St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch

St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch was born about 423 at Mogariassus in Cappadocia, in Asia Minor, and, drawn to the monastic life, made his way to the Holy Land to live among the monks of the Judean desert. After years of solitary asceticism, he was called to gather and lead others, and about 476 he founded a great monastery near Bethlehem that grew into one of the most important communities of the Palestinian desert.

He is honored with the title Cenobiarch, "head of the common life," for his role in organizing and governing the shared, communal form of monasticism, as distinct from the solitary life of the hermits, and hundreds of monks of many nations lived under his rule. His monastery was renowned for its charity, maintaining hospitals for the sick, the aged, and the mentally ill, and hostels for pilgrims and the poor. A staunch defender of the Council of Chalcedon and the two natures of Christ, he resisted the imperial pressure toward heresy even in his great age. He died about 529, over a hundred years old, and is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 11 January.