Venerable (Monastic)17th century

Saint Theodora of Sihla

c. 1650 – early 18th century

Also known as Teodora of Sihla

A Romanian woman who, after marriage, withdrew to the wilderness of Sihla, where she lived in a cave in extreme austerity, fed in her last days by a raven.

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Mother Theodora of Sihla

Life

Saint Theodora of Sihla was a Romanian ascetic of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries who, after a childless marriage, embraced monastic life and ultimately withdrew to a cave on Mount Sihla in the Neamt region, where she lived for many years in extreme austerity. She is honored as the first Romanian woman to be formally canonized as a saint.

Born around 1650 in the village of Vanatori in Neamt County, she was the daughter of Stephen (Stefan) Joldea, by tradition the chief armourer of the Neamt Citadel. Her life moved from an arranged marriage to the eremitic solitude of the Carpathian wilderness, and her relics were eventually carried far from her homeland to the Kiev Caves Monastery, where she became known as Saint Theodora of the Carpathians.

Troparion & Kontakion2 hymnsReadHide

TroparionTone 1

Leaving behind the things of this earth and taking up the yoke of a solitary,
you were made a bride of Christ, O blessed one.
Through fasting, vigil, and prayer
you were granted heavenly gifts and became like the angels.
You overcame human nature and moved to the heavenly places,
leaving us the consolation of your cave and of your holy relics.
Therefore, O holy and most venerable Mother Theodora,
entreat Christ our God to save our souls.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

KontakionTone 3

Come, all of you who love Christ, with faith and piety to honor our righteous Mother Theodora,
who labored zealously in Sihla hermitage and became a beacon of hermits.
Let us praise God and honor His righteous servants saying:
Rejoice, most venerable Mother Theodora, the spiritual flower of Moldavia.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide

c. 1650Birth in VanatoriTheodora was born in the village of Vanatori in Neamt County during the first half of the seventeenth century, the daughter of Stephen Joldea and his wife.
YouthMarriage and turn to monasticismMarried in her youth, she remained childless. By tradition she and her husband mutually resolved to enter monastic life; her husband was tonsured under the name Eleutherius and became known as Eleutherios the Hesychast, while she was tonsured at the Skete of Poiana Marului.
Late 17th centuryWithdrawal to SihlaFollowing the disruption of monastic life by Turkish invasions and the death of her spiritual mother, and guided by Hieromonk Barsanuphius of the Sihastria Skete, she withdrew to the wilderness of Mount Sihla, occupying a hermit's cell and later a remote cave.
Early 18th centuryRepose in her caveAfter long years of solitary asceticism she received the Holy Mysteries, confessed her life, and reposed in her cave during the first decade of the eighteenth century, where she was buried.
c. 1828–1834Translation of relics to KyivDuring the Russian occupation of the Romanian Principalities her relics were transferred to the Kiev Caves Monastery, where she came to be venerated as Saint Theodora of the Carpathians.
June 20, 1992CanonizationShe was formally canonized (glorified) by the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, becoming the first Romanian woman to be canonized as a saint.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributionsReadHide

Life in the Wilderness

After embracing the monastic life, Theodora sought ever greater solitude. According to her vita, the destruction of her monastery by Turkish forces and the death of her spiritual mother led her, on the counsel of Hieromonk Barsanuphius of the Sihastria Skete, to take up the life of a hermit in the Neamt mountains. She first lived in a cell left by an elderly monk in a rocky part of Sihla, but when others fleeing the invasions discovered her, she relinquished it and moved into a more remote cave.

Her asceticism was severe. The tradition relates that she kept all-night vigils with upraised arms, that her garments wore away to rags, and that she subsisted on wild herbs and rainwater from a spring that still bears her name. She lived in this manner in near-total isolation for many years.

Miracles and Traditional Accounts

By tradition, when provisions failed, she was fed in her last days through divine providence: a bird carried bread to her cave from the nearby Sihastria Skete. The monks, noticing a bird repeatedly taking bread, followed it and discovered the hermitess at prayer beside a fir tree, said to be radiant with light and raised above the ground.

The synaxarion relates that she then asked for the Holy Mysteries, made a confession of her whole life to a priest, received communion, and departed with the words 'Glory to God for all things.' After her repose her relics were reported to be incorrupt, and miracles were said to take place before them.

Relics and Veneration

Theodora was buried in the cave where she had lived. Around 1828 to 1834, during the Russian occupation of the Romanian Principalities, her relics were translated to the Kiev Caves Monastery (the Pechersk Lavra), where she is venerated as Saint Theodora of the Carpathians.

She is commemorated as the first Romanian woman to be formally canonized, glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church on June 20, 1992. Sihla Monastery, associated with her memory, stands in the region of her hermitage. Her feast is kept on August 7.

Family1 relativeShowHide

After a childless marriage, Theodora and her husband mutually resolved to enter the monastic life.

Husband — tonsured Eleutherius when the couple parted to take up the ascetic life, and remembered as a hesychast.

Eleutherios the Hesychast

Companions1 figureShowHide

Spiritual guide — counseled her to withdraw to the eremitic life in the Neamt wilderness of Mount Sihla.

Hieromonk Barsanuphius of the Sihastria Skete

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints