Recognized saints named Thomas aren’t all that common, and many of them, being post-1054 Latins (
Alas! This saint is lost in obscurity. On his own feast day, he is overshadowed by James the Confessor, who suffered under the iconoclast emperor Constantine V (741-775). The most extensive biography that I can find shows no sign that the compiler knew much about Thomas’ own deeds:
Saint Thomas, Patriarch of Constantinople, was at first a deacon, and later under the holy Patriarch John IV the Faster (582-595) he was made “sakellarios” (sacristan [“chief financial officer” would be a more apt translation]) in the Great Church (Hagia Sophia). After the death of holy Patriarch Cyriacus (595-606), St. Thomas was elevated to the Patriarchal throne in 607. The saint concerned himself in every possible way about the spiritual needs of his flock.
During the patriarchate of St. Thomas, an ominous portent appeared in the land of Galatia (Asia Minor). The heavy crosses which were carried during church processions began to shake and to strike against each other. The clairvoyant Elder, St. Theodore Sykeotes (April 22), explained the meaning of this portent. He said that discords and disasters awaited the Church, and the state was in danger of barbarian invasion. Hearing this, the saint became terrified and asked St. Theodore to pray that God would take his soul before these predictions were fulfilled.
After the death of the holy Patriarch Thomas in 610, disorders started in the Church. St. Thomas’ successor, Patriarch Sergius (610-638), fell into the Monothelite heresy. Through God’s dispensation, war broke out with Persia, which proved grievous for Byzantium. The Greek regions of Asia Minor were completely devastated, Jerusalem fell, and the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord was captured and taken to Persia. Thus, all the misfortunes portended by the miracle during the church procession came to pass.
If one may add historical detail, gleaned from the Chronicle of Theophanes and various reference books, St. Thomas became Patriarch on October 11, 607, under the Emperor Phocas (602-610). Phocas, a mere centurion who was elevated to the throne by mutineers against his capable predecessor Maurice (582-602), has left a reputation for tyranny, which revisionist historians have lately argued was due to a policy of agrarian reform that outraged the aristocracy (though there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that the putative reforms actually took place). Be that as it may, no contemporary needed clairvoyance to sense disorder ahead. In 608 the Exarch of Carthage, one of the most powerful imperial officials, launched a revolt. Most of St. Thomas’ tenure in the Patriarchate had civil war as its backdrop.
In religious policy, Phocas was strictly orthodox, making no effort to mollify the Empire’s large Monophysite and Nestorian communities. A revolt by the former led to the murder of the Patriarch of Antioch (which, in a foreshadowing of the contemporary Middle East, was blamed on the Jews), while the Persian Great King invaded as protector of the latter. On the other hand, the Emperor made strenuous efforts to mend relations with the See of Rome, which resented the assumption of the title “Ecumenical Patriarch” by John the Faster. The Romans later claimed that Phocas had declared Rome to be caput omnium ecclesiarum, which, given his posthumous ill fame, made no impression in the East.
St. Thomas doubtless supported, and may have guided, his Emperor in these controversies, but, save for the tale of his meeting with St. Theodore, he seems to have done nothing that later generations recalled. He died on March 21, 610. Six months later, the rebels seized Constantinople and crowned Heraclius, son of the rebel exarch and one of the most spectacular figures in the entire history of Byzantium, Emperor.
Hence, I cannot relate the miracles or pious sayings of my namesake. Still, there is a lesson in the veil that lies over his life: To be a saint is not a matter of conspicuous deeds but of thoughts and actions known only to God. There are many in the heavenly company whose very names are forgotten, yet they are greater than the earthly emperors.
Addendum: The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s Web site reproduces a splendid icon of St. Thomas, showing him teaching from the Gospel, surrounded by a multitude of blessed figures.
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