The life of St Theodoretus
The prefect had Theodoretus seized and held under guard while he plundered and defiled the altar of the Golden Church; one bystander who protested the sacrilege was killed on the spot.
Accused of hiding away some of the church's wealth, Theodoretus denied the charge and instead denounced the prefect for abandoning the faith he had once professed. He was tortured at length but did not yield, and before his death he foretold that both the prefect and the emperor who had sent him would soon meet violent ends. He was beheaded in the year 362. Within a short time the prefect died in agony of a sudden illness, and the emperor himself was killed on campaign against Persia the following year. The Orthodox Church keeps his memory in March, a different date than the one usually given for his death in the autumn.
