THEOCTISTA (Teotista), saint. — Born c. 740 in Constantinople, died in 812 in a women’s monastery not far from the male monastery of Studion, which was directed by her son St. Theodore.
Of noble and deeply Christian family, from her marriage to Photinus she had three children: St. Theodore, abbot; Joseph, bishop of Thessalonica; and a daughter who became a nun. During the unrelenting persecution of Emperor Constantine V (741–75) and the storm stirred up by Emperor Constantine VI (780–97) on account of his illicit union with Theodora, a relative of T., she remained steadfast in condemning these crimes, together with her brother St. Plato and her son St. Theodore, renowned champions of the Catholic faith. T. could take pride in the fact that Euthymius, her other son, endured scourging for the faith, and that her husband Photinus, with her consent, had embraced the religious and ecclesiastical life and generously suffered for the faith until his death c. 811. T. herself embraced the religious life with her daughter in a hermitage in Bithynia and later placed herself under the spiritual direction of her son St. Theodore, who was able to assist her at her death and delivered an oration in her honor before his monks at Studion.