Venerable Theophilus the Myrrh-gusher of Macedonia
c. 1460 – 1548
Also known as Theophilus of Macedonia
A learned ascetic of Macedonia who, having labored in the monastic life, was glorified after his repose with the flowing of fragrant myrrh from his relics.
Feast Day
July 8
Draft
Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.
Our Venerable Father Theophilus the Myrrh-gusher of Macedonia
Life
Theophilus the Myrrh-gusher was a sixteenth-century monastic of Macedonia, by tradition born around 1460 in New Zikhne in Greek Macedonia to pious parents. Well educated, he trained in letters and calligraphy before becoming a monk and being ordained to the priesthood, and he passed much of his later life in ascetic struggle on Mount Athos.
He is best known for the fragrant myrrh that, according to the synaxarion, flowed from his relics after their discovery, an account that gives him the epithet "the Myrrh-gusher." He is commemorated on July 8.
Timeline 5 moments
ReadHide
c. 1460Birth in MacedoniaBy tradition Theophilus was born around 1460 in New Zikhne (Ziki) in Greek Macedonia to pious parents, and was educated in letters and calligraphy before entering the monastic life and being ordained priest.
c. 1486Mission to EgyptPatriarch Niphon of Constantinople sent him, by some accounts together with Bishop Akakios, to Egypt to investigate reports that Patriarch Joachim of Alexandria had moved a mountain and drunk poison without harm; the synaxarion relates that he verified these accounts.
16th centuryService and ascetic lifeHe served the Patriarchate of Constantinople for a period before withdrawing to Mount Athos, where he lived in turn at the Vatopedi and Iveron monasteries and afterward in the Kapsala area near Karyes, settling at the cell of Saint Basil.
16th centuryRefusal of the see of ThessalonicaNominated to become Archbishop of Thessalonica, he declined the office; the tradition relates that he avoided consecration by taking the Great Schema.
July 8, 1548ReposeHe reposed on July 8, 1548. His relics were later discovered and brought to his cell, after which, according to the synaxarion, fragrant myrrh began to flow from them.
Contributions & Legacy
1 contributions
ReadHide
Relics & Shrines
According to the synaxarion, the relics of Theophilus were found and placed in the church or cell of Saint Basil in the Kapsala area near Karyes on Mount Athos, where they were reported to gush a fragrant myrrh. By tradition the myrrh-bearing relics were later enshrined at the Pantokrator Monastery on the Holy Mountain.
