Agii Theodori, Byzantine church in central Athens, Greece

Agii Theodori is a cross-in-square Byzantine church at the corner of Euripidou and Skouleniou streets, near Klafthmonos Square. It is a simple two-column cross-in-square building with heavy proportions, an octagonal Athenian-type dome on two eastern columns and two western piers, and an asymmetrical plan: the south transept arm is longer than the north, and the diakonikon is larger than the prothesis. The walls use the cloisonné system with pseudo-Kufic ceramic tiles, and the later bell tower incorporates parts of the original iconostasis.

The church was built in the mid-11th century on the site of an older church outside the late Roman wall, which tradition attributes to the empress Eudocia. A founder inscription above the west entrance records its renovation by Nicholas Kalomalos, a spatharokandidatos; the date, indiction year 6588, is read by historians as either 1049 or 1065. A 1208 letter of Pope Innocent III calls it the katholikon of a monastery, though excavations have not confirmed this. Damaged during the 1821 revolution, it was restored in 1840.

The church is dedicated to both Theodore Tiro and Theodore Stratelates, two distinct saints celebrated together. Its name links it to the Klafthmonos square where it stands. The interior frescoes visible today were painted in the 20th century by Athanasios Kandris, since the Byzantine frescoes were lost.

The church remains an active place of worship and visitors can enter, but respect for prayer times is important. The building is centrally located and easily reached on foot.

In 1967, conservation work uncovered tombs and part of a Roman mosaic beneath the church floor. The church is dedicated to two saints at once, Theodore Tiro and Theodore Stratelates, and two marble plaques set into the facade record its construction in 1065 by the official Nicholas Kalomalos.