Hierarch Theodore of Pavia

Saint Theodore of Pavia was bishop of Pavia, capital of the Lombard kingdom in northern Italy, holding the see from 743 for about thirty-five years until his death around 778. The Lombard rulers of Pavia at that time largely adhered to Arianism, and Theodore found himself in continual conflict with the heretical authorities as he defended Orthodox teaching and the rights of his flock. For his steadfastness he was repeatedly banished and persecuted by the Arians, yet never wavered in his confession of Orthodoxy. Little reliable information survives about his early life. He is venerated in the Western Church as a confessor who bore witness to the true teaching on the Holy Trinity during a period of Arian dominance among the Lombard rulers of Italy.