On Saturday of the first week of Lent, March 8, 2025, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem commemorated the boiled wheat miracle of Saint Theodore the Tyron at his Holy Monastery in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The miracle in question was performed by Saint Theodore the Tyron (from the Latin “tiro-nis,” meaning “newly enlisted soldier”), who appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius of Constantinople, telling him that Julian the Apostate, having succeeded Constantine, the son of Constantine the Great, as emperor and persecutor of Christians, attempted to contaminate the food of Christians in the market by mixing it with food sacrificed to idols. The Saint instructed the Bishop to encourage the faithful to prepare and eat kollyva (boiled wheat), which was traditionally prepared in his hometown of Euchaita.
The Christians followed his advice, eating the kollyva and, as a result, were not contaminated.
Since then, it has become customary to use kollyva on the Saturday of the first week of Lent in honour of the Martyr.
The feast and celebration were presided over by Metropolitan Hesychios of Capitolias, who led Vespers, the Small Compline, and the Akathist Hymn in the evening, and the Matins and Divine Liturgy on the feast day itself, assisted by Archimandrites Stephanos, Claudius and Amphilochios, Priest Fr. Nektarios and Archdeacon Mark, with the chanting of Hierodeacon Dositheos and the participation of a large congregation of monks, nuns, and faithful from Jerusalem, along with a few pilgrims.
During the Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, accompanied by the Fathers of the Holy Sepulchre, visited the Monastery for veneration.
After the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarchal and Episcopal entourages, along with the devout congregation, were received at the Monastery’s Rectory and courtyard by the Hegumen and renovator of the Monastery, as well as the Typikon overseer of the Holy Monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, Archimandrite Alexios.
