Theodosius Brazsky

Holy Hieromartyr Theodosius Brazsky, Metropolitan of Moldavia in the seventeenth century, known in the Romanian Church as Theodosius of Brazi, fearlessly rebuked the prince Dumitrașcu Cantacuzino for his cruelty and his alliance with the Tatars, and for this was deposed and imprisoned. After his release he withdrew to the Brazi monastery, which he greatly cared for. In 1694, during a Tatar raid, the tormentors who wished to learn the place of the treasures tortured him cruelly and then cut off his head. His relics were found in 1842.

He was born in the first half of the seventeenth century, near the Brazi monastery, in a family of free landholders, vassals of the holy voivode Stephen the Great. At eighteen he entered the brotherhood of the monastery. He received monastic tonsure at the Bogdana monastery (now in Bacău county). As a pious and wise monk, who knew Holy Scripture and some writings of the Holy Fathers, in 1669 he was elected bishop of Rădăuți. He often went to venerate at the tomb of Stephen the Great, at the Putna monastery, where he lit an unquenchable lamp. In 1671 he was transferred to the see of Roman. In 1674, during the departure of Saint Dosoftei of Moldavia to Poland, he was elected Metropolitan of Moldavia.

At that time the prince of Moldavia, Dumitrașcu Cantacuzino, who levied excessive taxes from the people, had surrounded himself with Tatars to secure his power. The hierarch fearlessly rebuked him, calling the hired Tatars "the seed of the antichrist." For this the enraged prince removed him from the throne and shut him in the monastery of Saint Sava in Iași. Soon Metropolitan Dosoftei returned from Poland and released Theodosius. After this Saint Theodosius withdrew to rest in the Brazi monastery. Here he built the church dedicated to Saint George, introduced a new monastic rule for the day and night services, and endowed the monastery with fields, vineyards, orchards, forests and water mills. He also cared for the Bogdana monastery, urging the logothete Solomon Bârlădeanu to build new buildings there.

Moldavia was then suffering especially from the ravaging raids of the Tatars, and in 1694 the Brazi monastery was struck by one. The tormentors cruelly tortured the hierarch, trying to learn where the monastery's treasures were hidden. Hierarch Theodosius did not reveal the secret place, and in the end they cut off his head. The monks, together with the local villagers, buried the relics of the hieromartyr in the monastery's church of Saint George. Later, the church of Saint George at Brazi was destroyed by an earthquake. In 1842 the hieroschemamonk Demetrius of Brazi dug up the honoured remains of Saint Theodosius and moved them to the cave church of the Raising of Lazarus, in which Father Demetrius celebrated the Liturgy. Since then the relics have been surrounded with great veneration in the monastery. After the closure of the Brazi monastery by the communist authorities in 1959, the abbot of the monastery, Theodosius (Filimon), testified that both in his time and before him the faithful came to the saint's grave with prayer petitions. The solemn glorification of Metropolitan Theodosius among the holy hieromartyrs was carried out in the Romanian Orthodox Church on 5 October 2003. By decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church of 21 August 2007 the hierarch's name was included in the calendar of the Russian Church. He is commemorated on 5 October (new style).