Metropolitan Bishop
Saint Theodosius, Metropolitan of Trebizond, was born around 1300 in the village of Korisos near the Kastoria Mountains. He was the elder brother of Saint Dionysius, founder of the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos.
He received his education in Constantinople at the Patriarchate and became a monk at the age of 18, later ordained a priest. After some years he withdrew to Mount Athos, joining the Philotheou Monastery, where he lived a life of strict asceticism and was eventually elected abbot. He spent about twenty years on Athos, from 1331 to 1351.
Captured by pirates, he was ransomed by Christians and returned to Constantinople, where in 1351 he became abbot of the Mangana Monastery. During his tenure there, Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos received the monastic tonsure.
In 1368, an embassy from Trebizond arrived in Constantinople seeking a new metropolitan. Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos and the synod chose Theodosius, whose election was approved by Emperor Alexios III Komnenos. Upon his arrival in Trebizond, Theodosius was solemnly enthroned in August 1370.
As the Trebizond Empire had no monastery of its own on Mount Athos, Metropolitan Theodosius interceded with the emperor on behalf of his brother Dionysius, who had founded a small monastery of Saint John the Forerunner on Mount Athos. In September 1374, Emperor Alexios III issued a chrysobull granting imperial support for the construction and maintenance of the monastery, later known as the Monastery of Dionysiou.
Saint Theodosius reposed in 1392 in the city of Trebizond.
