Foolishness for Christ
The path Theodore embraced, foolishness for Christ's sake, was a recognized form of asceticism in medieval Rus' in which a holy person deliberately assumed the appearance of madness or simplicity. By doing so, such ascetics renounced worldly esteem, accepted insult and discomfort, and gained the freedom to admonish their neighbors and rulers.
Theodore's renunciation was concrete: born to wealth, he distributed his goods to the poor and lived in extreme poverty for the rest of his life, by tradition not even possessing shelter. His way of life called the prosperous citizens of Novgorod to repentance.
The two fools-for-Christ of Novgorod
Theodore is remembered alongside Nicholas Kochanov, another fool-for-Christ of Novgorod. The two are said to have publicly feigned hostility, with Theodore associated with one bank of the Volkhov and Nicholas with the other. When Theodore would cross the bridge toward the Sophia side, Nicholas would push him back to the Torg side.
This theatrical antagonism was understood by later tradition as a living parable: by mimicking the divisions between the quarters of Novgorod, the two ascetics held up to the citizens the futility and shame of their genuine factional conflicts.
Gift of foresight
Tradition ascribes to Theodore the gift of clairvoyance. He is said to have warned the people of Novgorod of an approaching famine and to have foretold a destructive fire, conveying his warnings through cryptic sayings rather than plain speech, in keeping with the manner of a fool-for-Christ.
Repose and veneration
Theodore died in 1392. He was buried at Lubyanitsa, in the Torg quarter of Novgorod, at the church of the Great Martyr George, near the porch where he had been accustomed to keep vigil in prayer. A chapel was afterward built over his relics.
The citizens of Novgorod regarded him as a saint, and his memory is kept in the Russian Church on January 19.
