TEODOTO of ANCIRA, saint and martyr. - He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology and in the Synaxarion on 18 May.
The Passio, written by a contemporary, though some time after the Saint’s martyrdom, gathers the author’s personal recollections and traditions already in circulation; it therefore presents reliable elements alongside legendary ones. T. was an innkeeper of Ancira who lived a holy life devoted to works of charity, especially toward prisoners, confessors, and martyrs, whose burial he attended to. While performing precisely this office in regard to seven virgins during the persecution of Diocleziano, he was accused before the governor of the city. With holy boldness he faced his fate by presenting himself voluntarily to the judge; he was horribly tortured; shut up in prison, he was taken out after five days to be beheaded. His body was buried near Malos, and a « memoria » was erected in his honour.
d'Ancyre, in Anat. Bolland., 22 (1903), pp. 320-28; P. Franchi, Osservaz. sopra alcuni atti dei martiri, in Nuovo bull. arch. crist., 10 (1904), pp. 27-37; id., Reliquie di un grande menol. premenifrasteo e una nuova recens. del martyrium s. Theodoti Ancyrani, in Note agiogr. (Studi e testi, 33), VI, Roma 1920, pp. 110-142; H. Delehaye, Les orig. du culte des martyrs, Bruxelles 1933, p. 157; Martyr. Romanum, p. 196.