hich stood near S. Theodosia beside the Golden Horn.
NOTE
While Zosimus and Alexander agree in placing the relics of S.
Theodosia in a church in the region of Psamathia, they differ as to
the name of that church, the former naming it Everghetis, while the
latter styles it Kirmarta. As appears from statements found on pages
108, 163, 205 of the _Itineraires russes_, the two sanctuaries were
closely connected. But however this discrepancy should be treated,
there can be no doubt that relics of S. Theodosia were exhibited, not
only in the church dedicated to her beside the Golden Horn, but also
in a church in the south-western part of the city. Nor can it be
doubted that a church in the latter quarter was dedicated to the
Theotokos Euergetes.
That several churches should have claimed to possess the relics of the
heroine who championed the cause of eikons, assuming that all the
Russian pilgrims had one and the same S. Theodosia in mind, is not
strange. Many other popular saints were honoured in a similar fashion.
The shrine of S. Theodosia was famed for miraculous cures. Her horn of
plenty was filled with gifts of healing. Twice a week, on Wednesdays and
Fridays, according to Stephen of Novgorod, or on Mondays and Fridays,
according to another pilgrim, the relics of the saint were carried in
procession and laid upon sick and impotent folk.[278] Those were days of
high festival. All the approaches to the church were packed with men and
women eager to witness the wonders performed. Patients representing
almost every complaint to which human flesh is heir filled the court.
Gifts of oil and money poured into the treasury; the church was a blaze
of lighted tapers; the prayers were long; the chanting was loud.
Meanwhile the sufferers were borne one after another to the sacred
relics, 'and whoever was sick,' says the devout Stephen, 'was healed.'
So profound was the impression caused by one of these cures in 1306,
that Pachymeres[279] considered it his duty, as the historian of his
day, to record the wonder; and his example may be followed to furnish an
illustration of the beliefs and usages which bulked largely in the
religious life witnessed in the churches of Byzantine Constantinople.
At the time referred to there dwelt in the city a deaf-mute, a
well-known object of charity who supported himself by petty services in
benevolent households. While thus employed by a family that resided near
the
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