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St. Theodora of Thessaloniki

Feast 08-29

Patron of

About

Saint Theodora of Thessalonica was a Byzantine nun and saint from the island of Aegina. Her hagiography is the longest ever written about a holy woman in Byzantine history, a remarkable record of devotion that reveals the depth of her sanctity. After the death of her husband she embraced the monastic life, devoting herself to prayer, fasting, and the service of her sisters in the convent at Thessaloniki.

Her life of obedience and humility drew the attention of the whole city, and after her death her tomb became a place of pilgrimage. Her relics were honored in Thessaloniki for centuries, and her memory is kept by the Eastern Orthodox Church on August 29. She is a model of widowhood consecrated to God, of holy nuns whose hidden lives of prayer sustain the faithful.

widowers, widower, widowed men, bereaved husbands, men who lost spouses, grieving husbands, widowed fathers, widowers grief, widowers support, bereaved widowers, contemplatives, contemplative life, contemplative, contemplative prayer, contemplative orders, meditation, prayerful life, religious life, contemplative religious, contemplative spirituality, inner life, single women, single woman, unmarried women, single ladies, unmarried ladies, women living alone, single catholic women, single life women, spinsters, single girls

Suggested prayer

O God, who called Saint Theodora from widowhood to the vowed life of a nun, grant through her intercession that those who mourn the loss of their beloved may find in Your service a new family and a deeper love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sources

Other saints to pray to

For widowers

For contemplatives