Theodoret of Antioch

Holy Hieromartyr Theodoret was a Greek-⁠speaking Syrian priest and keeper of the sacred vessels at Antioch. He died as a martyr in the time of the emperor Julian the Apostate, in the year 362. His relics were later taken to Uzès, in the south of France, and placed in the cathedral that bears his name. The sources do not agree on the day: one says he died on 22 October 362, our calendar gives 23 October, and the Serbian source gives the commemoration as 8 March by the old calendar (21 March by the new). His life is recorded only in apologetic works.

Emperor Julian the Apostate made his uncle, also Julian, a count and governor of the East. Hearing that there was much wealth in the treasury of one of the churches of Antioch, Count Julian resolved to seize it and issued a proclamation forbidding the clergy to serve. The church was the one built by Constantine the Great, called the "Golden Church" by the people for its gilding and for the many vessels of gold and silver in it; the emperor had given it great estates, for the maintenance of many priests. Theodoret, the priest who kept the sacred vessels, did not abandon his flock and continued to celebrate the Divine Liturgy publicly. Count Julian ordered that he be arrested and brought before him, with his hands bound behind his back.

He accused him of having destroyed the statues of the gods in a previous reign. Theodoret replied by reproaching him for his apostasy, and said, according to tradition, that the crucified God whom he blasphemed would send him to hell, him and the tyrant whom he served. The Serbian source says that Theodoret reproached him for returning to idols like a dog to its vomit. The count then ordered that he be tortured. It is said that, when the judge was guilty of an insult in the Golden Church, Theodoret foretold him a dreadful death, which was not long delayed: from that hour pains seized him, and the lower part of his body was eaten by worms, and he died in terrible torments. The same happened to his aide, Felix. Theodoret was put to death with the axe for Christ and, according to some sources, beheaded in the year 362.