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St. Theodore Graptus
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Saints and feasts
St. Theodore Graptus
Confessor
Theodore Graptus and his brother Theophanes suffered for defending holy images. His surname recalls the inscription cut into his face during their persecution.
The reading
ⓘ Butler source
Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XII (December), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; December 27, “St Theodorus Grapt, Confessor,” pp. 425-427.
Theodore received his religious formation in the monastery of St. Sabas near Jerusalem and was ordained priest. During the struggle over holy images, the patriarch sent him to the imperial court to plead for the peace of the Church. His mission brought punishment and exile rather than a favourable hearing.
His brother Theophanes shared his sufferings. Under successive emperors they endured imprisonment, banishment and renewed pressure to accept the iconoclast position. The account remembers a particularly cruel humiliation: verses attacking their faith were cut into their faces. The name Graptus recalls that marking.
Theodore died after further exile and suffering. Theophanes survived and later became bishop of Nicaea after the restoration of holy images. Butler keeps the brothers’ histories distinct and records December 27 for Theodore, with an October observance for Theophanes in the Greek calendar. Their defence of holy images remained joined to endurance under persecution.
Historical note
An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 source. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.
Theodore Graptus is distinct from Theodore Tyro and Theodore the Studite. Theophanes’s later episcopate is not assigned to Theodore. Exact imperial chronology is not asserted in this adaptation.
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