Theosterictus the Hymnographer

Venerable Theosterictus the Hymnographer, also called the Confessor, was born in Triglia, Bithynia, at the beginning of the eighth century and was abbot of the Peletiki Monastery, a confessor of the holy icons and the author of a prayer canon to the Mother of God. He died in peace in old age.

Pious and fond of monks from childhood, after finishing his basic schooling he went to the nearby Peletiki Monastery, was tonsured and later became its abbot. In the time of the emperor Constantine V Copronymos (741-775), when the persecution of icons broke out, the emperor commanded the governor of Asia, Michael Lachanodrakon, to punish severely those who venerated icons. He came to the Peletiki Monastery on Holy Thursday, while the Divine Liturgy was being celebrated, seized the monks, killed some by barbarous tortures, and sent others, among them Theosterictus, after cruelly torturing them, to the prisons of Constantinople. Later, released from prison, an old man, he returned to the ruined Peletiki Monastery, where he met Saint Nicetas, abbot and confessor of the Medikion Monastery (3 April). He composed a Supplicatory Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos. He lived to a very old age and fell asleep in peace.

In other calendars the same Theosterictus, abbot at Symbola or Peletiki, is commemorated on 10 November and 17 February. Here he is commemorated on 17 March, according to the new calendar.