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Venerable (Monastic)16th century

Venerable Theophanes of Docheiariou

Also known as Theophanes the New

An Athonite monk of Docheiariou from Ioannina who became abbot and later founded a monastery, remembered for rescuing his nephew from captivity.

August 19New Calendar
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September 1Old Calendar
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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Theophanes the New of Docheiariou

Life

Theophanes the New was a native of Ioannina in Epirus who became a monastic on Mount Athos and rose to be abbot of the Docheiariou monastery. He is remembered chiefly for leaving the Holy Mountain to shelter a nephew he had rescued from forced conversion to Islam, and for founding two monastic communities in Macedonia at Beroea (Veria) and Naousa.

The synaxaria place his life in the post-Byzantine period under Ottoman rule; the Orthodox Church in America's synaxarion assigns him to the sixteenth century, while other accounts give a birth year of 1590 and treat him as a figure of the seventeenth century. His feast is kept on August 19.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Theophanes, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide
  1. 16th centuryTonsure at DocheiariouA native of Ioannina, Theophanes received the monastic tonsure as a young man at the Docheiariou monastery on Mount Athos.
  2. 16th centuryChosen abbotOn account of his virtue he was selected igumen (abbot) of Docheiariou.
  3. 16th centuryRescue of his nephewHe freed his nephew, who had been forcibly converted to Islam, from the Turks and brought the youth to the monastery to receive the monastic life.
  4. 16th centuryDeparture to BeroeaWhen the brethren feared Turkish reprisal, Theophanes withdrew from Docheiariou and the Holy Mountain with his nephew and settled at Beroea (Veria).
  5. 16th centuryFoundations at Beroea and NaousaAt the skete of Saint John the Forerunner in Beroea he built a church to the Most Holy Theotokos and gave the community a cenobitic rule, and afterward at Naousa he raised a church to the Holy Archangels and founded a second monastery.
  6. 16th centuryRepose at BeroeaAfter a revelation of his coming end, he reposed in extreme old age at the Beroea monastery, having guided both communities as their common father.

Contributions & Legacy

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Monastic Foundations

After leaving Mount Athos, Theophanes settled at Beroea (Veria) in Macedonia, where the synaxaria associate him with the skete of Saint John the Forerunner. There he built a church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos and organized the brethren under a cenobitic rule.

When that community had become established, he moved on to Naousa, where he built a church dedicated to the Holy Archangels and founded a second monastery. Tradition holds that he continued to oversee both houses for the rest of his life and was venerated as their common father.

Relics & Shrines

According to the accounts, after his repose the monks of the Beroea skete placed his skull among the other relics in a silver reliquary. Sources relate that in 1926 a portion of his bones was set within the holy altar, and that his skull was later kept at the church bearing his name in Naousa.

Miracles

By tradition the saint was glorified after his death through miracles; the synaxarion relates accounts of his calming storms and of seawater being made fit to drink, and of grace granted to those who sought his intercession.

Member ofReadHide
Synaxis of All Saints of Mount Athos
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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints