Théodore Stoudite
759-826 8th century Feast day: November 11
Prayer held inside a timetable, like work that is not put off.
Who was Théodore Stoudite?
Abbot of the Studios monastery in Constantinople, he reorganised the house around manual work and the copying of books, and spoke to his monks almost daily. His catecheses are not high theology but the stuff of a day: sleep, food, the order of the hours, envy over who is put in charge of what. He was exiled three times and died in exile.
In their own words
The time has come for the sowing of earthly seed, of corn and of other things. We see men going forth to work from the end to the beginning of the night, taking all care that they may sow what is best and most productive, that the needs of the body may be supplied. And shall we, the husbandmen of spiritual seed, sleep our time away, and neglect to sow what we should?
Each of you has a psalm, an exercise, a prayer. Let all things be attended to in order, all for the edification of the soul, for the strengthening of the spirit, that Satan may not tempt you by intemperance. But I say this not as to sleep alone, but also as to food and drink, and it may be as to other things. To keep to a fixed order without deviation is the best means to keep ourselves whole and uninjured.
Let us not become slack, nor lose heart if the time seems long, though in truth it is not long, for our life is but a dream and a shadow.
Asking ever "why are not things otherwise?" or "why have not I the charge of this matter?" or "why should this man have the management of that business?" if we act thus, we are indeed vain and foolish, and are like those in the proverb who pour water into leaky vessels.