Theodosia the Queen and Gerontios

Theodosia the Queen and her servant Gerontios are commemorated on 13 April as two ascetics of Jerusalem, after a story kept in a codex, which the synaxarion itself regards as more likely legendary. They are locally honoured, with no known canonization, and their existence is not proven.

Their memory does not appear in the usual synaxaria. It is found in the Lavra codex I 70, where there is a memorandum about them. According to it, Theodosia was the daughter of the Emperor Hadrian (117 to 138) and, because she did not want to marry as her parents wished, left the palace with her servant Gerontios and fled the city, dressed as a beggar. She reached Jerusalem, venerated the Holy Places and visited the monasteries, where she came to know the virtues of the holy ones. Then she shut herself in a cell and lived in harsh asceticism, with vigils, fasting and prayer. She placed her servant in a monastery, where he became a monk, reached great spiritual height and fell asleep in peace. The saint, having also reached a great height of virtue, received the gift of foresight and foresaw her end. She called the local bishop, received the Holy Mysteries and gave up her spirit to God.

The synaxarion itself observes that the story seems imaginary and is confused with that of Saints Gerontios and Basilides on 1 April.