So that without elder guidance in monastic life, with the wisdom of his own heart, he would not fall into error and delusion, he entrusted himself to the bishop who was at that time retired in the Vatopedi monastery and unconditionally subordinated his will to him, fulfilling all kinds of obedience and daily offering a bloodless sacrifice to the Lord God. And when the elder bishop departed to the Lord, the Monk Theophilus retired to the Iveron monastery with the goal of finding role models there too. So, he learned from one perfect obedience, from another - humility, from another - love for God and neighbor, meekness and patience. As a result of this, Theophilus became a chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit and an example of monastic virtues.
Meanwhile, on behalf of the monastery, as a red-letter writer, he had as his cell occupation the copying of books that had become dilapidated from longevity. Of these books, many are kept in the library of the Iversky Monastery to this day. And since, according to the word of the Lord, “a city cannot hide on top of a standing mountain” (Matthew 5:14), then the Monk Theophilus became famous for his virtuous life not only in the Holy Mountain, but also in the surrounding distant places; So Thessaloniki, which at that time had lost its archpastor, tried hard to convince Saint Theophilus to accept the episcopal dignity. But the humble Theophilus did not want to hear about it. Meanwhile, Patriarch Theoliptus of Constantinople happened to be in Thessalonica at that time: the Thessalonians turned to him with a petition to grant them the Athos hermit Theophilos as archpastor. His Holiness the Patriarch, for his part, took part in them and wrote a handwritten letter to Theophilus (for he had previously been very friendly with Saint Theophilus, like his compatriot), asking him to go to Thessalonica for a meeting and not mentioning a word about the petition of the Thessalonians.
The monk understood the purpose for which the holy patriarch was inviting him to Thessalonica, and therefore, in order to evade such a high dignity and thereby avoid temporary glory and veneration, he immediately accepted the great schema; He answered the holy patriarch that a serious illness forced him to accept the great schema and renounce priestly service, and that due to illness he could not, under any circumstances, come to Thessaloniki at his request. Thus, apologizing for the impossibility of meeting with the holy patriarch here, he asked him for forgiveness and prayers and promised that, by the grace of the Lord, he would see him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Such an answer, on the one hand, saddened the holy patriarch, and on the other hand, he delighted that Theophilus was so successful in true humility and monastic deeds.
Near the Iverskaya monastery, an abbot named Dionysius then labored in solitude. Loving silence, the Monk Theophilus, with the permission of the abbot and brethren, built a small kaliva near the abbot Dionysius and shared with him the labors of deep seclusion, edified by the example of his lofty life and his wise conversations. Their mutual love was so close that it seemed that one soul lived in them. At this time, someone who lived on Karya, Kirill, became famous for his ascetic life. In order to receive spiritual benefit from him and imitate his life, Saint Theophilus left his silence and moved to Karea, to Cyril. When the monk was with him, Elder Seraphim, who was Cyril’s confessor, often came to them to serve on the Holy Mountain. Prot drew attention to Theophilus, loved him for his holy life, and from that time, even until death, Theophilus and prot remained sincere friends with each other. But the divine Theophilus did not remain long on Kareya.
A strong desire for silence drew him into the confines of the Pantocrator, into the cell of St. Basil, which had all the conditions of deep solitude and imperturbable silence of silence. The cell required amendments, and Saint Theophilus, not having any contribution, could neither pay the agreed price for it to the monastery, nor update it: to such an extent he had adopted monastic non-covetousness. Prot, Elder Seraphim, helped him in this extreme situation. Thus, Saint Theophilus plunged into silence in the desert, having as his companion one brother Isaac. This removal of Saint Theophilus from everyone had a strong effect on the archpriest. Having built a gallery around the protate cathedral, erected a bell tower and painted the inside of the cathedral, he asked the elders of the Holy Mountain for dismissal from the post of prote and retired to a deserted rest, where, together with Saint Theophilus, he constantly practiced reading the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers, extracting from there essential and immortal food for the immortal spirit.
The exceptional feat of the Monk Theophilus was the so-called mental work of the holy fathers, or keeping the mind with the unceasing heartfelt Jesus Prayer, that is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” According to Saint Callistus, there are two types of monastic work: one is for taming the passions - and consists of fasting, vigil, kneeling and other external deeds; and the other - to cleanse the mind and heart from unclean thoughts, which is done with strict attention, with unceasing heartfelt prayer to the Lord Jesus, done in secret and with a painful feeling and a painful cry of the soul, as the Divine Fathers teach. By this mental work and sacred prayer, crying and tears born from this prayer, he cleansed his heart from passions and unclean thoughts and, having completely cast down the demons, became the pure chosen dwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And since, according to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, Divine love does not see or know anything other than its object, Saint Theophilus, flaming with love for God, thought of nothing else but Jesus: Jesus was his breath, Jesus was his life, Jesus was always in his heart. Theophilus, like Saint Paul the Apostle, no longer lived, but Christ lived in him, and therefore, like Saint Paul, he was rewarded with the Divine gifts of the Holy Spirit, foresaw the future, knew the secrets of the heart and human thoughts, “reached a perfect man and to the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ,” as the holy Apostle says (Eph. 4:24).
Finally, being full of days, the saint foresaw his death and began to prepare for his exodus into eternity. By the way, he wrote a confession of faith and a spiritual testament, and before his death he wished that the sacrament of anointing be performed on him. It was Friday. Having said goodbye to everyone, on Saturday he partook of the most pure Mysteries of Christ in the church with a feeling of thanksgiving to God for everything and finally called his disciple Isaac to declare his last will to him. Humble throughout his life, Saint Theophilus did not want human veneration even after death: he gave Isaac the commandment that his death should not be announced when he gave up his spirit to God, that priests should not be called to perform the usual burial over him, but that Isaac should put a rope around his feet and throw away his body if possible. Having thus declared his last will to his disciple, Saint Theophilus prostrated himself on his bed.
“Lord Jesus Christ! Receive my spirit,” he said and fell into the sleep of venerable death, in the summer of Christ 1548, July 8, on a Sunday, before the sun rose.
His obedient disciple Isaac fulfilled the saint’s commandments exactly: tying a rope to his feet, he carried his relics into the forest. Rumors about the death of the saint spread throughout the Holy Mountain; The crowd of monks, especially the saint’s friends, was large: everyone wanted to see and venerate his grave and receive the blessing of the deceased at it. So as not to deprive those who came of this, his disciple showed them the dug up place where the monk was supposedly buried. But the monks of the Iveron monastery and Pantocrator doubted the burial place of the saint for some secret feeling, which did not deceive them; Then the monks found the holy relics of Theophilus in the forest, took them and kept them in deep secret from others.