Theophano the Empress

Holy Empress Theophano the Wonderworker, wife of Emperor Leo the Wise.

Holy Theophano was the first wife of the emperor Leo the Wise in the ninth century. Amid the splendour and the sorrows of the palace she lived in prayer, fasting and almsgiving, sleeping on the floor and giving her wealth to the poor.

She reposed in peace while still young, and her relics in Constantinople became a source of healing.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Theophano the Empress is commemorated on December 16. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on December 29 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Theofano, Theophano

Also commemorated on December 16

• 

  Aggaeus the Prophet

  Prophet, Αγγαίος

  Prophet Haggai.

  Name days: Angeos, Aggaios, Haggai

• Modestos of Jerusalem

  Hierarch, Μόδεστος Ιεροσολύμων

  Modestos, Archbishop of Jerusalem, patron of animals.

  Name days: Modestos, Modest, Modestus

• Marinus of Rome

  Martyr, Μαρίνος

  Holy Martyr Marinus of Rome.

  Name days: Marinos

• Memnon of Ephesus

  Hierarch, Μέμνων Εφέσου

  Memnon, Archbishop of Ephesus.

• Nicholas Chrysoberges

  Hierarch, Νικόλαος Β' Χρυσοβέργης

  Nicholas II Chrysoberges, Patriarch of Constantinople.