
desierto palestino. La contribución característica de san Teodoro consiste en
su insistencia en la necesidad del orden y de la sumisión por parte de los
monjes. Durante las persecuciones, estos se habían dispersado, acostumbrándose
a vivir cada uno según su propio criterio. Cuando se pudo restablecer la vida
común, resultó necesario esforzarse a fondo para hacer que el monasterio
volviera a constituir una auténtica comunidad orgánica, una verdadera familia
o, como dice él, un verdadero "Cuerpo de Cristo". En esa comunidad se
realiza concretamente la realidad de la Iglesia en su conjunto.
Otra convicción de fondo
de san Teodoro era que, con respecto a los seglares, los monjes asumen el
compromiso de observar los deberes cristianos con mayor rigor e intensidad. Por
eso pronuncian una profesión especial, que pertenece a
los hagiasmata (consagraciones), y es casi un "nuevo
bautismo", del que es símbolo la toma de hábito. A diferencia de los
seglares, es característico de los monjes el compromiso de pobreza, castidad y
obediencia.
Dirigiéndose a los
monjes, san Teodoro habla de manera concreta, en ocasiones casi pintoresca, de
la pobreza, pero en el seguimiento de Cristo la pobreza es desde los inicios un
elemento esencial del monaquismo e indica también un camino para todos
nosotros. La renuncia a la propiedad privada, estar desprendido de las cosas
materiales, así como la sobriedad y la sencillez, sólo valen de forma radical
para los monjes, pero el espíritu de esta renuncia es igual para todos.
No debemos depender de la
propiedad material; debemos aprender la renuncia, la sencillez, la austeridad y
la sobriedad. Sólo así puede crecer una sociedad solidaria y se puede superar
el gran problema de la pobreza de este mundo. Por tanto, en este sentido, el
signo radical de los monjes pobres también indica fundamentalmente un camino
para todos nosotros. Cuando explica las tentaciones contra la castidad, san
Teodoro no oculta sus propias experiencias y demuestra el camino de lucha
interior para lograr el dominio de sí mismos y así el respeto del propio cuerpo
y del cuerpo del otro como templo de Dios.
Pero las principales
renuncias para él son las que exige la obediencia, pues cada uno de los monjes
tiene su manera de vivir, y la integración en la gran comunidad de trescientos
monjes implica realmente una nueva forma de vida, que él califica como el
"martirio de la sumisión". También en esto los monjes dan un ejemplo
de cuán necesaria es la obediencia para nosotros mismos, pues tras el pecado
original el hombre tiende a hacer su propia voluntad: el primer principio es la
vida del mundo, y todo los demás queda sometido a la propia voluntad. Pero de
este modo, si cada quien sólo se sigue a sí mismo, el tejido social no puede
funcionar.
Sólo aprendiendo a
integrarse en la libertad común, compartiendo y sometiéndose a ella,
aprendiendo la legalidad, es decir, la sumisión y la obediencia a las reglas
del bien común y de la vida común, puede sanar un sociedad, así como
el yo mismo de la soberbia que quiere ocupar el centro del mundo. De
este modo san Teodoro ayuda con aguda introspección a sus monjes, y en
definitiva también a nosotros, a comprender la verdadera vida, a resistir a la
tentación de poner la propia voluntad como regla suprema de vida y a conservar
la verdadera identidad personal -que es siempre una identidad junto con los
demás-, así como la paz del corazón.
Para san Teodoro el
Estudita, junto a la obediencia y la humildad, una virtud importante es
la philergia, es decir, el amor al trabajo, en el que ve un criterio para
comprobar la calidad de la devoción personal: quien es fervoroso en los
compromisos materiales, quien trabaja con asiduidad -argumenta-, lo es también
en los espirituales. Por eso, no admite que bajo el pretexto de la oración y de
la contemplación, el monje se dispense del trabajo, incluido el trabajo manual,
que en realidad, según él y según toda la tradición monástica, es un medio para
encontrar a Dios. San Teodoro no tiene miedo de hablar del trabajo como del
"sacrificio del monje", de su "liturgia", incluso de una
especie de misa por la que la vida monástica se convierte en vida angélica. Y
precisamente así el mundo del trabajo se debe humanizar y el hombre, a través
del trabajo, se hace más hombre, más cercano a Dios. Merece la pena destacar
una consecuencia de esta singular concepción: precisamente por ser fruto de una
forma de "liturgia", el dinero que se obtiene del trabajo común no debe
servir para la comodidad de los monjes, sino que debe destinarse a ayudar a los
pobres. Así todos podemos ver la necesidad de que el fruto del trabajo es un
bien para todos.
Obviamente, el trabajo de
los "estuditas" no era sólo manual: tuvieron gran importancia en el
desarrollo religioso-cultural de la civilización bizantina como calígrafos,
pintores, poetas, educadores de los jóvenes, maestros de escuelas y
bibliotecarios.
Aunque llevó a cabo una
vastísima actividad exterior, san Teodoro no se dejaba distraer de lo que
consideraba íntimamente vinculado a su función de superior: ser el padre
espiritual de sus monjes. Conocía el influjo decisivo que habían tenido en su
vida tanto su buena madre como su santo tío, Platón, al que da el significativo
título de "padre". Por ello, impartía a los monjes dirección
espiritual. Cada día, refiere el biógrafo, tras la oración de la tarde, se
ponía ante el iconostasio para escuchar a todos. También aconsejaba
espiritualmente a muchas personas que no eran del monasterio. Su Testamento
espiritual y sus Cartas subrayan su carácter abierto y
afectuoso, y muestran cómo de su paternidad surgieron verdaderas amistades
espirituales en el ámbito monástico y fuera de él.
La Regla, conocida
con el nombre de Hypotyposis, codificada poco después de la muerte de
san Teodoro, fue adoptada, con alguna modificación, en el Monte Athos, cuando
en el año 962 san Atanasio Athonita fundó allí la Gran Lavra, y en la
Rus' de Kiev, cuando al inicio del segundo milenio san Teodosio la introdujo en
la Lavra de las Grutas. La Regla, comprendida en su significado
genuino, es sumamente actual. Existen hoy numerosas corrientes que amenazan la
unidad de la fe común y llevan hacia una especie de peligroso individualismo
espiritual y de soberbia espiritual. Es necesario esforzarse por defender y
hacer que crezca la perfecta unidad del Cuerpo de Cristo, en la que pueden
estar en armonía la paz del orden y las relaciones personales sinceras en el
Espíritu.
Quizá conviene, al final,
retomar algunos de los elementos principales de la doctrina espiritual de san
Teodoro. Amor al Señor encarnado y a su visibilidad en la liturgia y en los
iconos. Fidelidad al bautismo y esfuerzo por vivir en la comunión del Cuerpo de
Cristo, entendida también como comunión de los cristianos entre sí. Espíritu de
pobreza, de sobriedad, de renuncia; castidad, dominio de sí, humildad y
obediencia contra la primacía de la propia voluntad, que destruye el tejido
social y la paz de las almas. Amor al trabajo material y espiritual. Amistad
espiritual nacida en la purificación de la propia conciencia, de la propia
alma, de la propia vida. Tratemos de seguir estas enseñanzas, que realmente nos
muestran el camino de la verdadera vida.
Saludos
Saludo con afecto a los
peregrinos de lengua española, en particular a los antiguos alumnos del Colegio
de la Inmaculada Concepción, de Barcelona, acompañados por el señor cardenal
Lluís Martínez Sistach, a los fieles de las parroquias de la Sagrada Familia y
San Pedro, de Santiago de Chile, así como a los demás grupos procedentes de
España, México y otros países latinoamericanos. Que vuestra peregrinación al
sepulcro de los Apóstoles aumente vuestra fe y vuestro amor a la Iglesia.
Muchas gracias.
(A los peregrinos de
lengua portuguesa)
Nuestro encuentro tiene
lugar en la novena de Pentecostés, que quiere recrear sentimientos de fraterna
benevolencia y humilde adoración en los corazones y las comunidades, como
arcilla en las manos de Dios a la espera del soplo vivificador del Espíritu
Santo. Que él venga sobre todos vosotros.
(En lengua polaca)
Ayer en Polonia habéis
celebrado el día de la Madre. Refiriéndome a esta feliz conmemoración, doy
gracias a Dios con vosotros por el santo don que el corazón y el amor de toda
madre representan para sus hijos, para su familia y para cada uno de nosotros.
A María, Madre afectuosísima, en el mes dedicado a ella, encomiendo a todas las
madres, sus alegrías y sus tristezas.
(A los eslovacos)
Hermanos y hermanas, el
domingo próximo celebraremos la solemnidad de Pentecostés. Pidamos a Dios que
mande los dones de su Espíritu para que podamos ser testigos valientes de
nuestra fe.
(En italiano)
(A los miembros de la
fundación San Mateo, en memoria del cardenal Van Thuan)
Os agradezco la actividad que lleváis a cabo generosamente para difundir la
doctrina social de la Iglesia y sobre todo para hacer que se sienta la cercanía
de la Iglesia a los que son pobres material y espiritualmente.
Saludo por último a
los jóvenes, a los enfermos y a los recién casados. La
Iglesia recordó ayer a san Felipe Neri, que se distinguió por su alegría y su
dedicación a los pobres y a los enfermos, y especialmente a la juventud.
Queridos jóvenes, aprended de este santo a vivir con sencillez evangélica
y con alegría por la vida. Queridos enfermos, que san Felipe Neri os ayude
a hacer de vuestro sufrimiento una ofrenda al Padre celestial, en unión con
Jesús crucificado. Y vosotros, queridos recién casados, sostenidos por su
intercesión, sed constructores de familias iluminadas por la sabiduría
evangélica.
Copyright © Dicasterio
para la Comunicación
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/es/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527.html
PAPA BENTO XVI
AUDIÊNCIA GERAL
São Teodoro Studita
Queridos irmãos e irmãs
O Santo que hoje
encontramos, São Teodoro Studita leva-nos à plena Idade Média bizantina, a um
período bastante turbulento sob os pontos de vista religioso e político. São
Teodoro nasceu em 759 numa família nobre e piedosa: a mãe, Teoctista, e um tio,
Platão, abade do mosteiro de Sakkudion na Bitínia, são venerados como
santos. Foi precisamente o tio que o orientou para a vida monástica, que ele
abraçou com a idade de 22 anos. Foi ordenado sacerdote pelo Patriarca Tarásio,
mas em seguida interrompeu a comunhão com ele pela debilidade demonstrada no
caso do matrimónio adulterino do imperador Constantino VI. A consequência foi o
exílio de Teodoro para Tessalonica em 796. A reconciliação com a autoridade
imperial teve lugar no ano seguinte, sob a imperatriz Irene, cuja benevolência
levou Teodoro e Platão a transferir-se para o mosteiro urbano
de Studios, juntamente com uma boa parte da comunidade dos monges
de Sakkudion, para evitar as incursões dos sarracenos. Deste modo
teve início a importante "reforma studita".
Todavia, a vicissitude
pessoal de Teodoro continuou a ser movimentada. Com a sua energia habitual,
tornou-se o chefe da resistência contra o iconoclasmo de Leão V, o Arménio, que
se opôs novamente à existência de imagens e ícones na Igreja. A procissão de
ícones organizada pelos montes de Studios desencadeou a reacção da
polícia. De 815 a 821, Teodoro foi flagelado, aprisionado e exilado em diversos
lugares da Ásia. No final conseguiu voltar para Constantinopla, mas não para o
seu mosteiro. Então, estabeleceu-se com os seus monges na outra margem do
Bósforo. Parece que veio a falecer em Prinkipo, a 11 de Novembro de
826, dia em que o calendário bizantino o recorda. Teodoro distinguiu-se na
história da Igreja como um dos grandes reformadores da vida monástica e também
como defensor das imagens sacras, durante a segunda fase do iconoclasmo, ao
lado do Patriarca de Constantinopla, São Nicéforo. Teodoro compreendera que a
questão da veneração dos ícones interpelava a própria verdade da Encarnação.
Nos seus três livros Antirretikoi (Confutações), Teodoro faz uma
comparação entre as relações eternas intratrinitárias, onde a existência de
cada uma das Pessoas divinas não destrói a unidade, e arelações entre as duas
naturezas em Cristo, que não comprometem nele a única Pessoa
do Logos. E argumenta: abolir a veneração do ícone de Cristo
significaria eliminar a sua própria obra redentora, dado que, assumindo a
natureza humana, a Palavra eterna invisível, apareceu na carne humana
visível e deste modo santificou todo o cosmos visível. Santificados pela bênção
litúrgica e pelas orações dos fiéis, os ícones unem-nos à Pessoa de Cristo, aos
seus santos e, através deles, ao Pai celeste e dão testemunho do ingresso da
realidade divina no nosso cosmos visível e material.
Teodoro e os seus monges,
testemunhas de coragem no tempo das perseguições iconoclastas, estão
inseparavelmente ligados à reforma da vida cenobítica no mundo bizantino. A sua
importância já se impõe por uma circunstância externa: o número. Enquanto nos
mosteiros dessa época não havia mais que trinta ou quarenta monges,
da Vida de Teodoro sabemos da existência global de mais de mil monges
studitas. É o próprio Teodoro que nos informa sobre a presença no seu mosteiro
de cerca de trezentos monges; portanto, vemos o entusiasmo da fé que nasceu no
contexto deste homem realmente informado e formado pela própria fé. No entanto,
mais do que o número, revelou-se influente o novo espírito que o fundador
imprimiu à vida cenobítica. Nos seus escritos, ele insiste sobre a urgência de
um voltar consciente ao ensinamento dos Padres, principalmente a São Basílio,
primeiro legislador da vida monástica, e a São Doroteu de Gaza, famoso padre
espiritual do deserto da Palestina. A contribuição característica de Teodoro
consiste na insistência sobre a necessidade da ordem e da submissão por parte
dos monges. Durante as perseguições, eles dispersaram-se habituando-se a viver
cada qual segundo o próprio juízo. Agora, que fora possível reconstituir a vida
comum, era necessário comprometer-se profundamente para voltar a fazer do mosteiro
uma verdadeira comunidade orgânica, uma autêntica família ou, como ele mesmo
diz, um verdadeiro "Corpo de Cristo". É em tal comunidade que se
verifica de maneira concreta a realidade da Igreja no seu conjunto.
Outra convicção
fundamental de Teodoro é a seguinte: em relação aos seculares, os monges
assumem o compromisso de observar os deveres cristãos com maior rigor e
intensidade. Por isso, pronunciam uma profissão especial, que pertence
às hagiasmata (consagrações) e é quase um "novo baptismo",
cujo símbolo é a vestidura. Contudo, a característica dos monges em relação aos
seculares é o compromisso da pobreza, da castidade e da obediência.
Dirigindo-se aos monges, Teodoro fala da pobreza de modo concreto, às vezes
quase pitoresto, mas no seguimento de Cristo ela é desde o início um elemento
essencial do monaquismo e indica também um caminho para todos nós. A renúncia à
propriedade particular, esta liberdade das coisas materiais, assim como a
sobriedade e a simplicidade, valem de forma radical somente para os monges, mas
o espírito de tal renúncia é igual para todos. Com efeito, não podemos depender
da propriedade material mas, ao contrário, temos que aprender a renúncia, a
simplicidade, a austeridade e a sobriedade. Somente assim pode crescer uma sociedade
solidária e pode ser superado o problema da pobreza deste mundo. Portanto,
neste sentido o sinal radical dos monges pobres indica substancialmente também
a vereda para todos nós. Além disso, quando expõe as tentações contra a
castidade, Teodoro não esconde as próprias experiências e demonstra o caminho
de luta interior para encontrar o domínio de si mesmo e assim o respeito pelo
próprio corpo e do próximo, como templo de Deus.
Mas para ele as renúncias
principais são exigidas pela obediência, porque cada um dos monges tem o seu
modo de viver e a inserção na grande comunidade de trezentos monges implica
realmente um novo estilo de vida, que ele qualifica como o "martírio da
submissão". Também aqui os monges apresentam apenas um exemplo de quanto é
necessário para nós mesmos, porque depois do pecado original a tendência do
homem é fazer a própria vontade, o princípio primário é a vida do mundo e tudo
o resto deve ser submetido à própria vontade. Mas deste modo, se cada um seguir
somente a si mesmo, o tecido social não poderá funcionar. Só aprendendo a
inserir-se na liberdade comum, a compartilhar e a submeter-se a esta,
aprendendo a legalidade, ou seja, a submissão e a obediência às regras do bem
comum e da vida conjunta poderei salvar a sociedade e eu mesmo da
soberba de ser o centro do mundo. Assim, com uma introspecção requintada, São
Teodoro ajuda os seus monges e enfim também a nós, a compreender a verdadeira
vida, a resistir à tentação de pôr a própria vontade como máxima regra de vida,
e a conservar a verdadeira identidade pessoal – que é sempre uma
identidade em conjunto com os outros – e a paz do coração.
Para Teodoro Studita, uma
virtude tão importante quanto a obediência e a humildade é
a philergia, ou seja, o amor ao trabalho, em que ele vê um critério
para provar a qualidade da devoção pessoal: quem é fervoroso nos compromissos
materiais, quem trabalha com assiduidade argumenta ele é-o também nos
compromissos espirituais. Por isso não admite que, sob o pretexto da oração e
da contemplação, o monge se exima do trabalho, também do trabalho manual, que
na realidade é, na sua opinião e segundo toda a tradição monástica, o modo para
encontrar Deus. Teodoro não tem medo de falar do trabalho como do
"sacrifício do monge", da sua "liturgia" e até de um tipo
de Missa através da qual a vida monástica se torna uma vida angélica. E
precisamente assim o mundo do trabalho deve ser humanizado e, mediante o
trabalho, o homem torna-se mais ele mesmo, mais próximo de Deus. Uma
consequência desta visão singular merece ser recordada: exactamente porque é
fruto de uma forma de "liturgia", as riquezas alcançadas a partir do
trabalho comum não devem servir para a comodidade dos monges, mas ser
destinadas à ajuda aos pobres. Aqui todos nós podemos entrever a necessidade de
que o fruto do trabalho seja um bem para todos. Obviamente, o trabalho dos
"studitas" não era apenas manual: eles tiveram uma grande importância
no desenvolvimento religioso-cultural da civilização bizantina como calígrafos,
pintores, poetas, educadores dos jovens, professores escolares e
bibliotecários.
Mesmo exercendo uma
actividade externa muito vasta, Teodoro não se deixava distrair por aquilo que
considerava estritamente atinente à sua função de superior: ser o padre
espiritual dos seus monges. Ele sabia como fora decisiva a influência que
tiveram na sua vida, tanto a boa mãe como o santo tio Platão, por ele
qualificado com o título significativo de "pai". Por isso, exercia
sobre os monges a direcção espiritual. Cada dia, menciona o biógrafo, depois da
oração vespertina ele punha-se diante da iconostase para ouvir as confissões de
todos. Aconselhava também espiritualmente muitas pessoas fora do próprio
mosteiro. O Testamento espiritual e as Cartas põem em
evidência esta sua índole aberta e carinhosa, demonstrando como da sua
paternidade nasceram autênticas amizades espirituais no âmbito monástico e
mesmo fora.
A Regra, conhecida
com o nome de Hypotyposis, codificada pouco tempo depois da morte de
Teodoro, foi adoptada com algumas modificações no Monte Athos, quando em 962
Santo Atanásio Athonita fundou aí a Grande Lavra, na Rus' de Kiev
quando, no início do segundo milénio, São Teodósio a introduziu na Lavra
das Grutas. Compreendida no seu significado genuíno,
a Regra revela-se singularmente actual. Hoje existem numerosas
correntes que ameaçam a unidade da fé coral e impelem para um tipo de perigoso
individualismo e soberba espirituais. É necessário comprometer-se em defender e
fazer crescer a perfeita unidade do Corpo de Cristo, na qual podem compor-se harmoniosamente
a paz da ordem e os sinceros relacionamentos pessoais no Espírito.
Talvez seja útil retomar,
no final, alguns dos elementos principais da doutrina espiritual de Teodoro.
Amor ao Senhor encarnado e à sua visibilidade na Liturgia e nos ícones. Fidelidade
ao baptismo e compromisso a viver na comunhão do Corpo de Cristo, entendida
inclusive como comunhão dos cristãos entre si. Espírito de pobreza, de
sobriedade, de renúncia, castidade, domínio de si mesmo, humildade e obediência
contra o primado da própria vontade, que destrói o tecido social e a paz das
almas. Amor pelo trabalho material e espiritual. Amizade espiritual nascida da
purificação da própria consciência, da própria alma e da própria vida.
Procuremos seguir estes ensinamentos, que realmente nos indicam o caminho da
verdadeira vida.
Saudações
Uma saudação amiga e
encorajadora para todos os peregrinos de língua portuguesa! Este nosso encontro
tem lugar na novena do Pentecostes, que quer recriar sentimentos de fraterna
benevolência e humilde adoração nos corações e comunidades, como argila nas
mãos de Deus à espera do sopro vivificador do Espírito Santo. Venha Ele sobre
os grupos brasileiros das Dioceses de Bauru, São José dos Campos e São Paulo, e
também sobre os fiéis cristãos de Paderne e de Lisboa. Sobre todos os presentes
e seus familiares desça a minha Bênção.
© Copyright 2009 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastério
para a Comunicação
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/pt/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090527.html
V. Grumel . «L'iconologie de saint
Théodore Studite », Échos
d'Orient, Année 1921 Volume 20, Numéro
123, pp. 257-268 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_1146-9447_1921_num_20_123_4282
M. Jugie . « La doctrine mariale
de saint Théodore Studite », Échos
d'Orient Année 1926, Volume 25, Numéro
144, pp. 421-427 : http://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_1146-9447_1926_num_25_144_4588
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