Saint Theodora of Sihla: Spiritual Flower of Moldova

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Translated from the Romanian text written by Archimandrite Ioanichie Bălan.

Saint Theodora of Sihla is one of Romania’s greatest ascetics, rivaling the heights of Saint Mary of Egypt. Having recognized at an early age the vanity of this temporal world, her whole-hearted longing to dedicate herself to God in ascesis could not be held back by the myriad of obstacles—even marriage—which she bore without the least bit of grumbling. A shining beacon in the mountains, the venerable Theodora serves as a pure illustration of the hardships and blessedness present in the eremitic life.

Among all the hermits who lived in the Neamts mountains throughout the centuries, the most remembered and honored by the pious people is, without doubt, Righteous Theodora of Sihla.

There is no monk who does not contemplate her ascetical struggles with humility; there is no faithful around the place of her struggles, or even from further away, who does not know something from her life; there is no traveler who arrives at Sihla Skete and does not pass by the cave of Saint Theodora. Whether it be to venerate at the place where she labored for the love of God, or to wash at the spring of the godly one, or even to admire the wild beauty of these places sanctified by a multitude of unknown hermits and visited with piety by our ancestors.