Theodore of Eleutheropolis

Holy Martyr Theodore of Eleutheropolis was a Byzantine soldier and is counted among the fifty soldiers of the garrison of Gaza put to death at Eleutheropolis on 17 December, around the years 637 or 638. The list of names places him thirty-⁠sixth.

Their story is preserved in an account of their passion (a passio), published by Hippolyte Delehaye in 1904. After Gaza fell to the Arabs, the Byzantine soldiers surrendered and were forced to deny their faith. They refused and were taken to Jerusalem, where Patriarch Sophronius visited them. Ten, with Callinicus, were beheaded there. The other fifty were taken to Eleutheropolis and, after again defending their faith, were put to death on 17 December.

The Roman Martyrology names them on 17 December. Theodore is honored on that day as a saint of the undivided Church. The sources do not show an Orthodox synodal canonization.