Righteous Theodora of Caesarea in Cappadocia

Venerable Theodora of Caesarea (in Cappadocia) was an 8th-century saint, daughter of the patrician Theophilus and his wife Theodora, who had long been childless and vowed to dedicate any child to God. When the girl came of age, her mother brought her to the Monastery of Saint Anna in Caesarea, where she was raised under the guidance of the abbess and studied Holy Scripture. The iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian (717–741) decided, against the will of both mother and daughter, to marry Theodora to one of his courtiers, and had her forcibly taken to Constantinople. During the wedding feast, Scythian raiders attacked the capital, and her betrothed was killed in the very first skirmish. Taking advantage of the confusion, Theodora secretly boarded a ship and returned to her convent, where she received monastic tonsure, after which she could no longer be forced into marriage. She spent the rest of her life in strict asceticism — fasting, vigil, and prayer — wearing heavy iron chains until her death. Her feast is kept on December 30 (Old Style) / January 12 (New Style).