Family - Saint Theodora

[Saint Theodora]

Saintly Lives: The Empress Theodora
(Commemorated February 11th )

As a right worthy namesake of gifts bestowed of God, and a divinely-wrought image of holy wisdom and faith, you did make the Church to shine with godly piety; for you did demonstrate to all that the Saints in every age have shown honor to the icons, O Theodora, righteous and fair adornment of the Orthodox.

St. Theodora lived in the 9th century, and was descended from an aristocratic Armenian family. She was the wife of the Emperor Theophilus, who was known as "The Iconoclast," because he fought to have icons—and their veneration—banished from the Church. She did not share her husband's beliefs and was a secret, but strong, advocate of this ancient Christian practice. After Theophilus' death, she became regent for her son Michael and promptly overrode the iconoclastic policies of Theophilus, finally restoring the veneration of icons to the Eastern Roman Empire. Each year on the first Sunday of Lent (in 2008 on March 16th), we celebrate St. Theodora's victory ("The Sunday of Orthodoxy"/"Triumph of Orthodoxy"), and give thanks for our beautiful, inspiring and life-changing icons.

Making it real. Challenge your children to imagine a "world without icons." If iconoclasm had not been overcome so long ago, what would our Church look like? There would be no images of saints, angels, and heroes of our Church looking down upon us during Liturgy … no magnificent image of Christ blessing us from above each Sunday. Our icon screen would be eliminated; the Narthex would be bare—no holy images to inspire us and get us in the right frame of mind for worship. The power of Christ's incarnation, His becoming flesh and blood for our sake, would be on a certain level minimized—His connection to our lives down-played. In short, we have a lot to be thankful for. Each Sunday when you come into Church with your family, remind your children that our Orthodox Faith is a precious gift never to be taken for granted.

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