From the Prologue of Ochrid
From Alexandria, the wife of a young husband. Persuaded by a certain sorcerer, she committed adultery with another man. And immediately her conscience began to gnaw at her bitterly. She cut her hair and dressed in men's clothing, then entered the men's monastery of Octodecatus under the male name Theodore. Her labor, fasting, vigils, humility, and tearful repentance amazed all the brethren. Slandered by a certain unchaste maiden as having gotten her with child, Theodora would not defend herself, considering that slander as God's punishment for her earlier sin. Expelled from the monastery, she spent seven years struggling through forests and wilderness, and on top of that, nursing the child of that unchaste woman. She conquered all the devil's temptations: she would not bow down to Satan, she would not accept food from the hand of a soldier, she would not listen to the counsel of her husband to return to him — for all of this was merely a phantom of the devil, and as soon as Theodora made the sign of the Cross, everything vanished like smoke. After seven years the abbot received her back into the monastery, where she lived for two more years, and then reposed in the Lord. Only then did the monks learn that this was a woman; and an angel appeared to the abbot and explained everything to him. Her husband then came to her burial and remained until death in the cell of his former wife. Saint Theodora possessed an exceedingly great grace of God: she tamed wild beasts, healed diseases, and drew water from a dry well. Thus God glorified a true penitent who, with heroic endurance, repented for nine years of but a single sin. She reposed in the year 490.
