(A.D. 319.)
[Roman Martyrology on this day. By the modern Greeks on Feb. 8th,
but anciently on the 7th. The Acts purport to be written by one
Augarius, a notary; he says, "I, the Scribe Augarius, was present,
and saw these cruel punishments, and hearing also the pain of his
stifled sighs, casting aside my parchments, I threw myself weeping
at his feet." He says also that he wrote this account at the request
of the dying martyr. If this be not a forgery, the original Acts
have been sadly tampered with. To the account of the martyrdom is
prefixed--very probably by a later hand--a story of the fight of S.
Theodore with a dragon, which belongs to the Western version of the
story of S. George. These Acts certainly existed in their present
condition in 550, for they were then translated into Latin.]
S. Theodore of Heraclea, who is not to be confounded with S. Theodore
of Amasea, surnamed Tyro, also a warrior martyr, is numbered among the
Great Martyrs by the Greek Church.
Theodore of Heraclea was a general of the forces of Licinius, and
governor of the country of the Mariandyni, whose capital was Heraclea
of Pontus. Here he was sentenced to death by order of the emperor.
After having been scourged, and his flesh torn by hooks, and burnt
with fire, he was for a short while attached to a cross, and then
beheaded.
Relics at S. Saviour's, Venice. S. Theodore is regarded as one of the
chief patrons of the Venetian republic. The body of this glorious
martyr was brought from Constantinople to Venice by Mark Dandolo, in
1260.
In Art, S. Theodore appears as a warrior in armour, very generally
trampling on the dragon. He is to be distinguished from S. George by
being represented on foot, whereas S. George usually appears mounted.