Righteous Theodore the Sanctified

St. Theodore the Sanctified was born around 316 in Latopolis, Upper Egypt, into a wealthy and noble Christian family. At age fourteen he secretly left his parents' house and settled in a monastery at Latopolis, later coming to the Tabennisiot community of St. Pachomius the Great, who received him with love and soon recognized his exceptional spiritual gifts. For his humility and discernment Pachomius appointed him to teach the brethren — provoking envy among senior monks — and made him steward and closest assistant in governing the Tabennisiot federation of cenobitic monasteries. Theodore was the first in his monastery to be ordained a priest, earning him the epithet "the Sanctified." After the repose of St. Pachomius in 348, Theodore succeeded him as head of the koinonia he had founded, continuing to order monastic life according to his teacher's rule. He was held in deep esteem by St. Athanasius the Great, who wrote letters of comfort to him. He reposed in 368. His feast is kept on May 16/29.