Venerable Martyr
Venerable Martyr Theodosia Of Constantinople
VIII век, † 726/730
Venerable Martyr Theodosia of Constantinople — the first martyr of the iconoclast era; born into a wealthy, pious family, after her parents' death she distributed her property and took monastic vows at the Convent of St. Anastasia; she was killed for preventing an envoy of Emperor Leo III from smashing with an axe the image of Christ above the Chalke Gate.
Venerable Martyr Theodosia was born in Constantinople into a wealthy and pious family. After losing her parents, she distributed their remaining property to the poor and took monastic vows at the Convent of St. Anastasia. According to tradition, when an envoy of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian attempted to smash with an axe the venerated image of the Savior placed above the Chalke Gate (the Bronze Gate of the imperial palace) — thereby initiating the persecution of icon veneration — Venerable Theodosia, together with other women, pulled him down from the ladder. For this act she was seized by an imperial soldier who happened to be nearby and stabbed with a ram's horn. After the victory of icon veneration, she was numbered among the venerable martyrs as the first victim of the iconoclast persecutions.