Theodora Petraliphaina ( el, Θεοδώρα Πετραλίφαινα), canonized as Saint Theodora of

Arta Arta, ARTA, or Artà may refer to: Places Djibouti * Arta, Djibouti, a regional capital city in southeastern Djibouti * Arta Mountains, a mountain range in Djibouti * Arta Region, Djibouti Greece * Arta, Greece, a regional capital city in northwes ...

( el, Αγία Θεοδώρα της Άρτας; ca. 1225 – after 1270), was a consort of Epirus and an

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

saint.

Life

Her life is known mostly from a short

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...

written by the monk Job, sometimes identified with the late-13th century cleric Job Iasites. In view of the many chronological and genealogical errors however, this identification is open to question. Theodora was the daughter of the '' sebastokrator''

John Petraliphas John Petraliphas ( el, ) was a Byzantine noble and governor of Thessaly and Macedonia in the late 12th/early 13th century with the rank of ''sebastokrator''. Biography John was a member of the Petraliphas family, which was of Italo-Norman origi ...

, governor of Thessaly and

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

. She was born in Thessaloniki sometime between 1210 and 1216, and married Michael II Komnenos Doukas, the ruler of Epirus and Thessaly shortly after his accession in 1231, while still a child.Kazhdan (1991), p. 2038 Despite her being pregnant with Michael's son Nikephoros, she was soon banished from the court by her husband, who preferred to live with his mistress. Living in poverty, she endured her hardship without complaint, sheltered by a priest from the village of Prinista. Her exile lasted for five years, after which Michael repented and called her back to him. The couple thereafter lived together. As consort of Epirus, Theodora is reported to have favoured closer ties with Epirus' traditional rival for the succession of the Byzantine imperial heritage, the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

. She is also recorded by the contemporary historian George Akropolites as accompanying her son Nikephoros for his betrothal and later his marriage to Maria, the daughter of the Nicaean emperor Theodore II Laskaris (r. 1254–1258). The rapprochement brought about a settlement of the two realms' ecclesiastical disputes and led to the conferment of the title of '' despotes'' on Michael, but did not last long. Theodora also founded the convent of St. George in the Epirote capital,

, where she retired after Michael's death, and where she was buried. It later became known as the Church of St. Theodora, and her tomb became the site of pilgrimage, as many miracles have been attributed to it. She is the patron saint of Arta, and is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on March 11.Talbot (1996), pp. 324, 332ff.

Family

By her marriage with Michael she had six children, including: * Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas, who succeeded Michael as ruler of Epirus * John Doukas * Demetrios Doukas Komnenos Koutroules * Helena Angelina Doukaina, who married Manfred of Sicily * Anna Komnene Doukaina.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theodora Of Arta 1220s births 1270s deaths 13th-century Byzantine people Byzantine saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Consorts of Epirus Komnenodoukas dynasty Petraliphas family 13th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Christian female saints of the Middle Ages 13th-century Byzantine empresses People from Thessaloniki