THEODOTUS OF ANCYRA, Saint, Martyr. - He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology and in the Synaxarion on May 18.
The Passio, written by a contemporary, but some considerable time after the martyrdom of the Saint, gathers the author's personal recollections and traditions that were already circulating; it therefore presents reliable elements together with others that are legendary. T. was an innkeeper of Ancyra who lived in holiness, devoted to works of charity, especially toward prisoners, confessors and martyrs, whose burial he attended to. While performing this very office with regard to seven virgins, during the persecution of Diocletian, he was denounced to the governor of the city. With holy boldness he faced his fate by presenting himself spontaneously before the judge; he was horribly tortured; cast into prison, he was taken from it after five days to be beheaded. His body was buried near Malos, and in his honor a "memoria" was built.