rigeames vers l'est et atteignimes le couvent
de Sainte Theodosie; la sainte vierge Theodosie y repose dans une chasse
decouverte.'
Two other Russian pilgrims, Alexander the scribe (1395), and the deacon
Zosimus (1419-21), likewise refer to the relics of the saint, but they
do so in terms which create some difficulty. Alexander saw the relics in
the church of the Pantokrator,[267] while Zosimus found them in the
convent of the 'Everghetis.'[268] The discrepancy between these
statements may indeed be explained as one of the mistakes very easily
committed by strangers who spend only a short time in a city, visit a
multitude of similar objects during that brief stay, and write the
account of their travels at hurried moments, or after returning home.
It is on this principle that Mordtmann[269] deals with the statement
that the relics of S. Theodosia were kept in the monastery of the
'Everghetis.' In his opinion Zosimus confused the monastery of S.
Saviour Euergetes[270] with the church of S. Theodosia,[271] because of
the proximity of the two sanctuaries. Lapses of memory are of course
possible, but, on the other hand, the trustworthiness of a document must
not be brushed aside too readily.
But the differences in the statements of the Russian pilgrims, as to the
particular church in which the relics of S. Theodosia were enshrined,
may be explained without charging any of the good men with a mistake, if
we remember that relics of the same saint might be preserved in several
sanctuaries; that the calendar of the Greek church celebrates four
saints bearing the name Theodosia;[272] and, lastly, that churches of
the same dedication stood in different quarters of the city. In fact, a
church dedicated to the Theotokos Euergetes stood on the Xerolophos
above the quarter of Psamathia.[273]
Stephen of Novgorod[274] makes it perfectly clear that he venerated the
relics of S. Theodosia in two different sanctuaries of the city, one of
them being a church beside the Golden Horn, the other standing on the
heights above Psamathia. So does the anonymous pilgrim.[274] The scribe
Alexander[276] found the relics of S. Theodosia both in the Pantokrator
and in the church of Kirmarta, above the quarter of Psamathia. It is
clear, therefore, that Zosimus,[277] who places the relics of S.
Theodosia in the monastery of 'Everghetis,' has in mind the church of
the Theotokos Euergetes above Psamathia, and not the church of S.
Saviour Euergetes w
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