THEOCTISTA (TEOTISTA), saint. — Born ca. 740 in Constantinople, died in 812 in a women’s monastery not far from the men’s monastery of Studion, 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 struggle initiated by the emperor Constantine V (741–75) and the storm provoked by the emperor Constantine VI (780–97) through his unlawful union with Theodora, T.’s sister-in-law, she remained steadfast in condemning such misdeeds, together with her brother St. Plato and her son St. Theodore, celebrated champions of the Catholic faith. T. could glory in the fact that Euthymius, her other son, endured scourging for the faith, and that her husband Photinus, who with her consent had embraced the religious and ecclesiastical life, suffered generously for the faith until his death ca. 811. T. too 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 dedicated a discourse to her, delivered before his monks of Studion.