St Theodore the Bishop of Rostov and Suzdal

Theodore, a Greek, came from Constantinople to Kiev in the suite of the first metropolitan sent to Rus. About 990 or 992 he was consecrated the first bishop of Rostov, where he built an oak church of the Dormition. Meeting stubborn resistance from the pagans of Rostov, he withdrew to the small settlement of Suzdal, preached there, and built churches.

When Prince Boris ruled Rostov from about 1010, Theodore returned, but after Boris was murdered he was driven out again and went back to Suzdal, where he died before 1023. He was buried in the cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Suzdal.