Empress Theodora - Saint?

[Marcarios]

As Far as I know The Empress Thedora , the wife of Emperor and St Justinian is not considered a “saint” in the Orthodox Church . I would imagine if she was , then her Image would be next to her husbands in the Icons I have seen of Justinian , with the exception of the Church in Ravenna Italy …But I think there are a few reasons for that , 1.) She convinced Justinian that he should show his power and authority as the Emperor by executing the rioters of the Nika Revolt that burned down the 1st Hagia Sophia. 2.) Theodora had sympathies towards the Monophysite Heretics and would use her position as Emperess to grant them Leverage against the Orthodox who followed Calcedon . Other reasons I could think of maybe due to her background as an actress , but thats all I can think of

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Dear Friend ,

In fact, Empress St Theodora is listed as such in the Orthodox/Eastern calendar along with St Justinian Oupravda the Emperor.

There are six different “categories” of saint in the East, including the simple commemoration of someone for whom there would not be any liturgical services. There are 20 Byzantine emperors and empresses who are in the calendar, largely because they supported the Church etc.

The “Monophysite heretics” you mention were not seen in quite such an opprobrious way by the Emperor in his day.

The Emperor himself wanted his wife to maintain ties with the Miaphysites with the hope of reconciling the two parties within one Church.

The Emperor even went so far as to tell the Miaphysite Church leaders that the anathemas pronounced against their teachers e.g. Severus of Antioch could be revoked in future after reunion was established.

Sts Justinian and Theodora represented a type of “pinnacle” of the Byzantine empire, uniting the cultural genius of the Latin, Greek and Slavic civilizations of their time into a truly Byzantine/New Roman synthesis.

Alex