Today we honor Venerable Theodosius the Great (424-529). In 650 he founded a monastery which still bears his name and is located 7 km from Jerusalem.
He came into this world as a gift of Providence. In a cave in the desert of Bethlehem he devoted himself to prayer and abstinence. He was the first to introduce the dormitory form of monastic asceticism, and the Patriarch of Jerusalem appointed him general archimandrite of all the dormitory monasteries of Palestine. A few years before he died, he predicted it by announcing it to three bishops. Just before he remembered it, he ordered the prayer bell to be rung and tearfully announced to the brethren, “Pray! God’s wrath has visited the East!” At the same time, Antioch was destroyed in an earthquake.
“Theodosius” means “God-given” or “Bogdan”.
On January 11, Bogdan, Bogo, Bojo, Bozhil, Bogoya, Bogdana, Bona, Bonka, Bogomil, Bogomila, Bojan, Bojana, Teodora, Teodora, Teodosi, Teodosiy, Theodosia, Bonka are celebrated as name days.
