September 19

Theodore of Tarsus (ca. 602-690) pastor

Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, died in 690.  He was born in Tarsus, Cilicia, studied in Athens, and became a monk in Greece.

Theodore of Tarsus (ca. 602-690) pastor

Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, died in 690.  He was born in Tarsus, Cilicia, studied in Athens, and became a monk in Greece. At the age of sixty-six he travelled to Rome, perhaps wishing to study there. He was soon ordained deacon and then bishop by Pope Vitalianus, who appointed him to the vacant see of Canterbury.
In excellent health despite his advanced age, Theodore launched himself energetically into his episcopal ministry. He began by travelling from one end of England to another, so as to become acquainted with the land and people whose pastor he had become.
He thoroughly reorganized the life of the English Church by calling the first council in British history at Hertford in 673, helping to heal the many divisions between Christians of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon origin, and opening a school in Canterbury for advanced classical studies. His school educated the principal bishops and reform-minded thinkers of the Western pre-Carolingian Christian world.
Theodore died in Canterbury at close to ninety years of age, having laid the foundations for the new Anglo-Saxon church.

 

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BIBLICAL READINGS

Isa 52:7-10; 2 Cor 5:11-6:2; Lk 10:1-9

 

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THE CHURCHES REMEMBER...

ANGLICANS:
Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury

WESTERN CATHOLICS:
Gennaro (d. ca. 305), bishop and martyr (Roman and Ambrosian calendars)

COPTS AND ETHIOPIANS (9 tut/maskarani):
Pisúra of Malig (3rd-4th cent.), martyr (Coptic Church)

LUTHERANS:
Thomas John Barnardo (d. 1905), benefactor in London

MARONITES:
Gennaro, martyr

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS AND GREEK CATHOLICS:
Trophimus, Dorymedon and Sabbatius of Synnada (d. 276), martyrs
Maxim Sandovic (d. 1914), priest and martyr (Polish Orthodox Church)